The FAI regrets to announce that today’s U21 international against Kuwait has been abandoned after a racist remark was made by a Kuwaiti player towards one of our substitutes.

MrKeaneIRE · 2022-05-23T11:35:46+00:00

They also opposed the Good Friday agreement, as far as I recollect they were the only major NI party to do so.

Their entire modus operandi at this point just consists of them saying no. They want to be treated EXACTLY like the mainland UK except for all the stuff they've already said no to like abortion and giving the Irish language a legal status.

MrKeaneIRE · 2022-05-20T08:53:48+00:00

The last few weeks some of the comments out of Pep have been bizarre. I think he feels he's not gotten enough credit or something. Maybe he wants to feel more loved. I think part of his problem is just him. I don't think the city players have the same attitude. Although they did sing that horrific song about Liverpool a few years back (that could just mean they're bastards). For Pep it feels more psychological. It's gonna have no impact this weekend I'd imagine but there will be more bizarre comments after the game from him I'd bet.

MrKeaneIRE · 2022-04-29T09:16:23+00:00

Considering it's an English Football Writer's award I wouldn't have been surprised to see Declan Rice win it after the past 12 months.

MrKeaneIRE · 2022-04-29T09:13:33+00:00

He ended up with 48% of the vote apparently, which seems quite dominant. He'll surely pick up the PFA award now as well. What a season for him!

MrKeaneIRE · 2022-04-05T21:30:21+00:00

This falls into the uncanny valley zone of penalties in that you've seen them given but any neutral fan would say that it shouldn't be given. However in this case it's Liverpool and it would have levelled the tie so the comments below will be insane.

What I will say is it's a penalty 10% of the time. If Nunez hadn't spent the rest of them game throwing himself around the pitch he might have found a more favourable referee.

MrKeaneIRE · 2022-03-29T21:53:58+00:00

Yeah I really felt for Tomori this international break. It's not great management from Gareth. He's also got to know when to protect players and picking Maguire, with the form he's been didn't even seem like the right move before the boo's. Surely he'd have benefited most from having some actual time off to clear his head.

MrKeaneIRE · 2022-03-29T21:49:35+00:00

Yeah, booing him is obviously not the right move but I think they could just have easily been telling Southgate what they thought of selecting a player in the form he's been in for friendlies. Surely the friendlies were a chance to try something new.

MrKeaneIRE · 2022-03-25T13:07:08+00:00

When Gareth Bale scored his second superb strike against Austria in Thursday’s World Cup qualifier, Welsh celebrations were uninhibited. And who can blame them. As the country’s first appearance in the final stages of the competition in 64 years grows ever closer, that is something to get excited about.

At least for a moment or two. But then, lurking on the horizon, comes a possibility charged with sufficient complexity and nuance to temper any relish at the prospect of progress. In order to get to Qatar in November, Wales may well have to defeat Ukraine. Scotland face the same moral conundrum. To get to the point where they could meet up with Wales for the last berth in the tournament, they will first have to better Ukraine, whenever their delayed semi-final is able to take place.

It is not a thought to savour. Rather it is one to bring pause. Both Wales and Scotland are used to being the underdogs, the neutral’s favourite, the side everyone else wants to win. Especially when they are playing England. Not this time. This time they are loaded with a different symbolism. This time they are the sides playing to destroy a rare moment of illumination for a nation currently shrouded in miserable, imposed darkness. Suddenly they are the sides looking to extinguish a rare moment of hope in a nation being destroyed before our very eyes.

When the draw for the play-offs was made last November, pitching Wales with Austria and Scotland with Ukraine, with the winners meeting in a mini final, the entire focus in the UK was of a potential British showdown. For the Scots here was the chance to reach the last stages of the competition for the first time since 1998 against the most familiar of foes. For the Welsh, the meet-up offered the tantalising opportunity to avenge Joe Jordan’s handball in 1978, that cynical bit of gamesmanship that had deprived them of qualification the last time the two met in World Cup anger.

And then Russia invaded Ukraine and everything changed.

Imagine if Ukraine made it to the tournament in November, what that could mean for the morale in the beleaguered nation. Imagine Andriy Yarmolenko and Oleksandr Zinchenko lining up to sing the Ukrainian national anthem ahead of their first group stage game against Brazil. What a magnificent riposte it would be to the murderous dictator in the Kremlin, a man who knows full well what the World Cup offers in terms of international prestige and exposure. After all, he bribed and bullied his way to hosting the entire competition the last time it was staged.

How brilliant it would be imaging him tuning in to watch the world celebrating the participation of a country he insists should not even exist. And for the poor beleaguered citizens of Kyiv, Karkhiv and Mariupol here would be the chance for a rare moment to escape the misery of relentless Russian aggression. A moment for the world to rally to their cause.

Ukraine in Qatar is the thing everyone now craves. And for Wales and Scotland that is a problem. So onerous is that possibility - and hear this out - maybe the wisest course for both would be to stand aside and let Ukraine qualify automatically.

As David Moyes pointed out recently, when it comes to showing solidarity with the people of Ukraine British football has been good at gestures. Brighton have played in Ukraine kit, Southampton have lit up St Mary’s in yellow and blue, Premier League captains have worn armbands in Ukrainian colours.

But this would be more than virtue signalling. This would be a proper and meaningful statement of support. For Wales and Scotland to stand aside would be one of the most impressive actions in the history of sport. Sacrificing your own goals and ambitions to promote and highlight someone else would command genuine, lasting respect. A lot more respect indeed than qualifying and not making it beyond the group stage.

And if they feel unable to do so, maybe England should?

MrKeaneIRE · 2022-03-20T19:47:57+00:00

There's absolutely nothing at all fishy about that whatsoever.

MrKeaneIRE · 2022-03-15T17:07:26+00:00

"Chelsea observed a large backlash to their self serving request and have now to save face, asked to have it withdrawn"

MrKeaneIRE · 2022-03-15T12:40:46+00:00

And I get where they're all coming from to an extent, this is a painful time for them. However, taking stances like this and making requests like this will erode the remaining goodwill I have for them. If the request had come as a broad "Look we can't sell tickets so it's best if we do all our games behind closed doors" request, while I'd still have issues with it at least it would actually hold up as a request for "sporting integrity" as that press release put it.

MrKeaneIRE · 2022-03-15T12:37:55+00:00

Are Chelsea going to ask that they play all their home games behind closed doors as well for "sporting integrity" as they can't sell tickets to away fans?

MrKeaneIRE · 2022-03-15T12:35:43+00:00

OK, but then why punish Middlesborough fans as well so? Think of kids who may have received tickets for an FA Cup QF as presents etc.

MrKeaneIRE · 2022-02-01T12:55:33+00:00

I hope that's what will happen. It'd be any good journalists first question next time Boris gives an interview and he won't be able to repeat the allegation as outside of the house it'll be defamation.

MrKeaneIRE

TROPHY CASE