The Best Thing for Ireland is....

Far be it from me to be telling Trap how to do his job but the inclusion of Leon Best for this game against Nigeria tomorrow night is a little puzzling. Best has only scored 4 league goals this season and that for a championship club which finished 17th. Is it possible that the old man from Milan has mixed him up with Clinton Morrison who at least has ten goals to his name? 

It wouldn't be the first time such a mix up has occurred. Who can forget the Real Madrid-Tomas Gravesen-Lee Carsley love triangle? When asked if he thought Gravesen could be the answer to Real's defensive woes, David Moyes replied that he had never seen Gravesen make a tackle in his life. Gravesen didn't last long with Madrid because of course they had meant to sign Lee Carsley. Everyone knows that Trap only watches the Irish players on DVD except for when he goes to Old Trafford to hob nob with Alex Ferguson and watch Darren Gibson get a cameo when United are 5 up against Stoke. 

Trap has spoken about the big man, small man combination up front and we all know what President Clinton brings to the table in that department. Scottish Football Association but at least he puts himself about as they say. The inclusion of best is all the more baffling seen as it will probably be Caleb Folan who starts against the Bulgarians. Folen is badly in need of games and especially after being sent off against Liverpool recently in only his second premier league start of the season. 

Folan showed Irish supporters what he could do against Italy and I would even go so far as to say that without his contribution, unlike that say of Noel Hunt, we would have come away from Bari pointless. Folan can cause the Bulgarians similar problems in Sofia and in a way it's a blessing that a fatigued Kevin Doyle is getting the break he so badly needs because we just can't afford too many industrious but ineffective performances in such a big game. 

We are short of strikers but I can't see how Best is going to provide the solution. Coventry are not a good team and Best has only managed as many goals in a Championship season as Morrison did in the Premier League. The only thing that can be said about this is that Trap is consistent in his approach. If he wants a particular type of player, he selects him regardless of his club form. Trap is looking for pieces for a jigsaw, the completion of which should be enough to secure qualification to South Africa. 

His selections have been questioned in the past but both Glenn Whelan and Gibson have finished the season very strongly in the Premier League and while a certain amount of scepticism still surrounds these players in Irish shirts, they are clearly no flash in the pan. 

So we'll give Leon Best a chance and Trap the benefit of the doubt as usual. He has come good so far. I do have a vague memory of Best scoring a brilliant goal for Southampton against Sunderland (I think) two seasons ago in the Championship but international football is a big step up. Let's hope he can make the leap. 

Football Zombies

What too much TV will do to you.

Watching football on television is really a terrible waste of time. Let's just think about it for a second. On a given weekend, one could sit down at nine o'clock Saturday morning and start watching Soccer AM. From there, there is usually a game on around midday. After that you can either switch over to Soccer Saturday or watch another live game on Setanta. In between you can also watch Football Focus or some other obscure game from the SPL. On Saturday evenings, the football addict is spoilt for choice. There will probably be a Premier League game at half past five, followed by Spanish football and football first on Sky where you can watch a game in full which was played four hours earlier and you already know the result. Having seen those games, you can then watch the highlights on The Premiership or my own personal favourite Match of the Day.

When MotD is over and you've drained the last of the bottle's of Heineken from the slab you bought Friday evening after work in anticipation of a great weekend, you fall asleep on the armchair for a few hours before waking up shivering at about four in the morning but it was all worth it. A good day.

The footy addict will arise lateishly on a Sunday. I myself try to time it so I can watch The Championship on ITV especially if an established Irish international or two has been among the goals in the football League. For others the day will begin with Goals on Sunday, a really great show except for the fact that there is no order to the way they show the goals from the previous day so if I've missed the Championship due to an alcohol induced sleep-in I might switch on Goals on Sunday hoping to catch Graham Kavanagh bang in a consolation goal for Carlisle away at Yeovil but I won't know if it's been shown or not. It's a very random show although if you have the time (which let's face it, most football addicts do), the guests are excellent and the conversation very insightful.

