Ireland Qualify for 2002 World Cup

(See more on this topic soon).

I'm not too drunk. I drove into college so I only could have one pint. Still I'm drunk on the ecstacy of victory, er not the same really. Good win, very nervy game particularly when the goal went in, I was thinking is it going to be the Macedonia game all over again. Still I'm drinking right now, and I'm off to the Kitchen later. So woohoo.

I can't wait to see what Stubbsy and Lawro have got to say about this on Saturday. It seems as if, with the ref unwilling to dole out a fifth red card, Vicente just chucked himself at the ground knowing all the subs (a whole bunch of them, all at once, early in the second half) had been used. Very strange - what's to be gained from forcing an abandonment of a friendly that you're losing 5-1?

You only scored one goal in six world cup qualifying matches. Four losses and one bore draw and one miraculous win. But there's always cricket. And the Scott Tournament of Hearts.

Pete this sounds horribly like my plan for drinking my way round the nations of Euro 2000, Yugoslavia was particularly tricky. But Croatian wine wasn't half bad.

Is there a Senegalese restaurant in London? there's one I want to try.

Surely a given - *every* Saturday?

Mmm, Danish frikadeller meatballs and æbleskivers (pancakey waffley things). Yum. Well, I'm glad of excuses to eat Danish food even if nobody else is. Curses, I missed that program about telling whether you might be of viking descent. I have the hair colour, and I was quite looking forward to adopting that viking name webpage's advice and calling myself Bekkhild the Red from now on.

P.S. Solvang rocks. And that thread says they eat lots of ostrich burgers there. Is this a typical Danish thing, or just a Solvang thing?

Gosh, I hope Ireland can beat Bulgaria later today !!

no damien duff which is a big loss

alas, o ireland

That was an ordeal

an ordeal ails

Keane has very definite ideas about the qualities required. The Ireland captain said: "I want someone who is an honest manager who doesn't mess around, understands how important it is to be involved at international level, someone who is very proud to be a manager and be proud of what we are trying to achieve in Ireland. Someone who is honest and someone who has balls and doesn't take any shit from anyon

e."

someone who is very proud to be a manager and be proud of what we are trying to achieve in Ireland

zing at trap and disqualifies roy keane in one go

the first thing anyone answering that description would do is retire robbie keane, it's just empty blather from a thick cunt with ideas above his station and delusions of longevity

It's astonishing that a guy who has such an amazing record is so hated, don't know anyone who rates him. I guess his record is due to the lack of any significant rival for the last 12 years or so. Despite his sixty goals I still think of him as a guy who fluffs chances in important games.

that's a tad harsh, not that he doesn't and hasn't infuriated me over the years in both shirts.

he's lazy, doens't try hard enough for his team mates, is overly critical of others on the pitch, doesn't contribute anything but goals.

but he does contribute a lot of goals. and he knows that we know we need him for as long as he'll play.

the management of trying alternatives has been woeful. i'm not sure how admirable it has been for him to play every greedy minute possible in every two-bob friendly over the years- i'm not claiming that there's been a ream of probbie keanes missed out on due to lack of oxygen, but there's been plenty of players not given a fair crack at points where it would have been beneficial to us as a squad and for competition purposes.

the move to LA has suited him and us pretty well imo- if he'd agree to a reduced role it would be great, but how likely that is now that it's ten hours or w/e away idk.

in important games, he delivers to a pretty high degree tho imo. and sixty goals. for ireland. under staunton and trap. carrys a lot of weight.

always thought of simon cox as underrated, now warming forest bench. always seemed to be warming benches despite manifestly higher skill level than first-choice for club/country

In his short spell at Celtic I was amazed at Keane's pace (over short distances) and movement - it really opened my eyes to how good he could be at his best. It also opened my eyes to just how shite everyone else in Scotland was.

Of course he was probably past his best then and he's had another three plus years on the clock since.

i feel v neg about cox but possibly due to trapp trolling us with him for a few years.

trapp waving cox in the faces of irish fans on 78 mins without fail.

