Ireland to play China and Italy

eirebhoy

taken from fai.ie

Football Association of Ireland today announced details of friendly fixtures against China and Italy.

China will visit Dublin on Tuesday 29th March while Italy will be the visitors on 17th August. Both matches will Kick Off at 7.30 pm. In the latest FIFA Rankings China are in 54th place and the Italians are 10th.

Making the announcement FAI Chief Executive Officer, John Delaney, said, “We are delighted to bring these two teams to Dublin. They will provide quality opposition for Brian Kerr and his players and exciting entertainment for the fans.”

Republic of Ireland Manager, Brian Kerr said, “China have made great progress over the last few years and will provide difficult opposition. We all witnessed the performances of the Asian teams in the last World Cup and China play a similar type of football.”

“Italy make a welcome return to Dublin. They are one of the great traditional powers in the world and will be a massive attraction. The game will be ideal preparation for the three important World Cup Qualifiers against Cyprus, France and Switzerland in the autumn,” the Manager concluded.

The matches will be sold as a two game package with tickets available to clubs, leagues and block bookers in the normal way. Terrace tickets will be sold through Ticketmaster and will be available from February 10th.

---

The FAI have fecked this up. Cork v Shels is also on the 29th. :rolleyes: Clubs have to take up their allocation for every international fixture so what will happen now?

Anyway, two great friendlies. One for experimentation and another for experience.

/edit- thats Brazil, France, Czech Republic, Holland, Portugal and Italy we've played under Kerr, all in the top 10. Others many of the current set of players have played are Argentina and Spain which leaves only Mexico and England left.

wheres me jumpa

not bad, wud like to see them play italy alright

_blank_

eirebhoy wrote:

The FAI have fecked this up. Cork v Shels is also on the 29th. :rolleyes: Clubs have to take up their allocation for every international fixture so what will happen now?

The match is being re-scheduled to Monday 28th.

edit : The CVFC - Shels game, not the Ireland one

eirebhoy

seansouth wrote:

The match is being re-scheduled to Monday 28th.

edit : The CVFC - Shels game, not the Ireland one

oh right, cheers.

LizardKing

China would be a tough game .. asian teams are great workers

Italians would also be a tough game , Kerr doesn't take easy friendlies like Sven across the water ...

Would love to see a friendly against the english ... but s'pose it'd be too hard to police :}

Cianan2

I remember a Ireland-England match where they abandoned it because of fans rioting.....I dunno if that actually happened,but thats the last thing i remember about ireland vs England,anyway!

por

Cianan2 wrote:

I remember a Ireland-England match where they abandoned it because of fans rioting.....I dunno if that actually happened,but thats the last thing i remember about ireland vs England,anyway!

Yea that's what happened, a section of English fans started the refubershment of Lansdowne 11 years early by ripping out seats in the West Stand.

It will be 10 years ago on the 15th of this month, time flies

wheres me jumpa

i was actually at that game, i was only 11 or 12, was scared sh**less! but of course i told all me mates the next day i was kicking ass up in the west stand!

bizmark

We where winning 1-0 and all :mad:

Slash/ED

It actually went down as an offical win for us anyway in the eyes of Fifa afaik

Jivin Turkey

While obviously it is important to play some good team at home given our forthcoming WCQ fixtures, I really wish the FAI would arange some away friendlies to test the players away from home.

I know for finance purposes they obviously arent as attractive, but the players need some experience in playing away from home.

Cianan2

I would love to go to the Italy match..... Tis a pity Ray Houghton aint playin no more

Thanx 4 The Fish

I also was at that game and kept the ticket as the FAI said that they may give another game for nowt for people who had attended, David Kelly header wasn't it. I thought that the goal was not given to him, but it may well have been.

eirebhoy

Jivin Turkey wrote:

While obviously it is important to play some good team at home given our forthcoming WCQ fixtures, I really wish the FAI would arange some away friendlies to test the players away from home.

I know for finance purposes they obviously arent as attractive, but the players need some experience in playing away from home.

We're going to be without a home for 2 years which would probably be the reason for all the home games recently. When we win the World cup we'll be able to demand a fair bit for playing away anyway.

Cianan2

eirebhoy wrote:

When we win the World cup we'll be able to demand a fair bit for playing away anyway.

WAAHHHEEEYYYY!!!! I agree with eirebhoy.......

Jivin Turkey

eirebhoy wrote:

We're going to be without a home for 2 years which would probably be the reason for all the home games recently. When we win the World cup we'll be able to demand a fair bit for playing away anyway.

Ah dont worry Croker will come through

But whether or not we will play all the away games we want in a few years, I wouldnt mind testing ourselves particularly with the Israel game coming up. Get a game against Greece or someone.

_blank_

Just for those worried about the Cork -v- Shels game, in case you didn't hear.

The game has been re-scheduled for the Monday, 28th March, which is Easter Monday.

However this is the second weekend of the eL season, and so may have to be changed again.

I have to say, it is very shortsighted of the FAI to organise an international friendly for the same date as the Setanta Cup game. Makes one feel that they are not taking it seriously.

Not that I am surprised at the contempt that the FAI treat our national league and teams in it.