Uae 2003 How do you mates think we'll do in the youth championships this/next month?. I think damned well.
We certainly SHOULD do well... but I'm not so sure if we will. The teams in our group will be far more accustomed to the heat. (Saudi Arabia, Mexico and Ivory Coast). Hopefully Sunderland will release Thornton for the competition.
See squad profiles here: http://www.soccercentral.ie/viewstory.asp?id=11269&mainheading=Other&viewstory=yes
Stephen Brennan is out with a thigh injury. They have a friendly v Paraguay before the tournament starts. I'm not positive of the date, though.
Strange that Walters, who has just joined Barnsley on loan from Bolton, was not considered after his performance for the U-21's v Switzerland.
I don't think so. I believe I read when he made his debut for the U-21s that he would be one of the players going to the Emirates to play for the under 20's. Perhaps I am wrong, though.
They lost thier friendly to Paraguay 1-0. Yesterday they beat the Al-Ain reserves 2-0. They open against the Saudis on Saturday. Will there be any webcasts of the matches?
Don't know about webcasts, but for those Europe domiciled amongst us, these games can be enjoyed live on Eurosport.
For those of us in North America, the Ireland-Mexico game will be shown live on Galavision (Dec 5 at 11:30am EST)
I can get nothing except for fifa.com's match tracker. Dubai sports (online TV station) were doing a preview of the Irish match, but I didn't understand a word. In fact, even the match tracker doesn't seem to be working... Anyone have eurosport?
15 minutes to find a goal... a draw would be a disappointment, and could kill our hopes of qualification. Whelan off, Ward on. Daly off, Zayed on.
Watched the match myself, I was very very impressed with the passing style of the Irish as a team. Always found their men and passed the Saudis off the park at times. Saudi Arabia had a physical advantage over us which but we were outclassing them at times, espically in the first half. It's hard to say who at this level could step up in a few years but if I had to pick one, Elliot would be that player. He scored a hat trick on his U21 debut too and it's easy to see why. Very strong and physical, good technique and always in the box, scored two 'strikers goals' today and could have had some more. Perfect foil for Keane actually, so keep your fingers crossed that he makes it. McCarthy at the back was good, commanding and very good technique but lacks pace, reminds me of Hawkins more then anyone really. Flood on the rights delivery into the box was top class but didn't see much of the ball, he was being physically dominated at times really. He could probaboy preform alot better against different opponents. Good preformance, though the second goal was against the run of play, I'd like to see a bit more of this team alright.
The Ivory Coast beat Mexico 2-1, so they certainly seem the team to beat. We play them tomorrow in Al Ain.