EURO 2012 Blog

Play-off Winners
Coach Giovanni Trapatoni
One to Watch Shane Long

As we approach the summer of 2012 all of our minds, well most of them at least, will turn away from the domestic football competitions within our own countries, towards the International arena for the eagerly awaited European Championship Finals, to be held in Poland and the Ukraine. Within a fortnight from now, the world will know the names of the last four teams/countries, which will join the 12 nations already guaranteed a place at Euro 2012. Over the next three weeks, we shall be profiling each of the 16 finalists who will bid to become the champions of Europe until 2016.

We pay a visit to the Republic of Ireland for the next in our series of team profiles for next year’s European Championships. Formerly known as the Irish Free State, the footballing nation which is officially known by FIFA as the Republic of Ireland, first took part in international competition at the 1924 Olympics. As you might expect for such a small country, in which “soccer” is not a prioritised sport, the Republic of Ireland do not have an illustrious history in major international football tournaments.

The Irish have qualified for the World Cup Finals on just three occasions, Italia 90, U.S.A 94, and 2002 when the Finals took place in Japan and South Korea; in all three instances however, they have managed to get out of the group stage and make it into the knock-out rounds, reaching the quarter finals in 1990. In terms of European competition, other than their appearance in the European Nations’ Cup in 1964, the Republic have qualified for the European Championships just once, in 1988 when the competition was held in West Germany. This was the first time that the Irish had appeared in a major international finals tournament and although they didn’t make it through the group, they were very unlucky not to progress. After defeating arch rivals England 1-0, Ray Houghton with the goal, and drawing 1-1 with the Soviet Union, the Republic came within eight minutes of achieving a draw against Holland which would have sent the Irish through and the Dutch home. As it transpired Kieft scored for the Dutch, Ireland were out, and Holland went on to be crowned European Champions 1988.

Following on from that very respectable debut on the international stage, the Republic of Ireland, under charismatic boss Jackie Charlton went on to qualify for two successive World Cup Finals. The first of these was at Italia 90 where the Irish qualified for the second round after three draws in the group stage; they went on to beat Romania on penalties, David O’ Leary with the famous fifth spot kick, before losing 1-0 to the hosts in the quarter final. Four years later Ireland made it to the second round in America after a famous victory against Italy in their opening match, Ray Houghton again doing the business in a 1-0 win. They went on to lose 2-0 to Holland in the second round.

After defeat to Holland in the play-off for Euro 96, Jack Charlton retired as Republic of Ireland manager and was replaced by Mick McCarthy. McCarthy’s charges were unlucky not to qualify for both France 98 and Euro 2000, losing out in both at the play-off stage against Belgium and Turkey respectively. Successful qualification for World Cup 2002 was followed by a bust up between McCarthy and, then captain, Roy Keane, which ended in the latter being sent home. Despite this, the Republic gave a good showing, again making the knockout stages, this time they were beaten on penalties 3-2 in the second round by Spain. Since then successive managers such as Brian Kerr and Steve Staunton brought Ireland little success, however following the appointment of Giovani Trapatoni in 2008, things began to improve.

Trapatoni has instilled a solidity and a belief within the squad and the effect of his experience and class was seen almost immediately, the Irish were very unlucky not to qualify for South Africa 2010, losing out again in the play-offs, this time after a blatant handball from Thierry Henry set up the winning goal for France. For Euro 2012 the Irish finished behind Russia in their qualifying group, gaining 21 points, and losing only once, they went on to qualify by beating Estonia in a play-off 5-1 on aggregate.

Looking at the Republic of Ireland this time around, the one thing that you have to say immediately is that they are hard to beat, they do not concede many goals, just seven in ten qualifiers and just two in their last eleven. Looking at their squad, they’ve got some really good experience with the likes of Dunne, Given and Robbie Keane, as well as some exciting youngsters such as Seamus Coleman. One to look out for in the summer is Shane Long, he’s a quick thinking, pacey goalscorer who has made the step up to the Premier League with aplomb this year, and has already netted seven times in 23 international caps, centre backs beware. Ireland can definitely make the quarter finals, as they’ve shown over the years, they are never just there to make up the numbers. Trapatoni has them settled and playing well and the Irish always pull it out in the major tournaments, none of the big boys will fancy drawing the Republic in the group stage, because with the Green Army roaring them on, Ireland have a habit of rising to the big occasion.

Tags: 1924 olympics, arch rivals, brian kerr, david o leary, doing the business, domestic football, drawing 1, euro 2012, european nations cup, football competitions, football tournaments, france 98, group stage, illustrious history, international arena, international competition, international football, international stage, irish free state, italia 90, jack charlton, knockout stages, mick mccarthy, qualifying group, quarter finals, republic of ireland, respectable debut, roy keane, south africa 2010, South Korea;, steve staunton, team profiles, trapatoni, ukraine, west germany, world cup 2002, world cup finals

This entry was posted on Tuesday, December 6th, 2011 at 16:55 and is filed under Group C, Team Profiles. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.