There are others who will get up to watch the Sunday Supplement but those guys are so far beyond redemption that the kindest thing we can do is say nothing for their transition from functional human being to footballing zombie is complete and irreversible.

That covers Sunday morning alright. Dis-co. Sunday afternoon is easy. Two games back to back usually accompanied with the moniker Super Sunday so you are really made to feel that you are witnessing something truly unique and your time is being well spent. Occasionally there is only one game on or even worse, it could be that one of the games isn't shown live. We've all been there I'm sure, two o'clock on a Sunday afternoon and no live football to be seen. Sitting there in the glare of the television with a whole block of time to be accounted for, the sheer emptiness and futility of your life dawns on you as you search frantically through your 168 channels looking for some football somewhere. Salvation can usually be found with Italian football on Channel 5 or the Ere Divise on Setanta. It's not ideal but any port in a storm, eh.

The horror of the summer months or a weekend without football is too terrifying to recount in this piece. There will be ample opportunity to relay the traumas of these barren periods in the weeks ahead. After Super Sunday it's back to the hussle and bustle of La Liga before finishing the weekend on a high with MotD 2 and going to bed happy that another weekend has been well spent. For me, it's actually a superior show than the original but that's for another day.

The football doesn't end there. There's Monday night football, Champions League Tuesday and Wednesday nights, UEFA Cup Thursday, League of Ireland Friday if you're really desperate and before you know it, it's Saturday morning and Soccer AM is about to kick off yet another great weekend of football.

I'm not listing out the soccer on telly here, I'm trying to say that there are people and I certainly know a few of them who watch all of the above programmes week in, week out. Just imagine all the hours of life they are missing out on with such an unhealthy interest in the beautiful game. It's like that film 'Click' where the guy just fast forwards his way through life.

Watching football all the time has a similar effect. You get to avoid all the real issues because you never have to address them. You can always watch the football. It suspends the loneliness and passes the time. There is a sadness attached to it too because it isolates the football fan. These are guys who will stay in of a Saturday night to watch football, will cancel a 5-a-side during the week because they want to watch some meaningless battle of the mercenaries.

The football isn't to blame though, it's just the medium through which the football zombie channels his frustrations. If it wasn't football, it would be something else. I wonder what it was because live sport exploded on to our screens in the early nineties. Booze, surely? Booze is still there and it too provides a very fine escape route from the stress of actually living but in a way the football is worse because you can spend every waking minute of your free time watching it without it ever really having an effect on your life. You can't destroy relationships you don't have (Championship Manager usually takes care of that anyway) and your performance at work shouldn't suffer unduly.

What the football does is fill a void. It worries me because I see the football zombies and it irks me that they shirk the responsibility of living in favour of blanket football coverage. I'm sure some would say it's heaven on earth (the same lads have told me it is heaven on earth) but to me it's a severely selfish act in which the victims are the zombie and the friends and family he never sees. His world and all who inhabit it are the poorer for his apathy.

Nick Hornby thought he was obsessed because he followed Arsenal at home mostly and occasionally away but what I'm talking about is a far greater obsession. Following Arsenal will take up at most one night during the week and one day of the weekend. Constantly watching football on the television takes up an entire life.

I'm not knocking these guys personally. They really know their stuff and are great for coming up ideas for this site. They know all the up and coming prospects from Spain, though their knowledge of the lower leagues in England could be better but I just wish they'd turn off the TV once in a while and get laughed at by a chick in a nightclub, have casual sex, crash the afters of wedding, go surfing without a wet suit, get arrested, talk to strangers, buy a guitar and never play it, sign up for a French course, spend a weekend in the Gaeltacht, get a dog even though you have nowhere to put him.

That's life. It's not always fun and rarely perfect but by living it you make other people's easier and more entertaining. You don't watch football because you're a loser, it's what makes you the loser.

Anyway, if you are going to have an addiction at least make it a decent life threatening one like Heroin or something.

