Republic of Ireland -v- Bulgaria (WCQ) Group 8- 28/3/09 MATCH THREAD

Carroller16

- v -



Kick off 7.45pm

Live on RTÉ 2 & Sky Sports 1

Ireland Squad:

GOALKEEPERS
Shay Given (Manchester City),
Dean Kiely (West Brom),
Kieren Westwood (Coventry)

DEFENDERS
Alex Bruce (Ipswich),
Damien Delaney (QPR),
John O'Shea (Manchester United),
Kevin Foley (Wolves),
Paul McShane (Sunderland),
Richard Dunne (Manchester City),
Stephen Kelly (Birmingham),
Kevin Kilbane (Hull),
Darren O'Dea (Celtic);

MIDFIELDERS
Aiden McGeady (Celtic),
Damien Duff (Newcastle),
Darron Gibson (Manchester United),
Glenn Whelan (Stoke),
Keith Andrews (Blackburn),
Liam Miller (QPR),
Stephen Hunt (Reading),
Andy Keogh (Wolves);

FORWARDS
Caleb Folan (Hull),
Kevin Doyle (Reading),
Robbie Keane (Tottenham),
Shane Long (Reading),
Noel Hunt (Reading).

This could be a big win for us here before the trip to Bari.

No Berbatov for Bulgaria, although with the way he's playing at the moment it prob won't make a difference.

My prediction

2-1 Ireland

My Team

Given

Kelly
O'Shea
Dunne
Kilbane

McGeady
Gibson
Andrews
Duff

Keane
Doyle

One last thing:


COME ON IRELAND

I'd stick with Whelan again instead of Gibson. The rest of the team pretty much picks itself.

I'd see it as 2-1 as well

GO ON THE BOYS IN GREEN!

Quint

Is it sold out yet?

Carroller16

tickets still available.



Gibson has come on a lot for United

Xavi6

Whelan was fucking crap against Georgia, though Gibson isn't much better.

Much of a muchness really.

Frisbee

Xavi6 wrote: »

Whelan was fucking crap against Georgia, though Gibson isn't much better.

Agreed, the team needs a decent CM so bad.

Carroller16

Frisbee wrote: »

Agreed, the team needs a decent CM so bad.

Isn't there a guy who plays for Man City.. Can't quite think of the name ... Stephen Stephen .. something or other**

redout

Quint wrote: »

Is it sold out yet?

LoL

It will in its arse be sold out.

Georgia and Cyprus only had about 55,000 and 44,000. The place will look half empty no doubt. Really looks awful when thats the case. The Italian game towards the end of the year will be the only sell-out.

Tom65

Carroller16 wrote: »

Isn't there a guy who plays for Man City.. Can't quite think of the name ... Stephen Stephen .. something or other**

Stephen Reid? He plays for Blackburn, but unfortunately I think he's injured at the moment :pac:


First time in a while I'll be in Ireland for an Ireland match, so I'm looking forward to it. I think if he play like we generally have under Trap (nothing pretty, but grinding out results) we can get a win. Whelan hasn't been great for Ireland recently, but he has been good for Stoke, I think he should get the nod ahead ahead of Gibson.

Quint

redout wrote: »

LoL

It will in its arse be sold out.

Georgia and Cyprus only had about 55,000 and 44,000. The place will look half empty no doubt. Really looks awful when thats the case. The Italian game towards the end of the year will be the only sell-out.

Pathetic really. This is a massive game, no excuse not to go if you're a football fan.

redout

Quint wrote: »

Pathetic really. This is a massive game, no excuse not to go if you're a football fan.

I agree brother. I will be flying back from Madrid just to see the game. Too many prawn sandwich brigade who only come to the bigger games. The premium seats and boxes were nearly all empty for the last match against Georgia.

monkey9

Quint wrote: »

Pathetic really. This is a massive game, no excuse not to go if you're a football fan.

