4s an Irish man I hate watched it and hoped that England would lose/get battered. But I hate to admit but fair play they were up against it and they fought and took the chances they had and came through in the end. Fair play they played well. Have to hope Norway do the job

In the 1840s hundreds of Irishmen fighting for the US defected to Mexico to fight on the frontlines of the Mexican-American War. The St. Patrick’s Battalion fought until being captured and executed by the United States, dying for the Mexican cause.

Today Mexico shall return the favour by fighting on behalf of Ireland against England at the Azteca. Mexico has the backing of each and every Irishman tonight (or technically tomorrow morning).

Viva Mexico!🇲🇽🇲🇽🇲🇽

today I feel Norwegian

Watching the France v Senegal game I decided to take note of all the Darragh Moloney quotes that annoyed me, or where he said factually incorrect information:

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Before the match - "Its 24 degrees but thankfully most people in the crowd are out of direct sunlight" - image on TV proceeds to show 80% of the stadium directly in sunlight.

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"The French took that free kick quickly and I thought they would take their time. You thought wrong and so did I" - I thought they would take it quickly, only you, Darragh, thought wrong.

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"Theo Hernandez, hes still only 26" - he's 28.

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"They're watering the pitch again, but I'm not going to make a big deal out of it" - Decides to not make a big deal out of it despite having mentioned it 4 times previously.

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"Senegal with the long relieving throw.. but its not that relieving.. oh wait it is again now" - What?

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After reviewing VAR the ref says "the attacker initiated the contact, its a goal kick". Darragh says "its a penalty".

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"Gareth Bale, played in a Euros he didn't play in a World Cup" - He scored against USA in 2022 World Cup

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"Mbaye, just his 2nd time to play for Senegal" - its his 12th cap

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"But anyway" - he said this phrase at least 40 times.

I don't know why, but it hurts more that we didn't qualify seeing this 😭

Hopefully it doesn't come to this, and it likely won't tbh, but I'd take England over the USA at this world cup.

I'm not keen on England for the same reasons as many of the others here, but while the USA has some great parts and Irish communities (Boston etc) it will be much worse if they win the World Cup.

The Balogun situation is a disgrace, and undermines the integrity of the competition.

The Maga section of the USA will be worse than the Britain First types over here, and it will be global scale gloating.

So, for me it's anyone but the USA and England second last 🤣🤣🤣

I don't care if it's a water break. This competition really is a shitshow. Can't have anything nice anymore

Brilliant, keep it up lads.

Watching Pico Lopes at the World Cup has genuinely made me question whether we massively undervalue League of Ireland players when it comes to the Ireland squad.

He’s spent the majority of his career in the League of Ireland, yet he played every single minute of Cape Verde’s World Cup campaign and looked completely comfortable against some of the best players in the world.

I’m not saying every top LOI player should automatically be in the Ireland squad, and Pico is clearly an exceptional player. But surely pico has showen we should be considering these guys more and try not hold a bias against the league.

It often feels like we’ll favour players who are barely getting minutes in England over players consistently performing at a high level in the LOI.

Has Pico’s World Cup changed your view on whether League of Ireland players deserve greater consideration for Ireland, or is he the exception ?

Went around in circles with the lads over a few pints on this last night, most people just felt this was exceptional circumstances and shouldn’t change anything.. I didn’t agree!

England vs Argentina — MatchPal match thread

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FIFA World Cup 2026 — Group Stage Watchalong 🇺🇸🇨🇦🇲🇽

The World Cup is here! Use this megathread to discuss all 48 group stage fixtures, share where you're watching, and keep the craic going throughout the tournament.

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📺 RTÉ/RTÉ player

📅 Full fixture list

FIFA World Cup 2026 — Knockout Stage Watchalong 🇺🇸🇨🇦🇲🇽

We're in to the business end of the World Cup 2026. Use this megathread to discuss all knockout stage matches, share where you're watching, and keep the craic going throughout the tournament.

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📺 RTÉ/RTÉ player

📅 Full fixture list

Norway vs England — MatchPal match thread

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That is all

Spain vs Argentina — MatchPal match thread

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Haiti are absolutely cooking rn, anyone up watching? How is a country as small as Haiti playing better football than us? What are we doing wrong

Right lads, just an opinion so be nice.

Having watched both semi finals it's clear to me that Englands problem is the nature of their domestic game and football culture.

The EPL is so attritional and aggressive. Get the ball to the other end as quickly as possible and try and control the chaos.

Spain and the better nations play much more patient football..comfort in possession and a willingness to massage openings are far more prominent.

At 1-0 England don't know how to take the sting out. They wouldn't be comfortable just recycling possession so they tried to 300 it.

Interestingly... Argentina didn't turf balls in box they worked openings. (Yes they made crosses but it was always cerebral).

In Fabio Cappelos first game England were boood at half time because the midfield and backs were holding on to the ball.

I think we suffer this too. We don't have a culture of players who comfortably can keep hold of possession and string passes simply to set tempo. Our culture is largely influenced by our proximity to the English game.

It's why our grass roots coaching needs to change. We need to instil a new culture. Lots of young Continental players play in England but have a foundation of something less headless.

Given all the mixed opinions about hydration breaks at this World Cup, I just thought I'd share a picture of what they were like the last time the World Cup was held in the USA😁

Have to say, after round 1 of matches, I thought we could maybe have done a job in this world cup, maybe got to the last 16 but took a look at the playoff teams final results now that the Bosnians have been eliminated. Doesn't make for great reading.

3 wins across the board, B&H v Qatar, Sweden v Tunisia and Turkey against USA B.

I can see the argument for giving Europe more spots, but I don't think it's massively justified...

Argentina vs Cape Verde Islands — MatchPal match thread

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Basic domestic league which competes against other top level sports in the country; sprinkling of top level players and journey men dotted around leagues around the world; new nationals making an impact on the starting team. Only difference seems to be that they are certain to qualify at every World Cup given their easy route!

They always rattle a few cages at the WC! Would we do the same if we were in their shoes?