The Flicker

At a risk of sounding pedantic here, the key to watching football on television is just to focus on one game. There are so many distractions while watching football these days that sometimes you can be watching a match which might later be hailed as a classic but you won't have thought so because you spent so much time flicking between different channels. You'll wind up thinking it was a boring game interspersed with a few goals which will have been pointed out ad nauseum during the countless action replays were caused purely by defensive errors rather than the genius of the attacking player.

A case in point being the recent 4-4 draw between Liverpool and Arsenal. Yes, there were mistakes leading to the goals but the finishing was clinical and of the highest order. Yet in the Sky Studios at half time all they concentrated on was an apparent offside for Arshavin's first. In my view there was no question of the goal being offside and perhaps Sky only focus on these issues because they are so keen to introduce the technology which would assist referees or more likely create more talking points and action replays for them to show but I digress.

Arshavin and Sky aren't exactly the problem here. The problem sitting watching a game and flicking to another one every ten minutes. It renders both games meaningless because you constantly switch in anticipation of something better happening. You are never happy.

The temptation to switch is obvious. So many Champions League games in particular are either meaningless draws or tame submissions by away sides hoping to pick up the points at home. We are being programmed to flick and football risks becoming as irrelevant as an episode of Corrie.

I had a real dilemma some weeks back when Reading were playing Norwich on one channel as were Newcastle and Portsmouth on another. I wanted to watch both as the joy of seeing Reading being promoted is about the equal of Newcastle being relegated, emotionally anyway. I could have flicked that night but I chose not to and for better or worse I watched the Reading game in it's entirety. We had to wait until the 68th minute for the first goal but I felt a greater sense of jubilation than normal. The game meant more because I had devoted the requisite time to it and we had bonded. Another goal followed quickly after and with no goals at St. James, I was relieved to find I had made the right choice for once.

The issue of flicking came to my attention again during the Chelsea and Liverpool match. I was so annoyed at Liverpool giving up the two goal lead after half time that I just had to switch over I was so incandecent with rage. Even as Liverpool made their usual highly dramatic stab at a comeback, I just didn't think they could do it. There was no way they'd score again especially without Torres on the field. I didn't believe it and I could easily switch off or flick over as soon as it started looking uncomfortable.

In future when the match starts, put the controls away. Decide on a game and hold firm to your decision. It will mean more.

Leeds 1 (1) V Millwall 1 (2), Min-by-Min. Millwall go through to the Play-off Final.

Millwall well deserved it on the night but Leeds will regret the missed penalty which was very badly struck by Beckford who has scored 34 goals this season. Disappointment too for Simon Grayson who having left Blackpool did a great job to revive Leeds' season but they've fallen just short. Millwall are going to Wembley for the first time since 1940 and no doubt they'll fancy their chances after putting out one of the biggest clubs in England.

97 min: Looks good for Millwall now. It must be full time and it is. Millwall are on the way to Wembley. Great celebrations but the Leeds players are on the floor.

96 min: The keeper is up. Leeds claim for handball but it's a corner. Keeper stays up and Millwall win a free kick.

95 min: Bad tackle by Dunne and Leeds get a free kick in a good position on left. Beckford retaliates and both players get booked.

94 min: Great chance for Millwall. Leeds far too deep and Grabben gets in behind the defence but he drives it over the bar.

93 min: Milwall subs hold onto the ball and it gets a bit fractious as Douglas tries to win it back but no biggie. The Leeds fans bang the roof of the Millwall dugout.

92 min: Grella on for Leeds in place of Howson. Leeds have a throw by Millwall's corner flag. Millwall have knocked it out for another. Delph sets it up for Johnson but again from distance it goes way over.

91 min: OK, so he didn't nearly die but it looked like it for about 5 min, then he got up and played on.

90 min: SIX minutes of added time. Millwall won't like that but then Zac Whitbread did nearly die on the pitch so that would account for it.

89 min: Another long range shot from Snodgrass goes just over,

88 min: Leeds are launching balls into the box every chance they get. Bradley Johnson has a shot from 40 yards which goes just wide. It's desperation stuff for Leeds now.

87 min: Millwall deal with it but now Leeds have a free kick on the half way line.

