Only two
and a half months left until the pleasant days of Euro 2012 in Ukraine and
Poland. As every football fan, I am looking forward to the Championship,
analyzing the opportunities of participants and making my predictions. From now
on I will try to describe the teams from the angle I see them. 16 teams and 16
stories. Here we go!
Republic of
Ireland
Factsheet:
Euro 2012 Group C: 10-06-12: Rep. of Ireland - Croatia, 14-06-12: Spain - Rep. of Ireland, 18-06-12: Italy - Rep. of Ireland
FIFA/Coca
Cola World Ranking: 19
Previous
European Championship Appearances: 1988
Qualifying
record: 12+7=4-1 20-8
Interesting
facts:
There are no players from the Irish League standing close to the national team. The vast majority of the players have contracts with English teams. Only Aiden McGeady, Robbie Keane and Anthony Stokes represent other -than- English leagues – consequently Russian, US and Scottish.
There are no players from the Irish League standing close to the national team. The vast majority of the players have contracts with English teams. Only Aiden McGeady, Robbie Keane and Anthony Stokes represent other -than- English leagues – consequently Russian, US and Scottish.
Robbie
Keane holds the all-time record for the most scored goals for Ireland. He has
scored 53 times so far.
Shay Given
holds the all-time record for the most matches played for Ireland. He has been a part of a match 121 times so far. Both of the players are involved in Trapattoni’s current team.
73 year-old
Giovanni Trapattoni will become the oldest ever coach at European
Championships.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ireland,
not a very often guest at a big tournament, is back to European Championships
after a 24-year break. Despite this fact, fans keep on criticizing Giovanni
Trapattoni for his extremely result-oriented style, which has never been the
main characteristic for The Boys in Green before. However, the wise Italian
knows what he is doing: the team has not lost in its last 11 matches and
conceded only in 3 of their 12 qualifying matches.
