Myles –
I’m reading how you’re “apprehensive” about Euro 2012.
If I was an England fan, I would be too. France and Sweden could cause all sorts of problems.
However from reading your blog for years I’ve noticed you regularly back the Irish – why don’t you do so in this tournament, too?
Forget about England, they’ll just disappoint, like they always do. Ireland are in about as tough a group as possible; Spain, Italy, Croatia.
However, I think they’ll get out of it. Draw with Croatia, lose to Spain, beat Italy.
It might be enough.
One thing is for sure: if they do manage to escape Group C, it won’t be pretty. Giovanni Trapattoni divides opinion in Ireland for his negative, but ultimately successful style of play.
Personally, I don’t see the problem. Half our squad comes from the Championship.
Our best players play for Aston Villa and LA Galaxy. Our central midfield is Keith Andrews and Glenn Whelan. Andrews and Whelan! Against Xavi and Iniesta on Thursday week! Lord above.
However, Ireland have a history of upsets in major tournaments.
England in Euro ’88, Italy in USA ’94…even our rugby team got in on the act last October against Australia.
I believe there’s another brewing in the coming weeks…do you?
Myles says:
I’m apprehensive about the tournament, Patrick.
About Euro 2012 as a whole.
The distances between stadiums make it a logistical nightmare for fans, journalists and broadcasters.
I don’t recall “regularly backing the Irish” but I admired the way Robbie Keane, Duff and the lads played in 2002.
I like Slaven Bilic, having met him at Wembley the night before Croatia played England. He was a centreback then and a genuine guy.
A friend, who lives in Dublin and saw Ireland play Croatia recently, told me that their defenders were very surprised and rattled by how spiky Shane Long was.
They’ll know what to expect on Sunday night.
Trapattoni is an amazing character who has been at the top of football since 1963, when I bunked off school one day with my pal Dave Rogers.
We went down from Stevenage to Wembley without tickets and saw a European Cup Final played in the afternoon between Benfica and AC MIlan.
We were behind the goal when Eusebio blasted a scorching shot along the ground and into the net. For schoolboys who had never seen a big game before, this was exciting stuff.
Mario Coluna, a colossally talented left half, got crocked by the ruthless Italians, whose half back line was Benitez, a South American, Cesare Maldini, and the blond Trapattoni, a compact, mobile left half who was tidy and sharp in the tackle.
Altafini scored two goals and Milan won .
A YouTube comment gives you the full teamsheet.