The Warm-Up: Ireland do it again as Aaron Ramsey stutters
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Updated 10/10/2017 at 08:10 GMT
Nick Miller reflects on Ireland’s strength and force of will and the incredible rise of Harry Kane, it’s Tuesday’s Warm-Up.
Republic of Ireland’s Robbie Brady and team mates celebrate after James McClean scored their first goal
Image credit: Reuters
TUESDAY'S BIG STORIES
Ireland pull a big one out the bag again
If you've watched Ireland much in the last few years, you'd struggle to say they were a particularly entertaining team. In fact, you'd be a great big, stinking, pants on fire liar if you said they were. Their team is not one blessed with subtlety or excessive craft, more one that gets to where they are through strength and force of will.
The good news for them is that of teams with the latter category, there are few better. Once again, when faced with a do or die game, Martin O'Neill's men pulled one out of the bag, beating Wales 1-0 last night thanks to a James McClean goal. Looking at the celebrations you might get the impression they'd reached the World Cup final itself rather than earned the right to appear in a two-legged playoff just to reach Russia (where there's every chance they'll play Italy or Portugal), but you can't blame them. This is a team with some serious ticker.
McClean scored the only goal in the second half, simultaneously delighting Irish fans and those neutrals who find it funny when angry men with red faces get very cross about football things. It'll be another month or so before McClean makes old boys who wear polo shirts with the cross of St George on it angry by not wearing a poppy on his shirt, but a quick search of various social media channels suggests they've got moody pretty early this time around. Lovely stuff.
What now for Chris Coleman?
Despair is Wales once again. After a couple of years which have brought hope, thrilling wins and an implausible run to the semi-finals of the European Championships, they're back to the old sadness, missing out on World Cup qualification at the very last. It might not have been quite as heartbreaking as the days of Paul Bodin missing a late penalty, but this feeling will be familiar to Welsh fans of a certain age.
The more practical question now is what happens to Chris Coleman. One might think, having taken them to their greatest moment not even 18 months ago, he would be given a fair bit of grace, but these are cut-throat days, and Wales have been...not good during this campaign. Plus, of course, there's the chance he might walk.
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Manager Chris Coleman will hold talks on his future after Wales' World Cup exit
Image credit: PA Sport
“If you ask any manager after a defeat, you want to be as far away from it as you can,” Coleman said after the game. “It’s six years I’ve been in charge, or coming up to it at Christmas, and I can’t say right now about my future because I’m not thinking about it. I’m thinking about the fact there’s a dressing room full of devastated players and staff.
“The whole nation will be mourning and disappointed because, again, that elusive World Cup has passed us by. There’s a chance I can [stay] and a chance I won’t. I can’t give an answer right now. There will be a conversation in due course and there’s a friendly next month. My contract is until the summer but right now I’m thinking about the experience, I’ll go back to my family and take a bit of time. When the dust settles we’ll see where we go.”
Kane on the Ballon d'Or shortlist
It's a weird thing with Harry Kane. Obviously he's receiving plenty of deserved praise for his current brilliant form, but almost in the next breath of every compliment is someone then saying what more he has to do. First it was 'can he keep this scoring up?', and now it's shifted to 'Should he leave Spurs?' or 'Can he reach the levels of Messi and Ronaldo?'
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England’s Harry Kane celebrates scoring their first goal
Image credit: Reuters
Well, on the latter point, he's at least being mentioning in vaguely the same breath as the two great men. Kane has been named on the shortlist for the Ballon d'Or, among seven Premier League players and most of the usual suspects. Of course it would be nice and sentimental to give this one to Gigi Buffon or maybe Leonardo Bonucci, but of course it's going to be either Ronaldo or Messi, probably Ronaldo.
Still, here's the list in full: Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (Borussia Dortmund), Karim Benzema (Real Madrid), Leonardo Bonucci (Milan), Gianluigi Buffon (Juventus), Edinson Cavani (PSG), Philippe Coutinho (Liverpool), Kevin de Bruyne (Man City), David de Gea (Man Utd), Paulo Dybala (Juventus), Edin Dzeko (Roma), Radamel Falcao (Monaco), Antoine Griezmann (Atlético Madrid), Eden Hazard (Chelsea), Mats Hummels (Bayern Munich), Isco (Real Madrid), Harry Kane (Tottenham), N’Golo Kanté (Chelsea), Toni Kroos (Real Madrid), Robert Lewandowski (Bayern Munich), Sadio Mané (Liverpool), Marcelo (Real Madrid), Kylian Mbappé (PSG), Dries Mertens (Napoli), Lionel Messi (Barcelona), Luka Modric (Real Madrid), Neymar (PSG), Jan Oblak (Atlético Madrid), Sergio Ramos (Real Madrid), Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid), Luis Suárez (Barcelona).
IN OTHER NEWS
Wondering why the 72-year-old Jupp Heyneckes roused himself from a comfortable retirement in order to take charge of Bayern Munich for a fourth time? Wonder no more. It was of course his dog that told him to do it.
It's been a difficult time, but my wife and my daughter said I should do it. My dog also barked twice, so that meant I should do it.
But of course.
HEROES AND ZEROES
Hero: Martin O'Neill
How does he manage it? You've often heard stories about his ability to send teams out of the dressing room feeling 11ft tall, full of their own chutzpah and ready to take on the world. It's a little jarring when you look at this quiet, considered, bespectacled man who in his spare time pores over details of true crimes and (apparently) even attends court hearings. But he must have something. The Warm-Up needs him to come round and motivate us when it's time to do our tax return.
Zero: Aaron Ramsey
Can we all now agree that he just isn't that good? Of course, it's harsh to focus on a team's most high-profile player after they've lost a game, but he was truly exposed when Wales turned their eyes to him on Monday night. For too long people have been hoping he'll regain that form of a few years ago, when he ripped it up for Arsenal, but it ain't coming back, kids. Sorry.
HAT TIP
They went into the game knowing only a win would be enough to qualify for Italia ’90. In the 69th minute, losing by a goal to nil, goalkeeper Roberto Rojas collapsed to the ground with blood pouring from a head wound. Near to him lay a flare, apparently thrown by a Brazilian fan in the crowd. The Chilean team rushed towards Rojas and carried the goalkeeper off the field in protest. Refusing to return to the field of play, they gave referee Juan Carlos Lostau no option but to abandon the match. Suspicions grew over coming days as to the authenticity of Rojas’ injuries, and soon Argentinian photographer Ricardo Alfieri published images showing that the flare had in fact landed yards from where the goalkeeper was standing.
Think the current qualifying campaign has been dramatic? It's got nothing on 1989, when Chile tried to trick their way to Italia 90. Rob Hunt tells the tale over on The Set Pieces.
RETRO CORNER
Holland need to beat Sweden by seven goals tonight in order to even qualify for the playoffs. If they need anything to pin to the wall as motivation, maybe their record ever win over San Marino will serve as some form of inspiration.
COMING UP
Wales and Ireland having suffered the tension last night, now it's over to the remaining groups to go through it. Portugal can qualifyin automatically if they beat Switzerland at home, as mentioned the Dutch have a mountain to climb, but Sweden also have a slim chance of leapfrogging France into top spot, althought that does rely on the French not beating Belarus, but everything else in Europe is pretty much settled. Over in South America though, trouble, drama and so forth: Argentina must beat Ecuador in Quito to have a chance of making it: even that might not be enough, but it probably will, and they could even finish in the automatic spots. Tense night ahead though.
Tomorrow's Warm-Up will be brought to you by Alex Chick, always up for some late night tension.
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