Typical comments about the Irish soccer team focus on the "unbeaten" status, which generally doesn't mean a string of wins, it's more likely to refer to a string of draws. And the typical draw is an early Irish goal, 80 minutes of keep-away, and then a late goal by the opposition. Tonight's match against Cyprus was no different, except Cyprus didn' ( Read more... )

To be fair, I only caught the first 20 minutes of tonight's Ireland vs. Brazil "glamour friendly", and the Brazillian goal didn't happen until the 65th minute, but all I saw of Ireland in those 20 minutes was the same old show: everyone passes the ball up the right wing to Duff, who gets cornered by minimum two defenders, and punts a wild shot ( Read more... )

Not only did we beat Slovakia 1-0, but we actually looked like a professional team for most of the game. Some excellent play from players that I've not heard of because the team's been so crap I gave up watching them. Turns out one of the stars is from my home county...

He's going to Lesotho to play football for 12 days for charity. Cash here, and info here.

I'm not much of a soccer fan: I'll watch Ireland play more often than not, and I like a game that displays skill rather than a hack-and-chop game. But last night, I don't think there was a single person in the bar ignoring the last twenty minutes of the Brazil - France match. It was an astounding display of skill, marred only slightly by a few ( Read more... )

Apocryphally, someone (not necessarily RSF) organised the rioting in Dublin. Interesting second-hand stories about well-dressed guys with bluetooth headsets directing the ebb and flow of the rioters from somewhere behind the line. Jeffery Donaldson on the radio, responding to a caller who said it was "a bunch of northsiders who came out of the pubs ( Read more... )

As expected, Brian Kerr gets the boot. I have little enough respect for Ireland's overseeing sporting bodies (the GAA's fumble with tickets for the hurling final this year; the Irish Olympic Council have been involved in so many stupid incidents that it's hard to know where to start; and handwaving the whole Equestrian side of things) but you'd ( Read more... )

Soccer on TV: Chelsea vs. Bolton. For the sake of a small scoreline in the top right of the screen, these are abbreviated to "Che" and "Bol". This is amusing me no end.

flying post as I'm off to the pub for a pub quiz (no, that's not a euphemism):

( soccer stuff )

No world cup for us in 2006, then. The Brother says he'll be cheering for Uzbekistan. I may well join him.