Austria vs Ireland, World Cup Qualifier, kick-off 5 pm, RTE 2 & Sky Sports 1

nice_guy80

irishguitarlad wrote: »

Maybe in place of whelan, but no way should the two start on the same team.

where did I say they should?

McCarthy would be the first name in the team when fit

he hasn't been fully fit in 18 months if you ask me

nice_guy80

LuckyLloyd wrote: »

This is the strongest position I can remember us being in since maybe the 1996 qualification campaign. And we ****ed that up. You couldn't ask to be in a stronger position. Clear at the top with two home games to come against those looking to catch up. It's on us to get the job done now.

don't mention that qualification campaign!
Austria destroyed us in both games and of course the Liechtenstein result

Jayop

nice_guy80 wrote: »

where did I say they should?

McCarthy would be the first name in the team when fit

he hasn't been fully fit in 18 months if you ask me

I think he's been a huge disappointment for pretty much his entire Ireland career. I expected so much more from him.

briany

Yeah, McCarthy's been dodgy for Ireland. He's shown glimpses of potential and he's certainly a fair bit less donkey-like than Whelan, but in an Irish shirt he's can-be-botheredness seems to come and go. I always got the feeling that he was torn about declaring for Ireland in the first place. And it's a pity because on his day, he's been a credit to the team, I just don't see him ever being part of the team's core.

strawberryb0y

Personally think that people expect things from McCarthy that aren't part of his game. He's not an explosive box to box midfielder or a playmaker. He is however excellent in the role that Whelan usually plays for us, shielding the back four, moving the ball and generally keeping things ticking over. It's no coincidence that his best performances in a green shirt have come when Whelan hasn't been included in the side.

Jayop

Ah yeah I'd still have him starting but I'd like to see him do a bit more with the ball and especially showing for it off other players which he seems to shy away from but is capable of doing.

Captain Havoc

I was at the game, OMG what a weekend. It kinda started in the summer at the Euros. About ten years ago, I slightly helped an Austrian friend of an Austrian friend get set up in Ireland. We kept contact and in the summer due to not being able to get Irish tickets we ended up going to Austria v Iceland, where I met Austrian Dave and his buddies. We promised them we'd meet up again in Vienna for the Ireland match. Which would be my first away game.

We flew our on Thursday and Austrian Dave sorted us out with cheap hotel rates. They arrived on Friday and we mostly hung around with them for the next few days. I have to say I found the Austrians very friendly, many came up to speak to us, I started studying for a degree in German (and French) last year so I have some command of the language. Our friends organised lunches and dinners for us and on Friday we went to watch Austria v Spain in the U-21's. The stadium in St. Pölten is unreal, it has 8,000 seats and cost €39 million, I wish someone would do the same for a few LoI stadiums.

The day of the match we went for lunch in a brewery, the place was jammers with quite a few Irish in there. Then we had to make our way towards the stadium to pick up our tickets from a Kilkenny friend who lives in Austria. We could only get home tickets. Vienna is very easy to get around.

We get to the stadium, have more beer outside. The stadium is nice but it's freezing. The warm up includes the Radetzky March being played with them waving free sponsored flags, looks kinda cool.

There were a few Irish in the home end but nobody seemed to care, there did seem to be handbags between one Austrian and a small group of Irish but he seemed to want a fight, nothing came of it.

I think we all know how the game went, first half was shaky, second half we played much better. Being the only ones screaming as McLean hit the net was brilliant but we didn't want to rub it in their faces. When that last shot was hit, before Janko even missed the header, I turned to my mate and said, f**king typical, assuming the ball was on it's way into the net but then it didn't and it felt as good as a goal for us. We were asked a few times later why the Irish players turned for the anthem, the only thing I could think of was to face the flag, which I assume was the case.

After the game we all met up again. Obviously, we were in better form than our Austrian friends. We then went for dinner in the evening and ate and drank more. Next summer it will be our turn to host them and it's gonna be a hard job to outdo their hospitality.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fAfdtwym3uA

Radetzky March before the game.


We had Jürgen Klopp serving us on the flight.


NV Arena St. Pölten.


Our seats inside the Ernst Happel.

ahlookit

That NV arena looks lovely - is that a safe standing area behind the goal in the picture?

Sounds like a great away trip.

Captain Havoc

ahlookit wrote: »

That NV arena looks lovely - is that a safe standing area behind the goal in the picture?

Sounds like a great away trip.

Yes, they had two safe standing areas. Another thing about the arena, they had about 12 guys at one end banging a drum and singing but because it's a bowl, it sounded like there was a lot more of them.