Especially as it's a huge game. We win this and we go ten points ahead of the Bulgarians, albeit having played a game more.
And if Montengro somehow managed to hold the Italians at the same time, we could find ourselves top of the group come Saturday night.

yom 1

redout wrote: »

LoL

It will in its arse be sold out.

Georgia and Cyprus only had about 55,000 and 44,000. The place will look half empty no doubt. Really looks awful when thats the case. The Italian game towards the end of the year will be the only sell-out.

Why would it sell out? The ticket prices are disgraceful. If they reduced the prices they'd sell out the stadium. As it is the ordinary fan is being priced out. Looked into getting tickets at the weeked for me and my son and the cheapest I could get was 70 plus booking fee each on ticketmaster. Ridiculous price.

Carroller16

Quint wrote: »

Pathetic really. This is a massive game, no excuse not to go if you're a football fan.

sky high ticket prices + no money = rte 2 ftw

The Volt

Yeah the ticket price is a pretty decent excuse, they should be flogging tickets to schoolboys

Boggles

Quint wrote: »

Pathetic really. This is a massive game, no excuse not to go if you're a football fan.

I can think of at least 1. :rolleyes:

s_carnage

yom 1 wrote: »

Why would it sell out? The ticket prices are disgraceful. If they reduced the prices they'd sell out the stadium. As it is the ordinary fan is being priced out. Looked into getting tickets at the weeked for me and my son and the cheapest I could get was 70 plus booking fee each on ticketmaster. Ridiculous price.

Don't know why they can't figure it out. €70 tickets sold to a half full stadium V's €40 tickets sold to a full capacity crowd. It would help the boys out so much if there was a full capacity crowd there to cheer them on.

I'm kind of worried about this game. I can see a 0-0 draw but hope I'm wrong. If the lads can play to their potential there is no reason why we can't go on and win this game and then head off to Italy with high confidence.

Nalz

Fahey, Rowlands, Andrews, Carsley, A Reid....

plenty of CMs better than Miller, Gibson and Whelan

Quint

My ticket cost €50, no booking fee when bought through a LOI club.

€70 is a bit steep, you're in a difficult situation. Do you support your team, or bend over and take it from the FAI? I'm still surprised that this big game is struggling to sell out. Fair enough not paying €50-70 for Cyprus, but this is a big one.

Xavi6

Quint wrote: »

My ticket cost €50, no booking fee when bought through a LOI club.

€70 is a bit steep, you're in a difficult situation. Do you support your team, or bend over and take it from the FAI? I'm still surprised that this big game is struggling to sell out. Fair enough not paying €50-70 for Cyprus, but this is a big one.

Cyprus are as big a team as Bulgaria.

I paid €50 for Georgia and was very heavy hearted handing over the cash. It's a disgusting amount of money for a game.

Quint

Xavi6 wrote: »

Cyprus are as big a team as Bulgaria.

Ah come on now. Bulgaria are ranked 27th, one place behind us. Cyprus are 84th, just ahead of Rwanda

Xavi6

Quint wrote: »

Ah come on now. Bulgaria are ranked 27th, one place behind us. Cyprus are 84th, just ahead of Rwanda

Rankings mean feck all tbh. Given our recent performances against Cyprus you'd think the Irish public would get along and support a revenge mission. I'd consider it just as big a game.

Then again, there are no United players in the Cyprus squad (yes I know Berbatov is injured but you get the point).

IvySlayer

How can they justify €70?

Old Trafford/Anfield/Emirates wouldn't be that much when they play mid table teams!

RTE 2 for me so

Just on another point.....we just won the Grand Slam in rugby and will probably go shooting up rankings, does that mean they can increase ticket prices?

Mushy

Xavi6 wrote: »

Cyprus are as big a team as Bulgaria.

I paid €50 for Georgia and was very heavy hearted handing over the cash. It's a disgusting amount of money for a game.

It really is. For Wednesday night games, I'd like to go, but i'm not gonna hand over €50 for it. In Australia, I hope to go to the Bahrain match(WC Qualifier too), and they have student tickets, which will mean I'll pay the equivalent of €13-€14. And its the same for the Japan match. They need to make incentives for adults to bring kids to games for good financial value.

