I've never been the biggest supporter of our national team, for various reasons. For one, too many of our players haven't actually been Irish in recent times, so I've found it difficult to get excited about seeing a bunch of guys from England with Irish grandmothers (or guys from England with Italian grandmothers) play in an Irish jersey, simply because they know they'll never be good enough to play in an English one. It kind of defeats the purpose of having a national team if you ask me.
Another reason I've failed to exhibit any real patriotism when it comes to Irish soccer is the fact we've always played a really horrible brand of football. The kind of football that turns me off a team. The kind of football Liverpool play. In a nutshell, it involves completely bypassing your midfield by playing long balls up to the strikers (or even just empty space) from the back. Being a sort of football romantic, I can't get behind this play. I can't bring myself to support any team that implements such ugly football, no matter who they are. I'm just not that guy.
With Trapattoni at the helm however, I was willing to give our team another chance. After all, his interviews alone are worth supporting, so I figured why not support the team by watching the actual game too? Well I did, and dare I say, it wasn't half bad. Ireland actually played some decent football for the first 30 minutes or so. The defenders were passing it to the midfielders, the midfielders were passing it to each other, or back to the defenders, or up to the strikers. It was all quite pleasant to watch, even if we did dwindle as the game went on.
One player I was very impressed with was Steven Reid. His passing from the middle of the park was as good as I've seen from an Irish player in years (doesn't it make you cry to think that Matty Holland and Graham Kavanagh once anchored our midfield?). It wasn't the perfect performance by any means, but it was a promising start. Some fundamentals still need to be sorted out however, chief of which being the swift removal of one Paul McShane from the squad. If you're not good enough for Sunderland's defence at the moment, then you are certainly not good enough to have any part in Ireland's World Cup hopes. He will do nothing but put them in jeopardy, so the sooner Trapattoni realises this the better.
Overall though, I'm hopeful, and I finally feel like I have a national team I can get behind. And what's more, with 8 Irish-born plays starting last Saturday, I finally feel like I have a national team that's Irish.
Another reason I've failed to exhibit any real patriotism when it comes to Irish soccer is the fact we've always played a really horrible brand of football. The kind of football that turns me off a team. The kind of football Liverpool play. In a nutshell, it involves completely bypassing your midfield by playing long balls up to the strikers (or even just empty space) from the back. Being a sort of football romantic, I can't get behind this play. I can't bring myself to support any team that implements such ugly football, no matter who they are. I'm just not that guy.
With Trapattoni at the helm however, I was willing to give our team another chance. After all, his interviews alone are worth supporting, so I figured why not support the team by watching the actual game too? Well I did, and dare I say, it wasn't half bad. Ireland actually played some decent football for the first 30 minutes or so. The defenders were passing it to the midfielders, the midfielders were passing it to each other, or back to the defenders, or up to the strikers. It was all quite pleasant to watch, even if we did dwindle as the game went on.
One player I was very impressed with was Steven Reid. His passing from the middle of the park was as good as I've seen from an Irish player in years (doesn't it make you cry to think that Matty Holland and Graham Kavanagh once anchored our midfield?). It wasn't the perfect performance by any means, but it was a promising start. Some fundamentals still need to be sorted out however, chief of which being the swift removal of one Paul McShane from the squad. If you're not good enough for Sunderland's defence at the moment, then you are certainly not good enough to have any part in Ireland's World Cup hopes. He will do nothing but put them in jeopardy, so the sooner Trapattoni realises this the better.
Overall though, I'm hopeful, and I finally feel like I have a national team I can get behind. And what's more, with 8 Irish-born plays starting last Saturday, I finally feel like I have a national team that's Irish.
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