85 min: Snodgrass corner easily cleared. Millwall under pressure now but handling it well. Shot by Robinson is blocked and another Leeds corner.

85 min: Corner for Leeds but sub for Millwall first. You shouldn't make a sub at a corner. Henry goes off, Robinson is on.

83 min: Snodgrass slips on the edge of the Leeds box. The ball is picked up by Martin who tries to chip the Keeper but the ball goes harmlessly across the goal. Not such a bad chance.

80 min: Frampton slips letting Leeds in. Leeds on the attack now. Great cross from Johnson. David Forde drops the ball and Beckford clips it towards the goal. It's cleared off the line but the Ref blows for a foul on Forde. Bad decision though, he wasn't touched.

78 min: The teams;
Leeds 01 Ankergren 04 Douglas 26 Sodje 36 Naylor 19 Parker (77 Johnson ) 15 Delph 23 Snodgrass 14 Howson 08 Kilkenny (35 Robinson ) 09 Beckford 10 Becchio
Substitutes
12 Lucas, 05 Marques, 13 Grella, 16 Johnson, 18 Robinson

Millwall
01 Forde 07 Dunne 06 Whitbread 15 Craig 03 Frampton 11 Henry 26 Abdou 32 Bolder 21 Martin 08 Alexander 09 Harris (64 Grabban )
Substitutes
40 Pidgeley, 05 Robinson, 10 Grabban, 16 Barron, 24 Laird

Ref: Mark HalseyAtt: 37036


76 min: A Leeds substitution. Ben Parker is off for Bradley Johnson. Parker is probably still knackered after setting up the goal.

74 min: The Leeds fans are calling for Gary Kelly to be brought on but it's surely too late.

73 min: Credit has to go to Martin, it was a super cross and great dink to take the ball past the full back.

72 min: Great cross by David Martin, knocked back across the box and midfielder Jimmy Abdul was on hand to bundle the ball into the net from six yards.

72 min: MILLWALL HAVE SCORED.

71 min: great forty yard pass by Decchio, picks out Beckford who looked to be one-on-one but Alan Dunne got back to cover brilliantly and the danger is averted.

70 min: Great atmosphere at Elland Road, the whole crowd are on their feet and yes, there are a few coins flying here and there.

69 min: Shot cross from Snodgrass, met on the volley by Beckford but it goes over the bar.

69 min: The Millwall keeper appears to have recovered having been hit on the ankle with a coin.

68 min: Beckford almost through for Leeds but the ball hit him on the ankle after a brilliant through ball from Robinson

66 min: Finely poised with Leeds 1-0 up on the night. 1-1 on aggregate. Decchio scored for Leeds after 51 minutes after a brilliant run by the young full back Parker in the 51st minute. Jermaine Beckford missed a penalty for Leeds about two minutes earlier.

Chelsea's profligacy, not the referee cost them.

Iniesta's goal was Barcelona's first shot on target. 

The funny thing about Chelsea's reaction to getting knocked out of the Champions League was in spite of their finger pointing, it was still their own fault. It just keeps coming back to Hiddink's decision to substitute Didier Drogba with twenty minutes to play. Drogba was causing Barcelona serious havoc all through the game and to replace him with Belletti was absolutely baffling. At that stage Barcelona were already down to 10 men and they were there for the taking. 

Defending a 1-0 lead when a Barcelona equaliser would have put Chelsea out of the competition was an extremely risky and ultimately costly strategy. By removing Drogba from the field,  it took the pressure off the Barcelona defence which seemed to liberate the rest of their team. As for Chelsea, the decision eliminated the focal point for all their attacks. They became utterly toothless upfront and the last twenty minutes became a contest between the Chelsea defence and the Barcelona forwards. 

Had Drogba been left on the field, Chelsea would be in the Champions League Final by now and if Ivory Coastian was looking for someone to blame on the night then he might have been better off asking questions of his manager. The reason I'd let the referee off the hook is because referees have a history of being terrible. They have made mistakes, presumably since football was first played competitively but players of the stature of Drogba and Ballack have been around long enough to know that by now. 

