YoG No. 13 – Ireland in Japan and Korea 2002

 

As I said here, we waited long enough to get back in the big time. The Netherlands, Belgium and Turkey had all pipped us in play-offs to Euros ’96 and 2000, and France ’98. Good Irish teams had fallen at the last fence, particularly in the two previous campaigns. But while Euro ’88 and Italia ’90 saw Irish football earthquakes on the pitch, it was off the pitch events that brought Ireland to the forefront this time around. What happened in Saipan and in the days and weeks afterwards is the stuff of folklore now. It divided the nation like no other sporting story in our history. But it happened, and once closure was obtained, the business of football began. This was a far more satisfying Irish performance perhaps than at USA ’94. We played brilliantly at times and were desperately unfortunate (but not unlucky) to lose out on penalties to a decent, but far from great, Spanish side, in a slightly chaotic match in the end. We did all this while our best player and captain, and arguably the most influential player in Europe stayed in Manchester instead of leading his country. Perhaps that’s why some of us have such warmth towards that team – that through all that upheaval and upset, they galvanised themselves and delivered some great moments, gave us some great memories as well, and were left kicking themselves not to have emulated the heroes of Italia ’90 by getting to the last 8.

Qualification

For us to get to Japan and Korea, we would have to get past either Portugal or The Netherlands – no mean feat. We would not only get between them, but we would emerge unbeaten and on a memorable September day, we beat the Dutch in Lansdowne Road despite going down to 10 men at 0-0. This was no upset. After all we had  thrown away a victory in the away game when we went from flying at 2-0 up to hanging on for dear life at 2-2. Roy Keane was notably less happy with that point than Mick McCarthy – an omen of what was to come later. An insane play-off against Iran followed where we took a 2 goal lead to Tehran and managed to hang on to win 2-1 on aggregate in front of 120,000 people. Relief all round. A result obtained also without Roy Keane, this one due to injury. But a play-off victory at long last.

Saipan

Beautiful eh? Certainly it looks slightly more “car park” than “training pitch”, in fairness to Roy, but how could such a peaceful place be the scene of such uproar. Ah ok… It wasn’t just 2002. So you know the story. Roy gave an interview berating preparations. Mick challenged him publicly. Roy fucked off. Roy came back. Something else happened. Someone sent someone home. Steve Staunton couldn’t believe his ears. Bertie (remember that ****) said he’d sort it out. Niall Quinn shook his head. The young lads got upset. The nation went into a collective seizure. Sky Sports moved its entire operation to Triggs’ favourite walk. And eventually we all got on with our lives and the tournament. Seriously there is no point revisiting it now in any great detail. All that’s relevant now is that we had to face Cameroon, Germany and Saudi Arabia without Roy Keane. It could only happen to Ireland, many idiots have since said despite this happening at the same tournament.

June 1st 2002 – Niigata Stadium, Niigata. Ireland 1-1 Cameroon

The nation held its breakfast for this one, rather than its breath. I think it was an 8am kick off Irish time. So the only black stuff being consumed was the burnt edges of the rashers. On the pitch, the pattern of Irish World Cup games from Italia ’90 continued here. Falling behind in the first half, followed by a second half equaliser. This time Patrick Mboma gave Cameroon the lead and Matt Holland popped up with a fairly decent strike from the edge of the box, not long after half-time. As I recall, we probably should have kicked on from there and won the game, but just lacked that little bit extra that was required and perhaps settled for the draw in the end. A solid, but unspectacular start. All that was really asked for given the events of the previous few weeks.

(I seem to also recall something about Cameroon wearing some sort of onesie kit that year! Anyone else?)

June 5th 2002 – Kashima Soccer Stadium, Kashima. Ireland 1-1 Germany

Yet again we fall behind, this time to an early header from Miroslav Klose. We were in big trouble here, but played pretty well. We pressed and pressed, once again showing a global giant that we were indeed their peers. There was no luck involved in the late goal either. It was well deserved. McCarthy brought on Niall Quinn to get in amongst the Germans, and it was his flick from a Steve Finnan long ball that invited Robbie Keane onto it. With nothing but pure Robbie instinct, he squeezed it past Oliver Kahn. The country erupted. Total and absolute drama on a par with Genoa! I came to as the final whistle went with grass stains all over my knees having lost it completely and ran around my friend’s back garden screaming my head off for a few minutes. Pure relief. All we needed was to beat the Saudis by 2 clear goals to ensure our passage to the second round.

