Ireland v Ecuador - New York, May 23, 2007. Ireland v Bolivia - Boston, May 26, 2007. ____________________ According to this http://www.ecuafutbol.org/UI/detalle.aspx?seccion=1&categserie=7&nivel=0&subnivel=0&id=9016&tabla=N we're playing them on the 23rd of May in NY. As the FAI are well documented for their incompetence has anybody heard anything about this? Seems perfectly feasible as Ireland wont have any competitive games between March and September and with Lansdowne gone there will be no home friendlies for a few years. Although I cant Ireland travelling 3,000 miles to play one game.............. KOH
Re: Ecuador v Ireland Ecuador is playing the US in DC, so it sounds like a few teams will be doing the round robin of friendlies.
Re: Ecuador v Ireland Also on the FIFA website: http://www.fifa.com/en/mens/fixtures/index/0,2525,0-IRL-ALL,00.html though I don't know how accurate that is. Tard, the DC game is in March but with the Gold Cup and Copa America coming up, I'm sure there will be no shortage of takers for extra friendlies for Ireland.
Re: Ecuador v Ireland Wish they would come to Chicago, I am tired of traveling to the east coast to see matches. Especially now that we have a real football stadium in Bridgeview. Such a beautiful stadium at that. http://chicago.fire.mlsnet.com/t100/stadium/
Re: Ecuador v Ireland Me too, if only I didnt have f***ing school I could go visit my aunt and uncle in Baltimore then go to the stadium to see the match. Is there any chance they'll play here? Northern Ireland played Romania at Soldier Field last year though I didnt bother going
Re: Ecuador v Ireland Hmmm... this match was also "confirmed" for a date some time last year, and it never happened. I remain highly sceptical. Has it been reported in any Irish sources? If it does happen, I would definitely consider heading down.
Re: Ecuador v Ireland Shite I thought it was in DC, they have really cheap airfare down to there. Oh well, I guess I'm going to f***ing New York
Re: Ecuador v Ireland On FIFA website it says this match has been scheleduled like if you look at Irelands fixtures list (already mentioned) but like said I assume they will be doing some kind of USA tour where they go to numerous locations (possibly playing Mexico or other Central and South American teams) good warmup before copa america. it will be a full strength squad right?
Re: Ecuador v Ireland I doubt it. That may be too much for some of the players playing in the CL, and UEFA Cup. I would expect a good amount of players but don't think Duff, Keane, Given, and a few others will come.
Re: Ecuador v Ireland It hasn't been mentioned on fai'ie at all, but has been talked about on the boards at foot.ie. On a side note, run the Spanish announcement available on the Ecuador site through Babelfish. It comes out amusing in English. I love messing with online translation sites.
Re: Ecuador v Ireland Were playing Venezuela in San Diego Feb 27 So this tells me that they will not be in our grioup come copa america.
Re: Ecuador v Ireland I got an email from the FAI saying that the only confirmed match was Denmark. He said there has been speculation about other possible fixtures though nothing has been finalized He also said he'd pass on my request for a match in Chicago to the right people
Re: Ecuador v Ireland Tell him the Home Depot Center out here in LA is a nice, new, stadium and would love to host the Boys in Green.
Re: Ecuador v Ireland Yea defiantly eire should play a game at the HDC. When was the last time Ireland played on the West Coast? I believe there would be lot of support.
Re: Ecuador v Ireland The majority probably are but there would be enough Irish people out here to fill the HDC easily. Especially if they played an SA team out here.
Re: Ecuador v Ireland Ireland have never played on the west coast and probably never will. Travelling 6,000 miles for a friendly wouldnt go down too well. According to the Irish Times mention of a game against Bolivia in Boston as well as the aforementioned Ecuador game. KOH
Re: Ecuador v Ireland yea, that is true there probably is more in New York and Chicago but there are a good amount of Irish people in California (alot of Irish Pubs where people get together to watch Irish national team and GAA matches). I was thinking if Ireland came out here for a US Tour that Los Angeles would be a good stop for them. But i would defiantly agree with you.
Re: Ecuador v Ireland Romania came out here last spring. That's a much longer trip than Ireland. They flew to LA and played Uruguay and then 3 days later played Northern Irealand in Chicago. I don't see why Ireland couldn't fly to LA play and then a few days later play in a place like Chicago or Boston. Not to mention they would be just friendlies and to the best of my knowledge Romania brought a lot of younger and domestic players.
Re: Ecuador v Ireland Bottom line, the USSF get the gate. They are not going to put Ireland on the West Coast when there are far greater harvests to be reaped on the East Coast and Chicago. The only codicil to this is that if the opposition is a very soundly supported Hispanic country (Mexcio?) where the USSF will not be really relying on the Irish fans, but on the Hispanic ones. Basically the foreign teams get appearance fees (Brazil get $5M plus expenses, I believe) and the USSF hopes that between gate fees and TV rights, they can cover expenses and make a profit. That's why you try to maximise location and fans to as natural a fit as possible. So, Portugal will play in New York or Boston but not Los Angeles. If you have Ireland, try and keep them on the East Coast (Boston/New York/ DC) or if you must, move them to Chicago. As far as I'm aware, Ireland haven't played anywhere else in the US.
Re: Ecuador v Ireland Just back from a couple of weeks in ireland and i heard the news of the friendly thrown around on the radio, could happen but its a pointless time for a game (end of season) and the quality of the exhibition would probably suck. having said that id still go any excuse to go out on the piss is a good one
Re: Ecuador v Ireland Ecuador are a good side. South American Qualifying is just as hard if not harder than European qualifying.
Re: Ecuador v Ireland I wasn't commenting on the quality of the opposition - I am merely suggesting that no one will give a shit about this game becuase of the location and time, so it would be a poor exhiibition.
Re: Ecuador v Ireland Personally I consider qualifying to be more difficult in S.A. than Europe. Not because of talent just because of the enviorment that your are going into. I give alot of credit to sides who can go in and grab a victory in another country down there. There are a few places like that in Europe but they are few Turkey and Greece come to mind.
Re: Ecuador v Ireland Confirmed. Plus a game against Bolivia. Ecuador at Giants Stadium May 23rd. Bolivia on May 26th in Boston.
