Ireland: We could have done well at the WC perhaps?

[Doozer]

Mexico, we could beat, not as strong as they were when we last played them. Uruguay are a good team while South Africa we would beat so I would say we would have come at least second in that group

[Westsidex]

We could have given anyone a game if we were in it. However without Given I fear we may have leaked some goals to better standerd of striker, still I reckon we could have given as good as we got.

No way.If we are that good how did it take us relying on one game against France to qualify and bear in mind France are no longer the team that they once were. They are not great. The top teams in the World Cup would laugh us out of it.

Westside.

[Doozer]

No way.If we are that good how did it take us relying on one game against France to qualify and bear in mind France are no longer the team that they once were. They are not great. The top teams in the World Cup would laugh us out of it.

Westside.

We were unbeaten in the group Westi. France are a good team. Look at the players they have, Loris, Henry Toulalan Ribery, and we took the game to them in Paris. They will do well at the world cup. Argentina barley qualified for the world cup but they will do well too

[Westsidex]

We were unbeaten in the group Westi. France are a good team. Look at the players they have, Loris, Henry Toulalan Ribery, and we took the game to them in Paris. They will do well at the world cup. Argentina barley qualified for the world cup but they will do well too

Maybe so but look at the favourites to win the World cup. They would mangle us. Spain ,Brazil, etc would hammer us.

Westside.

[Doozer]

On paper yes, but its not always the team on paper that wins.

[Forrest]

We were unbeaten in the group Westi. France are a good team. Look at the players they have, Loris, Henry Toulalan Ribery, and we took the game to them in Paris. They will do well at the world cup. Argentina barley qualified for the world cup but they will do well too

We were unbeaten alright, but how many games, against decent opposition, did we win.
Argentina qualified, despite having no manager.

[Forrest]

On paper yes, but its not always the team on paper that wins.

especially if the other team has scissors.

[aml]

Most teams are overated,theyre are only about five decent teams spain,brazil,argentina,holland and possibly germany.

[bigcxxk]

i am sick of hearing how france, and henry in particular, robbed ireland of going to the world cup.

firstly, if henry hadn't scored, there was the rest of extra time and penalties to come. there is no guarantee france wouldn't have won anyway.

secondly, france are a very ordinary team by world standards. true, they have some world class players, but when there are problems in the squad like what they have, very often you won't get the best out of them.

thirdly, if ireland were good enough to qualify, they should have qualified. the fact is they weren't good enough. i know they were unbeaten in the qualifiers, but look at the results

Georgia - Ireland 1-2
Montenegro - Ireland 0-0
Ireland - Cyprus 1-0
Ireland - Georgia 2-1
Ireland - Bulgaria 1-1
Italy - Ireland 1-1
Bulgaria - Ireland 1-1
Cyprus - Ireland 1-2
Ireland - Italy 2-2
Ireland - Montenegro 0-0

Scanning those results, there isn't really any notable ones apart from the 2 italy games, but if you remember those matches, italy played in bari with 10 men for most of the game, and ireland couldn't hold out for 3 minutes in dublin in the second game. if it wasn't for shay given, ireland would have been nowhere. he can take a lot of the credit for getting them that far.

we also know how much of world power houses the rest of the teams are.

fourthly, ireland would not have replaced france if their group. they would not have had the same seeding and so would probably have been the third team in a group.

fifthly, everyone was calling for andy reid and stephen ireland to be in the squad. andy reid does not suit the style of play trappatoni plays. he is the manager, he picks who he wants. he wants to play with 2 holding midfilders and if he didn't do that, ireland would have been totally over run in midfield. even more than the were during the campaign. i would never pick stephen ireland to play again. he has shown that he has issues, and if i was manager, he wouldn't play. how do you think that would go down in the squad if he was picked at the expense of someone else?

sixtly, friendlies don't mean anything. particullarly end of season friendlies in a world cup year. teams going to the world cup want to avoid injuries, and teams not going just want to be on their holidays.

in conclusion, had ireland managed to qualify for the world cup, they would have struggled to reach the second round. i don't think that they would have taken a hammering in any game, because they seem to have a good deal of luck on their side. you just have to think back over the campaign and remember all they look they had. the would have tried to be solid and possibly hit teams on the break, but in all honesty, they don't have the players to do that. they may have gotten 2 draws and possibly squeaked a win in 1 game, which would have been enough to get out of the group.

as to who will win the world cup, i have feeling that argentina will be the ones to beat. they don't care about the qualifying phase. they are there now, and i reckon it will take a good team to stop them. the european teams don't look great this year, and surprise packets this year!! i think that ghana can cause quite a stir

[Doozer]

Again we were unbeaten, we didnt win well but we were unbeaten. Look at the likes of Greece when they won the euroes, they didnt win by much but the still lifted the trophy. If Ireland had gone to teh World Cup they would have done well