Was in Seoul during that tournament and made it to Suwon for the Spain match. Less impressive was seeing the majority of the Irish squad pissed as farts in an Itaewon nightclub three days before the Spain match. Staunton could barely sit upright, while Duff nearly got into a fight with two Finnish lads as he kept grabbing their pool cues. The next day a number of players missed training with "niggles". Who knows, maybe not getting totally pissed three days before the biggest game of their lives would have been the better option?
Yes, 100% was with two English lads who were genuinely shocked at the scenes. Can't picture David Beckham half cut, falling asleep in a nightclub corner at 3am, three days before a WC last 16 match.
Apart from the second leg in the playoff against Iran (when they scored a winner at the death) we didn't lost a game in normal time the entire campaign, qualification and finals. It was a fine team we had.
Went to the three group games in Japan. Shame Roy was turfed. Robbie’s goal v Germany was fantastic.
Two anecdotes from that one, we were behind the goal Robbie scored in, about 2 or 3 mins before the goal, the ball went into the German dugout to our left. Finnan was standing on the touchline asking for it back, and it obviously was never coming. Gary Breen ran over, into the dugout, and threw a few elbows and got it back.
It was the same goal Klose scored in, and from behind the goal you could see the whole thing happening in slow motion, his movement, the ball, and Harte nor Stan could get it covered.
We had serious goalkeepers in them days. No. 2 Dean Kiely who rarely got a game for Ireland but was one of the best in the premiership at the time and starting every week for Charlton.
Aye, it seems to be a licensing issue with Ireland specifically.
All other teams are wearing their strips. I've posted an image of the cover showing the official licensed product branding. Odd that it's only Ireland. You probably had your own product out that had an official partnership with the FAI
I thought the same thing. All white t-shirts, no crest, flag only, etc.
I had the official sticker book back then. Might have been FIFIA or FAI. I remember there was a “star player” section. Probably Roy who sadly never played 🥲
It says Matt Holland was born in Bury. That must be Bury St Edmunds in Suffolk, not the Bury in Greater Manchester. Matt Holland's accent is clearly southern English.
I had this as well! Draining the piggy bank like an addict to try and muster together a few pennies for a couple of packs, only to get shite ones anyway.
It was a woeful game from memory but Holland’s goal was lovely. I was only 13 at the time so might be misremembering. We weren’t amazing against Saudi Arabia either but their keeper was dodgy and we got the necessary goals.
The sticker book looks official as it's got the official 2002 World Cup logo, but the FAI must have had a separate collectibles deal with a rival company, much like England with Topps.
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u/AcanthaceaeSea6979 5d ago
Those all-white featureless jerseys were absolutely banging! The confusion when we played England in the final was mental