BigCon

Looking forward to this game.
The tickets are way too expensive.
I'm going with the wife and two kids and was lucky to get the last of the 55.95 euro tickets - that's 223.80 for a family of 4, add in travel costs etc and it's an awful lot to pay in these times.
Having said that I think it will nearly be a sell out (hopefully).
I think interest in this team is starting to build, given the decent results so far, it would be great to get back to something resembling the glory days!

Ashamed to say that this is only my second ROI game to go to ever, the last one being Boliva in the last home friendly before USA '94 (we won that one 1-0) - I'd settle for the same result this time.

Come on Ireland!

Xavi6

Mushy wrote: »

It really is. For Wednesday night games, I'd like to go, but i'm not gonna hand over €50 for it. In Australia, I hope to go to the Bahrain match(WC Qualifier too), and they have student tickets, which will mean I'll pay the equivalent of €13-€14. And its the same for the Japan match. They need to make incentives for adults to bring kids to games for good financial value.

Agree 100% about incentives for families.

For the next Uefa Cup home game City are putting thousands of tickets on sale for £5 (adults) and £1 (kids). The stadium has been maybe half full so far so the club want to get the place hopping for the biggest game of the season.

Surely the FAI should be adopting the same approach.

redout

Xavi6 wrote: »

Agree 100% about incentives for families.

For the next Uefa Cup home game City are putting thousands of tickets on sale for £5 (adults) and £1 (kids). The stadium has been maybe half full so far so the club want to get the place hopping for the biggest game of the season.

Surely the FAI should be adopting the same approach.

The FAI are money hungry bastards. On the block booking they stick you in the €70 seats (although the block booking in Croker has gone messed up. People sitting all over the shop) and not the €50. Now thats bollox in my opinion. Why should you have to pay €20 more ? I wasnt even given the option to choose the cheaper seat but was given the option to take up a premium seat . wtf !

daithip

John Delaney interviewed last night on a particular radio sports programme quoted that the FAI had already sold 60000 tickets and with capacity for the match at 66k was hoping to sell the rest this week. Well John I won't be one of those 6000. It'll be €50 well spent in my local along with the rest of the lads.

Quint

daithip wrote: »

John Delaney interviewed last night on a particular radio sports programme quoted that the FAI had already sold 60000 tickets and with capacity for the match at 66k was hoping to sell the rest this week. Well John I won't be one of those 6000. It'll be €50 well spent in my local along with the rest of the lads.

How's the premium seats selling? €32k for 10 years (Works out at about €530 a match!) for the ones at the center line!
I heard they were having trouble selling them. Not very surprising really

_blank_

FAI are raping people, have been for years.

But.

If people continue to pay these prices, John Delaney will continue to charge them.

Mr.Nice Guy

Yeah I agree there should be incentives for families and I think for students as well (though I'm biased ), but yeah I would love to be able to watch this live but I'm way too broke as it is. It's a night in with Dunphy and the boys for me then I suppose.

I'm feeling confident about the game. I reckon Ireland to win by a goal.

ironictoaster

Amen for schoolboy tickets, only €10!

stovelid

Our (block-booked) seats were 70 quid, now 50 because we moved.

Pathetic. Far too high. A drop in prices would definitely get more punters in.

As a matter of interest, does anybody if the FAI paid the Galiban a fixed fee for renting Croker or a percentage of the gate?

eirebhoy

yom 1 wrote: »

Why would it sell out? The ticket prices are disgraceful. If they reduced the prices they'd sell out the stadium. As it is the ordinary fan is being priced out. Looked into getting tickets at the weeked for me and my son and the cheapest I could get was 70 plus booking fee each on ticketmaster. Ridiculous price.

