Absolutely crucial World Cup Qualifier in Nicosia tomorrow. I think that three points is a must if we are to a) keep ahead of the Bulgarians for second place and b) avoid being the worst second placed team. They are a side we know all too well. Konstantinou and Makrides are out for them, but they should still have Okkas and Aloneftis as danger men. St. Ledger is the only doubt for us, if he doesn't make it I would expect to see O'Shea partner Dunne at centre back and Stephen Kelly deputize at right back. Prediction: Cyprus 1-2 Ireland after 90 minutes of torture.
I'm think this game will hinge on Richard Dunne's headspace, he's gone through a lot with Man City this past week and it looks like a lot of the media have been hounding him about his move to Villa. Hopefully this won't be a distraction and he can turn around and show the City coffers that he's world class with a solid performance for the Republic. Can't believe Miller is still retained...he must be training with Trappatoni in Italy or something. WE have to perform better than we did against the Australians, but I think we'll do it...if Dunne is on I think we'll take it 2-0.
We'll definitely have to take our chances. Can't really see the Cypriots not scoring, either... Team: Given, O'Shea, St. Ledger, Dunne, Kilbane, Hunt, Whelan, Andrews, Duff, Doyle, Keane. St. Ledger has a fitness test, will be repaced by Stephen Kelly if he fails. Hunt beats out McGeady - correct call in my opinion.
Well we got the 3 points. But we weren't good enough against a weak Cyprus team. Their keeper was a third stringer for fecks sake. Our central midfielders were non existent in the second half, bar Whelans cracking attempt. Trappatoni should've given Gibson a run out...we're still in the hunt, but we'll have to improve if we're to make it to South Africa. Very frustrating game to watch. PS. spot on prediction pmannion!
Yeah, poor performance, great result. That line is starting to sound familiar... The problem with this team is central midfield. I am really hopeful, though, that if/when Steven Reid can get himself fit the team will have a far more balanced look to it. Remember the first match against Georgia? He and Whelan were excellent in the middle. Those three points are absolutely key. First, 3 more points should be enough to avoid being the worst second place team. Scotland are on 10pts in that table (level with us at the moment) and only have one match left, at home vs Holland. Even if they do scrape a win, if we can beat Montenegro at home our superior goal difference should see us ahead of them as long as Italy don't beat us by 3 goals or so. As for finishing second in our own group, we will know a lot more after the Italy v Bulgaria match on Wednesday. Assuming Italy win, they are more or less out of sight at the top of the group. We will need 3 pts vs Montenegro to secure second place. If Italy and Bulgaria draw (the most favourable result for us), we are two points behind the Italians and the match at Croke Park will be massive. An unlikely win there, and 3 points v Montenegro will see us win the group. Heaven forbid that Bulgaria win in Italy on Wednesday; this will put huge pressure on us to get a result against the Italians on October 10th: The Bulgarians will probably get six points from their final two matches, so we will have to beat the Italians to be in with a shout. So the key game for Ireland is in fact Montenegro at Croke Park. Fail to win there and we're almost certainly out - one or two points is unlikely to be enough. Win and second place and a playoff spot are almost secure. Any points picked up vs Italy are a bonus. I think a playoff is the most likely outcome now... so we have to ask ourselves - if we keep playing this poorly, do we really have a chance of beating a decent side over two legs?
Excellent prediction pmannion both about the score and the torture! Hope you had money on it. Am in total agreement about our midfield 'problem'. It becomes pretty obvious that there isn't much confidence there when we spend an entire game hoofing the ball over their heads to a front pairing who are both relatively small. Now this may well have been a deliberate tactic given that the pitch was dodgy and their centre half pairing may have been identified as weak but it detracts from our strongest point - excellent wingers, as the ball doesn't get to them as often as it should through the natura avenue of midfield. I am not sure what the solution is given the players we have, but at the minute it seems like our midfield is just a wall in front of our defence - and a pretty ineffective one aswell. The upshot of this midfield is that Robbie Keane finds it really difficult to get involved in our games. He relies on the ball coming to his feet through midfield and that basically never happens in our team. He is reduced to playing as an out and out striker, and that doesn't really work for him as we saw with his stint at Liverpool. I fear our limited midfield might really cost us when it really counts - anyone know when Reid is due back? Anyway, enough negativity. Was a torturous game but a fantastic result and it sets us up perfectly for the run in and the big games to come.
