“My team’s gone cold I’m wondering why
I got out of bed at all
The Dublin rain clouds up my window..
and I can’t see at all
And even if I could, my team can’t play,
Dunphy’s picture’s on my wall
It reminds me, that it is this bad,
it is this bad..”
Irish fans may be deflated after Friday’s lung-sapping destruction at the hands of Germany but the bagpipe anthems seem to have gone down well, particularly with our visitors. Sadly, the Lansdowne Roar was silenced by the home team’s performance and the pipes are now calling for the end of Trap’s reign.
It’s ten years since Robbie Keane danced through the German defence and blasted a last gasp equaliser past Oliver Khan. Miroslav Klose, the man who scored Germany’s opener that day, is still leading the attack but Robbie won’t be doing cartwheels after being ruled out of Friday’s clash between the sides. The interest of a pessimistic Irish public, however, has also gone head over heels.
About three weeks ago Poland’s men’s volleyball team crashed out of the Olympic Games at the quarter-final stage. Odds on for the gold medal, their failure sparked a tidal wave of criticism at home. The debate soon turned to discussion of the Irish football fans as the Polish asked why they coudn’t follow the example set by the Green Army at Euro 2012. We wonder if they’d ask the same question this week.
As is customary with new members of the Irish squad, as part of his initiation, David Meyler performs a rendition of Uncle Kracker’s ‘Follow Me’. With all the talk of a squad in crisis, they look happy to us…cough.
Irish football is on the canvas and our national team sporting a bloody nose. Katie Taylor has stolen our hearts after the Boys in Green broke them in June. Yet Giovanni Trapattoni has faced the flurry of punches that have come his way since Euro 2012 and he’s come out fighting.
He sat ringside at London’s ExCel Arena. Around him, thousands of green-clad Irish were in raptures creating a cauldron of noise as Ireland’s sporting superstar, Kate Taylor, powered to Olympic gold. As he hangs up his gloves, trying to replace Shay Given could prove a knock-out blow to our future qualifying hopes.
Could this be the most important squad announcement of Giovanni Trapattoni’s reign as Irish manager? There have been far more important games but this Irish side is at a cross-roads. A new avenue awaits but it will involve new faces and a manager willing to alter his philosophy to lead us on the rocky road to Rio.