Ticketmaster have €50 tickets for sale (I think they're in the singing section) Can't believe their €5 service charge but as far as I'm aware you can buy them directly from the FAI and won't be charged that. They have a new shop in town too, give them a ring.

redout wrote: »

The FAI are money hungry bastards. On the block booking they stick you in the €70 seats (although the block booking in Croker has gone messed up. People sitting all over the shop) and not the €50. Now thats bollox in my opinion. Why should you have to pay €20 more ? I wasnt even given the option to choose the cheaper seat but was given the option to take up a premium seat . wtf !

I'm on block booking and when we moved to Croker was given the option of the €50 tickets which I took.

€50 is a rip off for a match but the cheapest rugby ticket in Croker is €90. I know it's a different audience but there's still plenty of people with plenty of money in this country.

zAbbo

Quint wrote: »

Pathetic really. This is a massive game, no excuse not to go if you're a football fan.

Cheapest tickets E50...

redout

eirebhoy wrote: »

I'm on block booking and when we moved to Croker was given the option of the €50 tickets which I took.

€50 is a rip off for a match but the cheapest rugby ticket in Croker is €90. I know it's a different audience but there's still plenty of people with plenty of money in this country.

The block booking in croker is a sham. The first games in croker they gave myself tickets at the very end of the Hogan stand beside the nally about 20 metres past the byline ! Now for top dollar I was royally pissed. A simple raging like a lunatic call to the FAI sorted it but still a disgrace all the same. One would think block bookers would be given decent seats considering there the ones who go to all the games and give the FAI the majority of their ticket sales. I have to say Lansdowne seating I thought was far better. I had excellent seats directly behind the VIP box with Bertie & co. right on the halfway line. No doubt once we move back they will try and stick us somewhere daft. Someone would think they would sit down and plan the seats out for the block bookers instead of what appears to be random seats all over the stadium. I know for a fact in the direct vicinity of myself in croker there are no other block bookers as every game there are new people around. The last game I had eight bloody georgians who were pissed and couldnt STFU all night !

Seaneh

Right I know I'm ment to post in the request forum but ive already done that and my post had disappeared so was wondering if anyone had a 50 yoyo ticket to sell?

yom 1

eirebhoy wrote: »

Ticketmaster have €50 tickets for sale (I think they're in the singing section) Can't believe their €5 service charge but as far as I'm aware you can buy them directly from the FAI and won't be charged that. They have a new shop in town too, give them a ring.

Cheers Eirebhoy. When I tried at the weekend it had none of the €50 tickets for sale so I'll check it again today.

JerryHandbag

Where exactly is the 'singing' section? cos I think I might be in it....:o

zAbbo

JerryHandbag wrote: »

Where exactly is the 'singing' section? cos I think I might be in it....:o

Singing/Standing section in lower Davin, but seems to be more Smoking/Drinking section

MementoMori

IvySlayer wrote: »

Just on another point.....we just won the Grand Slam in rugby and will probably go shooting up rankings, does that mean they can increase ticket prices?

You'd imagine that given the rugby and soccer will be moving back from Croker (82,300 capacity) to new Lansdowne (50,000 capacity) soon enough the ticket price will be jumping up quite strongly. You'd have to expect that the FAI will be hoping to make up for the loss in capacity with increased ticket prices. I would imagine that the supply of schoolboy tickets might be reduced a fair bit as well.

You'd have to imagine that Whelan and Andrews have the upper hand at the moment in the middle of the park given they have has been playing for Stoke and Blackburn pretty regularly in the League. Anyone know how Gibson been playing for the Utd reserves?

NaiveMelodies

Anyone know if theyre showin this in australia?

_blank_

only1stevo wrote: »

Anyone know if theyre showin this in australia?

You should PM Xavi6, he's in Perth.

But, it should be on Setanta, find an Oirish bar.

monkey9

By Vincent Hogan


Wednesday March 25 2009

Paddy Mulligan remembers the sound of Jimmy Holmes's leg-break "as if it happened a minute ago".

It carried around the Vasil Levski Stadium like the crack of a rifle in a valley. Sofia was almost balmy that May evening in 1979, yet the sudden realisation of the Spurs and Ireland full-back's plight sent a chill wind gusting through the Irish dug-out.

