Friendly: Republic of Ireland v Czech Republic (1 Viewer)

mikhail · Mar 30, 2004

Ireland take on the mightly Czech Republic tomorrow night in Lansdowne Road. The squads to date:

Ireland Squad:

PHP:

Goalkeepers: Given (Newcastle United), 
Murphy (West Bromwich Albion), 
Kenny (Sheffield United)

Defenders: Maybury (Hearts), 
O’Brien (Newcastle United), 
Doherty (Tottenham Hotspur), 
Cunningham (Birmingham City), 
Carr (Tottenham Hotspur), 
Harte (Leeds United)
Kelly (Tottenham)
Thompson (Nottingham Forest)

Midifelders: Carsley (Everton), 
Delap (Southampton), 
Kinsella (West Bromwich Albion), 
McPhail (Leeds United), 
Holland (Charlton Athletic), 
Kilbane (Everton), 
Reid (Nottingham Forest), 
Duff (Chelsea), 
Miller (Celtic)

Strikers: Lee (Cardiff City),  
Keane (Tottenham Hotspur), 
Morrison (Birmingham City)

Czech Squad

PHP:

Goalkeepers: Antonin Kinsky (Saturn Ramenskoye), 
Martin Vaniak (Sigma Olomouc), 
Peter Cech (Bordeaux) 

Defenders: Rene Bolf (Banik Ostrava), 
Zdenek Grygera (Ajax Amsterdam), 
Tomas Huebschman (Sparta Prague), 
Marek Jankulovski (Udinese), 
Martin Jiranek (Reggina), 
David Rozehnal (Club Bruges), 
Tomas Ujfalusi (Hamburg) 

Midfielders: Tomas Galasek (Ajax Amsterdam), 
Jiri Jarosik (CSKA Moscow), 
Pavel Nedved (Juventus), 
Jaroslav Plasil (Monaco), 
Karel Poborsky (Sparta Prague) 

Strikers: Milan Baros (Liverpool), 
Marek Heinz (Banik Ostrava), 
Jan Koller (Borussia Dortmund), 
Vratislav Lokvenc (Kaiserslautern), 
Jiri Stajner (Sparta Prague)

mikhail · Mar 30, 2004

Brian Kerr, the Ireland manager, has revealed that he will start Tottenham utility player Gary Doherty in his favoured position of centre back for the first time in his international career. Doherty has been playing there consistantly this season, and Kerr has admitted that he wants to play his players in their club positions.

Kerr has also revealed that he will start Clinton Morrisson, stating that he wishes to build on his strike partnership with Robbie Keane. Morrisson has has an uneven season, initially struggling to push Dugarry out of the team, and has struggled for goals all year, though is form has otherwise been excellent. His international record is impressive, given his relatively small number of starts.

flieeeekke · Mar 30, 2004

looking at that list czechs are not so mighty after all. good look anyway john.

maybe i should start a israel - lithuania thread. i can already see it reaching 1000+ posts mark.

Slagathor · Mar 30, 2004

Oh my, good luck. Czechs are tough to beat no matter what line-up.

mikhail · Mar 30, 2004

Brian Kerr has brought two youngsters into his injury-ravaged squad for the Czech Republic friendly. John Thompson of Nottingham Forest and Steven Kelly of Tottenham have been added to shore up a small defensive squad.

Thompson has made one substitute appearance for Ireland previously, but wasn't expected to feature in this squad as he has fallen out of favour at his club. The centre-half come right-back could make an appearance later on in the game.

Steven Kelly makes his first ever appearance in the Ireland squad on the back of excellent form for the U21s and his break-through into the Tottenham Hotspur first team. The highly rated young right-back, who can also play in the centre, has been tipped to replace Steven Carr if the latter quits Tottenham for a bigger club, as has been frequently speculated. He played forty minutes of Spurs league match last weekend.

Slagathor · Mar 30, 2004

I can really only speak for these three, whom I get to watch on a weekly basis on TV. Solid players. Especially Galásek who is of great importance to Ajax! Mostly as a leader on the pitch. The 'play divider' as we say in the Netherlands.

mikhail · Mar 30, 2004

So are we.

We'll have Duff, who's nearly fully fit, and Keaninho, who's on good form, which should keep the Czech defense on the verge of panic. The backline will be grand, with Carr and Cunningham fit, and either Harte or Delap in left-back. Given's a world class goal-keeper, and Andy Reid will probably start on the right wing for his third cap. He's at the one of the worst clubs in the English first division, but he's probably the hottest property in the league, with Spurs rumoured to be looking at spending £5m+ (~€7.5) on him in the summer. They had a bid turned down in the January window.

