Ireland v Czech Republic
If football is your thing - and by that I mean soccer - then you probably aren’t reading this. But if you like to wish misery on the the nation of England for no good reason but that you think you’re supposed to, I can tell you that right now Croatia are beating England 2-0 thereby robbing us all of robbing the pun about the English being on top of the world looking down on Croatia.
But anyway, Ireland have just kicked off at Lansdowne Road against the Czechs and you can follow minute-by-minute text updates, by an Englishman - which seems only fair - here - in the Guardian
Everyone seems to agree that after the weekend’s worst result in Irish football history (no debate), - and itself not so long after our worst home defeat in forty years - new manager Steve Staunton is likely to lose his job unless Ireland produce something special. Or win.
As a little bit of background it’s fair to say that the injury list of unavailable players for Staunton is one of the longest ever faced by any manager, not just of Ireland - it’s positively spooky. Still and all, with the other players available you don’t concede five goals to Cyprus, a result which has effectively ended Ireland’s qualification hopes for the Euro 2008 finals, in only the second qualification game.
Update: It’s still not relevant BUT England have lost 2-0 with this great piece of theatre for the second goal: (watch here)
An unbelievable goal! [The England goal-keeper] goes to hack clear a back-pass from [an England defender] on the edge of the six-yard box, misses it completely and watches in horror as the ball bobbles over the line and into the goal. An astonishingly funny goal
And we all know it doesn’t matter for England will qualify anyway, forget this happened, and expect to win the tournament before going out in the quarter-finals on penalties.
Update: 62 minutes - GOAL! Zinedine Kilbane puts Ireland in front
Update: 64 minutes - GOAL! The Czechs balance the score with Ireland still celebrating
Full-Time: Ireland 1 Czech Republic 1
See Also:
• Ireland & USA: Little Differences #2
• Irish Lose: O Dear, O-dear O-dear O-dear
• Ireland, Argentina and Germany: Meeting Maradona in Dublin
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