Mulligan was sent to warm-up on the running track, sensing in his heart the depth of Holmes's predicament. "It was a ball that Jimmy should never have gone for," recalls the then West Brom defender. "I was screaming at him from the sideline not to.

"You could hear the crack immediately. It was an awful break. Horrible. And I think the other players went a little introspective when they saw it. You could almost hear them thinking, 'what are we doing here?' It was a real Rocky Horror show."

Ireland would lose that European Championship qualifier 1-0 to Bulgaria and the injury effectively ended Holmes's career in the top flight. A botched operation in Sofia necessitated the leg being re-set on arrival back in England. It would take him 11 months to play again and, by '81, Holmes's ebbing professional career had taken him to Canada and a stint with Vancouver Whitecaps.

Distressed

Mulligan remembers especially the flight home from Bulgaria and the spectacle of a distressed Holmes pleading for something to soothe the pain.

"Jimmy was in absolute agony on the flight," he recalls. "The sweat was pouring off him. I remember Doc O'Driscoll trying to look after him, but there wasn't an awful lot anyone could do. His leg was in a cast that he would have to get taken off to have the job re-done again. And I'm sitting there trying to console him. 'Jimmy, it'll pass...'

"The only experience I could compare it to was the 1965 FAI Cup final, playing for Shamrock Rovers, when John Keogh clashed with Mick Doyle, the Limerick outside left. You could hear the crack all over Dalymount Park. It was pretty much the same that day in Bulgaria from an Irish perspective. The football pretty much ceased to matter."

Ireland actually won the return 3-0 at Lansdowne Road five months later but completed their campaign with defeats to Northern Ireland and England at Windsor Park and Wembley.

Two years earlier, the Republic had also lost in the Vasil Levski while on World Cup qualifying duty. That game was notable for a mean spirit and the sight of four players (two from each side) sent to the line at the same time by Greek referee Nikos Zlatanos. The two Irish dismissed were Mick Martin and Noel Campbell, Ireland losing 2-1, their goal scored by Don Givens.

"I remember a row erupting around the half-way line," recalls Givens. "I was up front and I'm looking at it thinking, 'I'm not going to get involved in that...'

"But it seemed to go on for so long, I ended up getting involved as well. It spilled over onto the running track and, to be honest, in the end I think the ref just grabbed four and sent them off. It could have been any four. I don't think he had a clue who was to blame."

Mulligan, who also played that night, concurs. "I'd say it was only because Mick and Noel both had red hair that they got sent to the line. The game was full of bookings. Crazy stuff. Tackles were flying in. It was just a very abnormal atmosphere."

To compound the Irish frustration, player-manager John Giles then had what looked a perfectly legitimate goal ruled out for offside and the defeat, followed by a 0-0 draw against the same opposition at Lansdowne Road, cost the team their hopes of playing at the '78 World Cup finals in Argentina.

"It was hard to take," reflects Givens. "Because around that time, we were starting to become a decent team. In my early days as an international, you'd go to eastern European countries and you'd hardly get a kick of the ball. But under Gilesy we were getting a little bit more competitive and professional. We actually played well that night."

Ireland's only other competitive engagement in Bulgaria came on April Fool's Day in 1987 under Jack Charlton and, again, resulted in a controversial single-goal European Championship qualifying defeat at the Vasil Levski. This time the winner arrived in the dying seconds, a disputed penalty awarded by Portuguese referee, Mr Valente.

Newcastle United's John Anderson played right-back for Ireland on an absolutely foul evening and recalls the 2-1 defeat (Frank Stapleton got the Irish goal) as an act of clear-cut larceny.

"Kevin Moran was adjudged to have fouled a Bulgarian player in the box," says Anderson. "As it happens, the original tackle was outside the box, but it was even debatable if it was a foul. Nine out of 10 people who saw the incident would say that it was never a penalty.

