Allez Les Verts
In a little over 4 hours time we will know our own limitations. Ireland will more than likely have tasted defeat at the hands of the French, if the papers and the bookies and the blokes on the street are to be believed. But I'm taking a lot more convincing.
I hate to jinx them, but I'm kinda thinking we could win. No, not scrape a draw. We could beat them. Enough of this crazy talk Mister Keogh! What about Zidane, Makelele, Vieira and the goal machine that calls himself Thierry Henry! How can your Irish eleven of also rans from the lower reaches of the English Premiership and The Championship hope to compete with 'Les Bleus'?
Easy, we change the rules of International Football. We do what nobody is supposed to do anymore. We play like it means something!
The Dutch, The Italians and to a lesser extent The French have, in the recent past swapped the passion and fervour of the International game for the 10 million Euro contract with Reebok!, the Pepsi commercial sponsorsip deal and the bit part in a Hollywood movie. The International stage is a minor annoyance that they perservere with until they get their asses back to Real Madrid or Barcelona or Bayern Munich to get along with their real job, and don't think that their real job is anything to do with playing football! No, these 25 year old millionaires are marketeers and their product is themselves.
Greed has taken a stranglehold and what once was the jewel in the crown of the sport, the Jules Rimet trophy, The FIFA world cup, is now only a longer working year for those who are unfortunate enough to qualify!
Thats where the Paddys come in. Most of them are working at the bottom end of the payscale and they don't treat next summers excursion to Germany as an inconvenience but rather an opportunity to earn a bit of overtime. Greece proved it could be done at last seasons European Championships and the Brazillians, Koreans, and The Americans all used 2002's world cup to put themselves in the shop window. Indeed Brazil have done this for decades and the carnival that surrounded Robinho's transfer to Real Madrid only hammers home the point that Brazil needs a world cup to advertise their talents to make the European payout.
The poorer nations will always turn up trumps in the beautiful game and that is what makes it beautiful. The level playing field can be just that, and when the French aristocracy take on the Irish journeymen tonight at Lansdowne Road I'm hoping for a rain soaked typical Irish September evening, just to slide the spirit level a little towards this little island...
I hate to jinx them, but I'm kinda thinking we could win. No, not scrape a draw. We could beat them. Enough of this crazy talk Mister Keogh! What about Zidane, Makelele, Vieira and the goal machine that calls himself Thierry Henry! How can your Irish eleven of also rans from the lower reaches of the English Premiership and The Championship hope to compete with 'Les Bleus'?
Easy, we change the rules of International Football. We do what nobody is supposed to do anymore. We play like it means something!
The Dutch, The Italians and to a lesser extent The French have, in the recent past swapped the passion and fervour of the International game for the 10 million Euro contract with Reebok!, the Pepsi commercial sponsorsip deal and the bit part in a Hollywood movie. The International stage is a minor annoyance that they perservere with until they get their asses back to Real Madrid or Barcelona or Bayern Munich to get along with their real job, and don't think that their real job is anything to do with playing football! No, these 25 year old millionaires are marketeers and their product is themselves.
Greed has taken a stranglehold and what once was the jewel in the crown of the sport, the Jules Rimet trophy, The FIFA world cup, is now only a longer working year for those who are unfortunate enough to qualify!
Thats where the Paddys come in. Most of them are working at the bottom end of the payscale and they don't treat next summers excursion to Germany as an inconvenience but rather an opportunity to earn a bit of overtime. Greece proved it could be done at last seasons European Championships and the Brazillians, Koreans, and The Americans all used 2002's world cup to put themselves in the shop window. Indeed Brazil have done this for decades and the carnival that surrounded Robinho's transfer to Real Madrid only hammers home the point that Brazil needs a world cup to advertise their talents to make the European payout.
The poorer nations will always turn up trumps in the beautiful game and that is what makes it beautiful. The level playing field can be just that, and when the French aristocracy take on the Irish journeymen tonight at Lansdowne Road I'm hoping for a rain soaked typical Irish September evening, just to slide the spirit level a little towards this little island...
posted by Derek Keogh | 4:50 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home