Chelsea were deservedly knocked out in the end because they couldn't put Barcelona away despite being given every opportunity and incentive to do so. There were only more controversial decisions in the Barcelona penalty area because Chelsea so completely dominated the game. The poor referee was probably so stunned by the battering being dished out to one of the aristocrats of football that he couldn't bring himself to make it any worse for them. 

Hiddink for all his genuine brilliance as a manager has made this sort of faux paus in the past. Russia tried something similar against Spain in the European Championship Semi Final last summer. Having completely dismantled the Netherlands in the Quarter Final, Russia played a much more defensive game against the Spaniards and paid the price. Hiddink's teams are at their best when they are underdogs and on the attack which is probably a reflection of his combative and aggressive nature. 

The reaction of the Chelsea players after the game was scandalous but it also distracted from their own shortcomings on the night. They lacked the killer edge and gave Barcelona 20 minutes to find a winner. Their players might not be as powerful or strong as Chelseas but they have more than enough guile and skill come up with a goal if you sit back and allow them to attack. 

Limerick FC vs Finn Harps Preview.

I'm heading to Jackman tonight with a certain amount of trepidation. There are many causes for my anxiety. Firstly Pat Scully may well be out to bust my head after accusing Limerick of being a long ball team, secondly I fear having to watch another 90 minute bore fest like the Waterford match and finally I am bringing my girlfriend along. She says she enjoys going to matches but she doesn't doesn't like watching soccer on TV.

However I think when she said she enjoyed going to matches, she was talking more about big games in Croke Park with 80,000 people and having a great day out. I'm not sure if the Jackman Park experience is quite what she has in mind. I tried to warn her: "You'll be the only girl there, Limerick are shit (no offence to the players but she won't even watch the Premier League. She claims it's boring)" but it has had no effect. She is going reluctantly I might add. After some discussions wherein I held my ground valiantly so that men everywhere can continue to go to live football matches on Friday nights, she agreed to come along as an alternative to waiting for me to come back.

There is cause for optimism though. Limerick got a great point against Sport Fingal last Friday night and there is no questioning the commitment or spirit of the team. Finn Harps are struggling this season and having struggled with financial difficulties off the pitch in the Premier League last season, they are struggling to adjust to life in the First Division. The troubles at Finn Harps could well be our saving grace because even if we play badly again, the clubs respective league positions would suggest that it is still a game Limerick should be able to win especially at home.

It will be a test for the Super Blues though because Harps will be happy to let Limerick take the initiative and the ball for the most part. It will be up to Limerick to break down what I'm sure will be a stout defence happy to leave with a clean sheet. Limerick too well be well organised but the question is whether we will have the ingenuity and the craft to breakdown a team like Harps who will keep plenty men behind the ball.

Conor Gethins is Finn Harps top scorer this season with 5 goals already. He is a player with Premier League quality and he will be quick to punish Limerick if they are caught out on the break. Another reason I'm hoping tonight's performance will be better than the Waterford game is the return to full fitness of John Tierney and Paul Cummins. Cummins started the season well before picking up an injury while Tierney was arguably the club's most potent forward last term.

A lot will depend on the sharpness of these two players and with Limerick almost back to full strength tonight, there can be no excuses.

Greatness Lost in the Oversized Seats at the Emirates.

It is difficult to know sometimes whether a game is great or not. The recent Liverpool versus Arsenal game was great and one got the feeling it might turn out that way the whole way through. Anfield is like that. The atmosphere generated there is such that it seems to force otherwise seasoned professionals into costly mistakes while bringing out the best in the very best.

There was no such greatness on display at the Emirates on Tuesday night. It was a horrendously inept display from Arsenal on what was surely one of the biggest nights in the club's history. In a way it brought to mind the team of '89 which won the championship at Anfield. That was the sort of night which people come to define their lives by. Everything either happened before it or afterwards. If you weren't there, you know where you were when you heard (I was 6, at home and straining at the wireless. I was an Arsenal man in those days).