:D

http://www.irishtimes.com/sport/soccer/international/republic-set-for-dramatic-late-call-up-to-world-cup-finals-in-brazil-1.1744761

Justice at last

There’s a clip of Troy Parrott’s Republic of Ireland winner from RTE which won’t get taken down for copyright.

The commentary is sensational. pic.twitter.com/4wqT5Z14Ti https://t.co/qrrSfpCL4U

— HLTCO (@HLTCO) November 16, 2025

absolute scenes

It's amazing, but the qualifying is so gerrymandered we still have a huge amount to do.

would want to avoid Italy, Turkey and maybe Poland but everyone else looks a bit more beatable

yeah i mean the chances of us actually qualifying are slim, but christ it's been a while since the Irish team did anything worth celebrating

I know spreading the joy makes some sense but like South Korea, Uzbekistan and Jordan etc breezing through while we beat two highly seeded teams over four games and our reward is they seed it so we play two more kinda sticks in the craw.

Liam Scales!

some leap from the big lad

Incredible finish too.

Sweden qualifying for the play-offs after finishing bottom of their group with a single point is some top-tier FIFA fuckery

tho Kosovo earning their own spot unexpectedly makes up for that somewhat

What's the justification there?

xpost

They won their (shite) group in the Nations League

Nordies have also qualified on that basis

By winning promotion in the Nations League under Tomasson last season, Sweden have reached the World Cup play-offs as one of the four best performing teams in the Nations League not assured of a play-off spot.

unfuckingbelievable

that's a stunning pair of results to rack up in four days

they've still got to win a two-legged match with Graham Potter as their manager tho right xp

Weirdly it's a one-off semi final, then a one-off final.

Presumably they'll make the one-off semi final bit a home fixture for the teams they want to qualify.

yes, home team technically based on this month's FIFA ranking I think

btw assuming this match was live on Sky Sports but is it me or was there no decent highlights clip of the game on YouTube before midnight? The FAI one only went up like an hour ago!

I was looking for decent highlights of the Denmark v Belarus game on YouTube but was getting nowhere so gave up.

gone to the fackin pub for this m8s

Get in

Czechs looking somewhat rattled

Make that significantly rattled

that is an unbelievable unforced error however...

One of the dumbest fouls I've ever seen

pretty good recovery effort after again

impressed by the smartness of the passing/options

I will be unhappy about whichever team loses

Meanwhile Kosovo at it once again (2-3 up)

Italy 1-0 up against N Ireland

Just think it would be funny for Italy to fail to qualify yet again, but I guess next game is funnier.

I'm supporting Italy because I'm weird.

Nothing weird about that, I'm supporting them 100%, they're not very good though.

Edin Dzeko is still playing! As Wales have just found out to their cost. He's 40 btw.

oh no we have to get another drink now I guess

Turkey, Denmark, Italy, Kosovo, Sweden through
Romania, North Macedonia, Northern Ireland, Slovakia and Ukraine out.
Czech/Ireland and Wales/Bosnia both into ET

Dying watching this. Think pens with Caoimh is our only hope.

not if he dives half an hour early again. let's see

yep

State of that penalty from Browne

Fuck it anyway

ugh ffs so close

Irish penalties went exactly the same way as the Welsh penalties, the opposition were the first to miss and then Ireland and Wales contrived to miss their last two penalties.

schick did that in the game and he still dives early? terrible keeping

Brennan Johnson's missed penalty was a real howler.

Why tf would you choose Browne as the final taker?

not if he dives half an hour early again. let's see

Just to flag this is an unbelievably moronic post.

Why tf would you choose Browne as the final taker?

My dad and I started screaming at his short run up, it’s like a 90% guarantee of missing (along with respotting the ball)

Caoimhin takes no blame ffs

obv the last two pens had no bottle but the deflating effect of your keeper absolutely selling himself to the same bloke twice in the same game can't be ignored, he's a fabulous keeper and very good against penalties but it's like schick found a glitch, that deceleration he did in his final stride worked both times

anyway I'm sorry, it was all very disheartening

Shootout neither here nor there imo, and obviously the guy Ireland brought on specifically to take one had just been knocked unconscious in pretty scary fashion. The insane gifting of the first half penalty was the killer.

well yeah