"We played well, but you just always felt that the referee was a bit of a 'homer' that night. He gave them everything. It was an intimidating place to play. Back then you had a lot of armed police and army in the stadium. But it was a great atmosphere to play in too and I think we stood up and were counted that night.

"Jack had words with the ref at the end, told him in no uncertain terms what he thought of the decision. We felt like we'd been cheated out of it. Back then you were always wary of going to eastern European countries. Any 50/50 decisions or even 60/40 in your favour were always going to go against you."

The following October, Ireland completed their qualifying campaign with a 2-0 defeat of Bulgaria at Lansdowne Road, notable for a wonderful 80 minutes from Liam Brady before he was sent off for retaliation against the incessant fouling of Bulgarian midfielder Sadkov.

It was generally assumed the victory was meaningless. A month later, Bulgaria would finish their campaign in Sofia against an unregarded Scottish team lying fourth. A draw would be sufficient to send Bulgaria to Euro '88. Scotland had nothing to play for but pride.

Unexpected

Then Gary Mackay -- a substitute earning his first cap -- struck the most unexpected blow for Irish football on the night of November 11, 1987, scoring an 87th-minute winner for Scotland and sending the Republic to Euro '88.

"That pretty much started everything," recalls Anderson. "Being honest, none of us saw it coming. Scotland just didn't seem good enough to go over there and get anything. In the end, they did us a huge favour."

Twenty-two years on, Ireland and Bulgaria meet again in a competitive arena. Saturday's game at Croke Park has, potentially, defining implications for both in these World Cup qualifiers. An Irish win will virtually eliminate Bulgaria as challengers. A Bulgaria win could severely damage Irish confidence for next week's difficult trip to Bari.

Givens likens the game in importance to the 2001 World Cup qualifier against Holland at Lansdowne Road, won so famously by Jason McAteer's goal. And he is in two minds about the significance of Dimitar Berbatov's absence from the visitors' squad.

"Maybe at the moment there's a little bit of a question mark about their togetherness," he says of Bulgaria. "That said, in some ways Berbatov being out might not really help us either. He's a very talented fella, but you wouldn't want to be in the trenches with him, would you?"

Berbatov or not, if Ireland-Bulgaria stays true to tradition, expect a few unscripted sub-plots to the story.

- Vincent Hogan

Draupnir

redout wrote: »

The FAI are money hungry bastards. On the block booking they stick you in the €70 seats (although the block booking in Croker has gone messed up. People sitting all over the shop) and not the €50. Now thats bollox in my opinion. Why should you have to pay €20 more ? I wasnt even given the option to choose the cheaper seat but was given the option to take up a premium seat . wtf !

I get the €50 tickets under block booking, there was a letter many moons ago when we moved to Croker where you had to select which section your ticket was in based on price of tickets.

PCros

Tickets are nearly sold out just heard there. I think he said few hundred of the 66,000 are left.

One thing how come during the Euro 2008 qualifiers they were packing in over 70,000 in Croker but now the limit is 66,000?

carlop

PCros wrote: »

Tickets are nearly sold out just heard there. I think he said few hundred of the 66,000 are left.

One thing how come during the Euro 2008 qualifiers they were packing in over 70,000 in Croker but now the limit is 66,000?

It might be that they're not opening hill16 for the WC qualifiers, I'm not sure but I don't recall seeing it open.

Dancor

carlop wrote: »

It might be that they're not opening hill16 for the WC qualifiers, I'm not sure but I don't recall seeing it open.

The Hill was open for the Germany game IIRC

Het-Field

One of the very few internationals I will have missed (either on Telly or (more often than not) present at the ground) since October 1992. Im going to London for Metallica, and didnt reaslise that two of my biggest life loves would clash !

I think this is make or break for the group !

carlop

dancor wrote: »

The Hill was open for the Germany game IIRC

Yeah, and that was a qualifier for '08. So that would explain the reduction in capacity between the 08 qualifiers and those for 2010.

GLaDOS

The Hill isn't open for the Bulgaria match (My friend works on the gates)