Central midfield is the problem area here, but we can play Kilbane, Carsley, Delap or Holland, who are all on excellent form for Premiership clubs or we have Kinsella, who's starring for West Brom in Divison 1.

Slagathor · Mar 30, 2004

Keaniño

Didn't say you're not a good match but it'll be tough. Decided on the midfield I reckon!

mikhail · Mar 30, 2004

Play divider?

We're packed with solid players. It's brilliant ones who'll decide this one. Rosicky's out, but Nedved, Koller and Poborsky are good attackers.

It'll be interesting at any rate, and I'll be there, standing in the north terrace.

Slagathor · Mar 30, 2004

Yes. How can I explain this ... the player on the pitch who directs his teammates where to go and who passes the ball to the right men, effectively creating play. Maybe it's comparable to play maker, only for that we have yet another word in Dutch.

I think Cruyff came up with the word 'spelverdeler' (play divider)

mikhail · Mar 30, 2004

Yeah, that whole R. Keane thing just didn't work out.

Though we still chant "Keano, Keano, Keano" at him. REal crowd pleaser, at almost our record scorer at 24! He's got about 17 goals, while the record is Niall Quinn's 21.

erm :undecide: They definately outclass us there. It'll be a case of containing Nedved and letting Duffer tear strips off of them. (Though come to think of it, it'll be vice versa for them!!)

mikhail · Mar 30, 2004

The English call that a "Midfield General". Something to do with their obsession with all things martial. :rolleyes:

Slagathor · Mar 30, 2004

I disagree. You cannot contain Nedved, you shouldn't even try because that way you're sacrificing one man for a useless impossible job.

The key is Galásek, (I suspect he will play like he did against us for the qualification matches). If you can make sure he is too busy with defensive duties and you can stop him from coming forward and directing play (and passing to Nedved) then that's the biggest part done right there.

You see, with Galásek busy defending, Nedved has to fall back a bit or a gap between midfield and attack will open up, which is no good because the Czechs cannot play the long ball. Alas, I have never seen them do it.

And with Nedved further back, he becomes more predictible, easier to hold back form the goal.

Another vital part is possession. Keep the ball in possession even if that means passing back to the keeper sometimes.

Juvenator · Mar 30, 2004

Apart from Juve i also support my home town team Luton Town, who are in the 2nd division in England. And guess which team Gary Doherty started his career with?

Yes, u guessed it Luton Town.

mikhail · Mar 30, 2004

Mattie Holland has contained Kluivert, Ballack and Valerón. I don't see Nedved beiong beyond him. Don't underestimate the abilities of English-based defensive mids - as I've said before, they're the best in the world at that one thing, and Nedved will be harried, kicked and fouled into submission. Remember, this isn't going to be a competitive game, so he won't risk being injured.

The only player we have capable of doing that is Duff, and if you play him through the middle, you negate the width he brings to a team. It might happen, but I hope not. The other tries there would be Andy Reid or Liam Miller, but given they've one international start between them, I don't think they've the experience.

'Tis what Duffer does to the entire right wing, pinning them back neatly, which might negate the effects of playing Ian Harte at left-back.

We do that by kicking him often enough that he learns that running at the goal means pain, so he won't even go there.

While we do play the ball on the ground alot, we're terrible for the odd punt into the box, so this is just not going to happen

Slagathor · Mar 30, 2004

Well that's an issue, I don't know much (nothing actually) about the Irish NT. Still, all my points independently are valid :stuckup:

mikhail · Mar 30, 2004

Excellent. He's a bit dodgy at times, and about as fast as Laurent Blanc with a knee injury, but he's a decent defender all the same. And he was our top scorer in the qualifiers for Portugal '04.

It's great that you support your home town team. I do too - UCD got religated from the League of Ireland Premiership last year. Just starting the '04 season now, we've 6 points out of 6, with an away win against one of the other favourites for the title.

Slagathor · Mar 30, 2004

BTW, has anybody seen the official Euro2004 site yet? It's great stuff! With ALL the information in a ledgeable (spelling) nutshell about all participating nations. The Holland section, for example, even has a page of history that goes as far back as William I of Orange :dazed: Brilliant team pages too. Stadium information, they have all of it! Take a look at www.euro2004.com

It's been launched today I think. Or yesterday. Something like that.

mikhail · Mar 30, 2004

Absolutely. I'll keep an eye out for Galásek, thanks for that. I only hop[e we can press enough in the midfield - it's our real weak area, as I said.

mikhail · Mar 30, 2004

legible

:down: Wrong teams.

Oh well, I'll just have to support the Dutch!

Friendly: Republic of Ireland v Czech Republic (1 Viewer)

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