OLDEST IRISH AMERICAN NEWSPAPER IN USA, ESTABLISHED IN 1928
Category: Archive

Out of luck

February 16, 2011

By Staff Reporter

That customary level of commitment was expected by the Irish supporters in Basel last weekend in advance of what was a win-or-bust European soccer championship qualifying game, but for once the traveling contingent was betrayed by its team.
Because this was a deplorable performance by Ireland. If a comprehensive loss to a modest Switzerland team wasn’t hard enough to rationalize, there was hardly a kick in anger by Brian Kerr;s underwhelming players. With the stakes so high, and the reward of a place at next year’s European finals so tantalizing, such a limp display by a group of highly paid professional players was simply unacceptable.
While two defeats during Mick McCarthy’s stewardship at the start of the qualifying campaign meant that progress to the finals in Portugal was always going to be problematic, Kerr had tilted the situation back toward the horizontal, and if the prospect of an easy victory over the Swiss was the preserve of some misguided sections of the Irish media, there was every reason to believe that Robbie Keane and Damien Duff could provide the inspiration for a performance to savor.
Instead, Ireland lacked aggression and attitude, and with Switzerland claiming the one automatic place for the 2004 finals, Russia’s 3-1 victory over Georgia in Moscow mean they are assured of the opportunity of a backdoor route with a playoff against Wales. As for Kerr, the manager was more perplexed than angry with the way the game panned out.
“Not good enough,” he said. “It hurts as much as any defeat I’ve had. We’ll accelerate the process of blending more players now. I wouldn’t say we lacked spirit, it’s just that some days you play teams who are better than you and they beat you. They were better than us.”
The future for Kerr is a full year of non-competitive games until the qualifying competition for the 2006 World Cup begins. He will certainly have to rebuild his side with emerging players such as Liam Miller and Sean Thornton likely to be given a chance, while regular squad members Mark Kinsella and Ian Harte could be deemed surplus to requirements.
Off the pitch, the Football Association of Ireland will be counting the cost of up to

Other Articles You Might Like

Sign up to our Daily Newsletter

Click to access the login or register cheese