Ireland v Sweden: Game 1

Dunne23 wrote: What a great first half, Hendrick was fantastic. It was miles away from the friendly against Belarus. I haven't seen anything like that from one of our players in years. Hoolahan's goal was a thing of beauty. I'm absolutely chuffed for him, 4 years ago he probably thought he'd never play at a major tournament. I can't understand why we fall away after scoring. It was like we didn't settle until they scored. Still, I probably would've taken a draw in this game. I felt we could get a win against Belgium and after seeing them tonight, it looks even more possible.

Hey lads - came across a pic of our fans and Swedish fans having the crack over in France . In the pic is a lad in a wheelchair who supports Drogs . The pic is on the airtricity banter page and really has to be seen . Dont know how to transfare stuff - sorry. 

Agree regarding Coleman. I think Long done ok though, busy throughout.

We defended ok. But were shaky when they were running at us from out wide. So not neccasarily the defences fault that as it was more not enough cover on right side of midfield

They missed an absolute sitter at 1-0. Blondie haired No 6 (I think) smashed the ball wide from 10 yards out when Randolph was on the deck. That 0 shots on target stat is misleading. They had chances, a couple of times they got good crosses in which just needed a touch. Zlatan hit one wide under pressure from Clark.

Great showing but completely retreated after taking the lead. Sweden were bombarding us, especially from the left, surprised how long it took for us to address it. Looked brighter again after they levelled.

Not too disappointed with the point, it was more than I expected before the game, and we'll only know if it was a point won or not, at the end of the group phase. It is worth another 500k to the FAI.

However talk of 2 and 3 goal wins is away with the fairies. MON said it was not a "must win" game, and if we scored earlier, there would have been no change to how the game panned out. Caution would have taken over and so it did. However, the team played well and the equaliser was very unlucky, even if Clark had two previous attempts at scoring for them beforehand in one minute. But there are still plenty of positives to take from the game.

If we win against Belgium, we're guaranteed at least a third place spot and then we have to wait and see if its enough to get through, which it should be. Belgium are an average team with many English based players that our players should be able to cope with if we play like we did against Sweden. Winning the game though will depend more on level of ambition than ability.

Edited by planning - 14 Jun 2016 at 3:21pm

i haven't seen us play against a BIG team like we did in the first half, should have went in 1 up. Why are we so fragile after we score, we just retreat and look nervous.I would have took the draw before the game but feel we could have taken all 3 points.

Drumcondra 69er wrote: http://afalsefirstxi.blogspot.fr/2016/06/bitter-swede.html?m=1 Blog on Sweden game and trip so far for anyone interested.