And who could forget Mick McCarthy’s face as Robbie scored…

June 11th 2002 – International Stadium Yokohama, Yokohama. Ireland 3-0 Saudi Arabia

It probably should have been a lot easier, but as it happened any sort of victory would have done us as Cameroon lost 2-0 to Germany. A decent strike from Robbie, but one an U-12 DDSL keeper would’ve saved; a rare beauty from Gary Breen; and a jammy enough one from Duffer – that the aforementioned schoolboy keeper’s younger brother would’ve saved – wrapped up our second ever win in World Cup tournaments.

It was worth celebrating, and the noon kick-off meant we watched this one with pints that were more respectable than any sneaky early morning ones earlier in the group. A beautiful day in Dublin as well. I watched the game in what was then called the Down Under bar in Stephen’s Green. After full-time we sauntered down Grafton Street and hung around Kehoe’s for many hours in the afternoon sun, before toddling over to  Bruxelles and McDaids for the evening. An evening which included a pretty impressive 15-20 a side game of football on Harry Street at some stage and then a Nitelink home at about 2. You just have to love being in a World Cup and doing well.

June 16th 2002 – Suwon World Cup Stadium, Suwon. Ireland 1-1 Spain (Spain win 3-2 on penalties)

I watched this in the front room of a house in Clonsilla, in the back garden of which was, and still is, this recording studio. I was in a band called Mixtwitch at the time and we were recording our 2nd album. Fucking great stuff altogether. How I managed to end up there for this match is beyond me, but we all made sacrifices. So we managed to take enough of a break to witness the entire 2 and half hours of drama, excitement, hope, heartbreak, despair and anger that accompanied this particular tournament exit.

Spain were decent. They may not have scaled the heights that their successors would, but they were completely robbed by the referee in the next round against the co-hosts South Korea. Italy were similarly robbed at the last 16-stage against the same opponents, so you’d have to ask questions of that. The spine of this Spanish side were Casillas, Puyol and Hierro, and Raul and Morientes, and it was no surprise that it was the latter who gave them a lead after 8 minutes. Yet again, we were behind and yet again we would have to dig deep, very very deep, to salvage an equaliser.

We played great however. Damien Duff tormented them. We were given a great chance when he was – without any doubt whatsoever 😉 – unceremoniously upended in the box  for a penalty. Up stepped Ian Harte, and if you think it’s bad to miss a penalty, his blunder was somewhat overlooked after Kevin Kilbane made a dog’s dinner of the rebound! We would get another chance in the dying seconds when Hierro tried to take Niall Quinn’s jersey off. Robbie Keane had a go this time and, as usual, slotted home. A reprieve. A well-deserved reprieve. This team really had something more when required.

In extra time, however, we truly had something more – an extra man – as the Spanish had used up all their subs when Albelda went off injured. For some reason this advantage did not trickle down to the management team and possible even the players. In the cauldron of a World Cup last 16 match, this may be understandable, but not excusable. We should have really gone after them, rather than just be the better team. They were there for the taking had we really committed. The half-hour passed, and on we went to penalties.

Matt Holland, Kevin Kilbane and David Connolly all missed. Juanfran and Valeron also missed for Spain. Mendietta’s kick was to win it. And it just squeaked past Shay Given’s left foot as he dived to his right. Spain were through.

So that was that. Again we emerged from our group.That made us part of the top 16 in 3 of the previous 4 World Cups. We don’t tend to look back on McCarthy’s era with as much fondness as Charlton’s. It was less successful – mainly due to having so little luck in comparison, but we played good football; we had great results; and we had a solid tournament despite losing our captain and best player – the best player in the English League and one of the very best in Europe. The upheaval within the squad in advance of the World Cup cannot be overestimated. It is a testament to the senior players in particular that we did what we did here – regardless of where you stand on the Roy Keane episode.

The inquiries and investigations led to the Genesis report. Has anything changed? Really changed? Has the last week, and some of the stuff said by O’Neill and one Roy Keane, in the Irish camp shown we’re still a bit all over the gaff in this respect? The shambolic last 12 months of Trappatoni’s reign, including his disgraceful treatment of some players and his disdain even for the talents of those he selected; the FIFA €5m nonsense; John Delaney’s schoolboy antics in pubs and town squares across the Continent; the fact that Denis O’Brien is involved; the way in which a team can pull out of our national league while the blazers were having the craic in Poland 4 years ago; and last week how Athlone could not field a side while we were preparing for France? Not to mention the treatment of Brian Kerr and the subsequent appointment of Steve Staunton. Or John Delaney’s salary. The FAI have presided over a fairly regular litany of shambolic episodes since Saipan, but it stumbles on and on. A tournament every so often seems to placate the masses.

But we deserve something more. We deserve to see our team put it up to the likes of Germany and Spain every time. We did just that in qualifying for EURO 2016. Now let’s do it over there.