YoG No. 31 – Real Football is Back

The prevailing feeling and mood pushed by the English media – and one which has oozed into the hearts and minds of some Irish football fans – is that international football is rubbish and that the Premier League is the only show in town. People who think this way deserve no little opprobrium, but are probably more worthy of pity. They are missing out. They are missing out on one of the fundamentals of the game of football. Dunphy said it years ago – without international football there is no football. And in this small country of ours, where all of our best players play abroad, it holds a truly special place.

Our cultural and social history can be charted against the fate of our national football team – pre and post-Italia 90 – a grim old nation held its breath and gave way to a shiny new one; Saipan as a barometer of the ‘sure it’ll be grand’ brigade versus those who wanted more, who wanted perfection and to throw off the old Irish way of thinking; and Trappatoni’s Ireland as a symbol of the Troika, as the Germans came and pillaged 6-1 and €64 billion. Some of us measure Ireland the country by Ireland the football team (Some of us are daft!). The brand and quality on show is irrelevant. Real football is whatever you want it to be. It’s the football that brings you to your feet; that renders you helpless to that overwhelming urge to scream with both joy and rage. It’s the football that truly matters. And it’s back.

With that in mind, this momentous week begins. And it began with the news that Seanie Maguire will miss the play-off against Denmark. Yet another product of the domestic game who has risen to represent a new hope for our national team, this time where it’s desperately needed – up front. His goal against Brentford – with their 2 Danish defenders – last week was a bit special. But a hamstring tear in training has robbed us of his services. And has robbed him of a genuine chance to shine, but injuries have also robbed Denmark of the 2 defenders he scored against. He joins a long list of Irish casualties including Coleman of course, McCarthy, Walters and Keogh. Hendrick and Ward are also a worry. It’s half the bloody team and we’re looking very, very light up top.

But as we know, to the extent that it’s become a cliché, this team rises to the big occasions. Germany, Italy and Wales (the latter a big scalp since summer 2016) have all been done over by O’Neill’s team and we have no reason to believe they can’t do it to the Danes as well. It will be a tough 180 minutes, with very little between the teams. The strange over-confidence displayed after the draw will seem misplaced after about 5 minutes on Saturday. I really found that a strange reaction – drawing the lowest ranked first seed is not the same as getting an easy draw. They are a better team than us. Full stop. It will be extremely difficult. They have a trophy in their cabinet and no matter how long ago that was, it speaks to the strength of their football culture – a key factor in how nations approach games and tournaments. If we come back with a draw or a 1-goal defeat, I won’t be too disappointed. If we get an away goal in either of those scenarios, I’ll be bloody delighted.

On the other extreme of this confidence are those that are petrified by Christian Eriksen. As one of the form players in the Premier League for one of its best sides, he is certainly more than worthy of our close attention, but let’s not fool ourselves into thinking he will dictate the game, or run the show. He is not at that level and by focussing too much on him, we may forget others. Like Nicklas Clownshoes Bendtner. He hardly shone in his last outing on Irish soil, where his Rosenborg drew with Dundalk in a Champions League qualifier, but he now has 18 goals in 29 games, has just won the Norwegian title and is still the right side of 30. Forget the novelty boxers, he seems to mean business now.

This team have a lot of experience all over the pitch, but they’re hardly world beaters. It may take something special to beat Kasper Schmeichel however, and I’m sure his father has inspired him to seek revenge for November 1993. It was on that momentous night that he was sent up to the box for a corner in a desperate last-minute attempt to force one in against Spain in the last round of World Cup Qualifiers. A goal would have sent the then European Champions into 2nd place in our group and beyond us into USA ’94. He failed. And we had a bit of a hooley Stateside whacking the Italians before limping out in the second round. I won a pound in a poetry contest in school that week for a short poem about the last few minutes of that Denmark v Spain game. An Irish poetry contest no less! Go hiontach I was.

Elsewhere, let’s keep an eye out for the other M. O’Neill as Northern Ireland take on the Swiss. I’ve no love for Switzerland as a footballing country. They reek of ‘meh’, with their crafty but dull methods of fluffing up their ranking and seeding. They have never been exciting and a World Cup would be better off with our neighbours than that lot. I fancy the Nordies because Michael O’Neill appears to be some class of footballing wizard, whose departure from Tallaght is still felt.

Croatia will beat Greece I hope, and Italy will be made work by Sweden but will overcome them. Also Honduras play Australia and Peru play New Zealand. I’m gonna go with the 2 from the Americas on that one, purely because New Zealand banned foreign workers from buying houses and some Aussie MP slagged off the Irish. So fuck em both! Plus that Peru jersey is a classic (sorry to go a bit balls.ie here).

It all kicks off in Belfast and Zagreb on Thursday. Enjoy those games and Friday’s. Get through Saturday and you never know what Tuesday will bring. It’s been 15 years since Japan and Korea. Almost a generation since we last played in a World Cup. We deserve one now, particularly having been robbed once since then – come on, whose mind hasn’t drifted back to that poxy night in Paris in the past few weeks! I have a good feeling about this. I trust Martin O’Neill in this position. And moreover I trust this group of players.

Real football is back!!!