Going to be a huge one on Wednesday, a bit too nervous to really make much comment otherwise. Hopefully some of the likes of McCann, Fahey, Foley and Ward get a look in vs. South Africa on Tuesday too; we really could use an extra option or two in both CM and the FB spots. The very few fools who have been all over Trappatoni's back after the job he has done due to his squad selections need a bit of a slap imo, but it does get a small bit frustrating to seeh im use such a limited squad at the same time. I hate to say it but Montenegro is the exact game we could use Andy Reid for (still, let's not bang on aobut that one again!). Scary performance, great result. Nice to see some more instinctive finishing from Doyle for the first goal, the bright side of the equaliser was Dunne's absolutely mincing challenge, Given had his few wonder-saves, and Duff really pulled back the years for his role in the equaliser. We'll know where we stand and what we need on Wednesday night.
One of the best saves i've seen in a long time. Yes he may have been a Dracula but that save made up for it.
Just watched the South Africa match. Again, central midfield and an inability to hold possession is a huge problem. I like Keith Andrews, he is a really hard-working player. But on the evidence of the last couple matches I'm really not sure if he has the technical ability to excel at international level. His passes are too often wayward and his tackles mistimed. We need Steven Reid back as soon as possible. Gibson has the opposite problem - I know from watching Manchester United that he has the ability to excel at this level, but we need to be seeing more from him. He rarely shows for passes or demands the ball. The man who most impressed me today was Liam Lawrence. Good movement, positioning, good crossing and a super goal. Just lacks pace. Caleb Folan was encouraging too, definitely has a future as an impact sub for Ireland. Thought St. Ledger, McShane, Kelly and O'Dea all did well. Nolan's distribution is woeful - though this has plagued of all our fullbacks recently. We won the match, but if we keep playing like this - unable to holw the ball for more than two/three passes - Italy could punish us badly. A better side would have beaten us today.
good point!! also watched the match vs. South Africa. Felt Andrews got on the ball way more than he did in the match against Cyprus and wasn't too bad tonight. South Africa dominated the first half but luckily for us lacked that cutting edge, and Lawerence's free kick was totally against the run of play. We did play a lot better in the second half, and I thought Leon Best looked dangerous when he came on.
Italy-Bulgaria half-time spoilers: [result]2-0 to Italy at half-time, that's probably all she wrote and will see us very likely finish second. I've been playing with the idea in my head for a few weeks now... imagine we got the Nordies in the playoffs! Despite the worry of things getting ugly in Windsor, it would be absolutely epic! As in 'bragging rights for the rest of your entire life' epic.[/result]
The gloss is sort of taken off the Italian match a little, isn't it? They will come knowing a point will see them qualify. We know a point will almost certainly secure second - assuming we don't lose to Montenegro. Has 0-0 written all over it. Anyway, don't slip up against Montenegro and we can start talking about possible playoff opponents. Think Northern Ireland are more or less out of it after tonight.
Yeah, just saw that. When I made the post above I was under the impression their group also still had two games each to go...
I would have loved the opportunity to play Northern Ireland, when was the last time we played them, '99? I think if memory serves me Ian Dowie scored the winner. But that doesn't look likely anymore, cant see them getting anything against the Czechs away from Windsor Park. The possible opponents is worrying though in the play-off route. Russia, France, Croatia, and maybe even Portugal if they wake up? I'll sleep easier if it's Greece or Norway, but it's not like there are any pushovers at this stage.
lets just hope the boys keep winning and make it to south africa. poor performances or good. the only thing that matters is the result. and we got the win lets hope for a few more