Whatever spirit that Arsenal team possessed has well and truly been eradicated and disappeared in the intervening 20 years. Football has become nothing more than a great day out. When you think about it, that's all it is now. You go to the Emirates with their large extra comfortable seats. You sit there for 20 minutes before kick off soaking up the "atmosphere" which you are doing absolutely nothing to create. Why would you, you paid good money for that ticket, it's part of the deal is it not?

If ever evidence was needed that people in Britain are being paid too much, it was seen on Tuesday night. Presumably tickets for that game cost in the region of £50.00 yet with half an hour to go the stadium was half empty. Who can afford to splash out this sort of cash and then leave in the middle of the match. These are the same people who will be moaning about tax increases, yet they will happily piss away the money they have. One way out of this recession would be to realise that in fact people don't need as much money as they are earning.

Am I going off the point? I don't think so. If you earn the money yourself, then feel free to waste it any way you want. If you're in the public sector (which let's face it, most of North London is) and you place so little value in your cash that you will walk out of a European Cup Semi Final with half an hour to go then you don't deserve it.

It wasn't just a few people, it was majority of the crowd who left. They may have needed to score 5 goals (5! that's quite a lot alright) but in football, do you ever actually know? That fat little Russian fella for instance, scored four against Liverpool. Liverpool fans are sometimes criticised for being a bit too blindly in love with their team but Arsenal have lost that.

The atmosphere at the Emirates is as the name suggests more akin to a that on board a long flight than a cathedral, a theatre of dreams or to give it it's proper title a football stadium.

The Hollowness of the Munster Bandwagon.

Darcy puts the brakes on the Munster Rollercoaster. 

One thing the Munster game did prove on Saturday is that their so called mercurial players are not in fact near as good as they are held up to be. I suppose the reason Munster's players are revered so much is because nobody in Munster actually knows anything about Rugby, myself included. Up until about 5 minutes ago it was a minority sport played by a few affluent schools in Cork, Limerick and a couple of boarding schools around the province.

Then all of a sudden, people had Munster flags flying out their arses and all these people whose previously involvement in sport would just about have been to snag tickets for an All-Ireland final were now dyed-in-the-wool Munster Til I Die rugby supporters. It would have been funny if it wasn't so galling. Let's face it, any sport you can start playing at 18 and go on to become your country's most capped player, can't really be considered particularly skillful or challenging. 

If you go to the gym often enough, you might well end up playing for Ireland. This hasn't stopped thousands of Irish people declaring their unabated commitment to the cause of Munster rugby. Yet for all the hype and all their apparent awesomeness, they went out pretty tamely against Leinster. This begs a number of questions. Can they only win in Thomand Park or are they just not as good as everyone thinks they are? 

The latter is certainly true. As I said, until very recently rugby like Sunderland FC didn't receive a whole lot of coverage around these parts. When Munster and Leinster played about 10 years ago, there were only 150 people in attendance. That figure was up to 82,500 on Saturday. You do the maths. I would venture that of that record attendance, only a tiny proportion had ever played the game therefore I would think that the analysis (hype and hysteria) of Munster supporters is fundamentally flawed. Luckily for Leinster, the Munster players bought into it as did the Lions coach when he selected his panel. 

The nonsense of the Lions selection is another story but I will ask the question: who cares about a selection of British players going to South Africa to play a few friendly games? The fact that Ireland got 14 players on a panel of 36 (and I am right in saying only 15 can play, why not just select all the players) either shows the weakness of the squad or the game in other countries. Even Keith Earls got selected without playing a single minute of the six nations. I think the dude might have been better off sticking with established internationals though rugby fans will probably still tell me that he had a better game than Gordon D'Arcy on Saturday. 

The rise of the Munster brand has been phenomenal and they can only be admired at how they have gone from being utterly irrelevant except to a few old boys in boardrooms to being the most revered (though no longer feared) outfit in the country. No doubt the Munsterians will be crying into their Lattes for a couple of days before getting swept away in the next fad to hit the country. Oh wait, hang on, I can see it on the horizon. There it is. Of course. It's the Lion's Tour to South Africa. 

I can't wait....for them to take another beating out there.