FAI...New Manager is Heimir Hallgrimsson

[Look-Up!]

See the bould Ronnie got his red suspended or rescinded effectively. Must be great to be mates with Trump and Infantino. Bring back Sepp, all forgiven.

That was really blatant. They need the last Messi v Ronaldo chapter and the rules don't apply.

That said, I'm sure Martinez is privately furious. They are better without him

I'm not sure Martinez understands football that well.

[AustinPowers]

See the bould Ronnie got his red suspended or rescinded effectively. Must be great to be mates with Trump and Infantino. Bring back Sepp, all forgiven.

And I see  FIFA are  keeping the big seeds apart in the second  round , so the likes of Spain Argentina France  won't meet until the semis or final.

I'm  hoping  for a Cape Verde v Curacao final . That'll show 'em!

[snoopdog]

Ronaldo is the biggest ticket in town. FIFA know that.

[Look-Up!]

He'll be grand. Just avoid Irish defenders and Vegas hotel rooms.

[seafoid]

Ronaldo is the biggest ticket in town. FIFA know that.

He is 40. He should be lining out for Junior C. Portugal shouldn't need to depend on a 40 year old. They won't go far in the competition.

[JPGJOHNNYG]

See the bould Ronnie got his red suspended or rescinded effectively. Must be great to be mates with Trump and Infantino. Bring back Sepp, all forgiven.

And I see  FIFA are  keeping the big seeds apart in the second  round , so the likes of Spain Argentina France  won't meet until the semis or final.

I'm  hoping  for a Cape Verde v Curacao final . That'll show 'em!

cape verde v Curacao holy feck. There are about 20 teams going to the world cup that shouldn't be anywhere near it. I find it strange that UEFA with all its power can't get more of its teams there. Hungary and many many more European teams not even at the play offs would destroy a number of these pub teams that have qualified. NZ just have to turn up FFS and they are guaranteed qualification. Should have kept at 24, 32 at the max but 48 and talk of going to 64

[AustinPowers]

See the bould Ronnie got his red suspended or rescinded effectively. Must be great to be mates with Trump and Infantino. Bring back Sepp, all forgiven.

And I see  FIFA are  keeping the big seeds apart in the second  round , so the likes of Spain Argentina France  won't meet until the semis or final.

I'm  hoping  for a Cape Verde v Curacao final . That'll show 'em!

cape verde v Curacao holy feck. There are about 20 teams going to the world cup that shouldn't be anywhere near it. I find it strange that UEFA with all its power can't get more of its teams there. Hungary and many many more European teams not even at the play offs would destroy a number of these pub teams that have qualified. NZ just have to turn up FFS and they are guaranteed qualification. Should have kept at 24, 32 at the max but 48 and talk of going to 64

It's all about the  money. No other reason.

32 was more than enough. 48 is  a joke, especially as  the second  round  is a round of 32 . That's  12 groups x 6 games = 72 games , just to eliminate 16 teams. Most of which are cannon  fodder like Curaçao, Uzbekistan and Middle Earth anyway.

FIFA are one  corrupt shower of b@stards.

[Armagh18]

Time for Intermediate and Junior?

[AustinPowers]

Time for Intermediate and Junior?

Sure fire off an email to FIFA  , see what they think 

[SouthOfThe Bann]

See the bould Ronnie got his red suspended or rescinded effectively. Must be great to be mates with Trump and Infantino. Bring back Sepp, all forgiven.

And I see  FIFA are  keeping the big seeds apart in the second  round , so the likes of Spain Argentina France  won't meet until the semis or final.

I'm  hoping  for a Cape Verde v Curacao final . That'll show 'em!

cape verde v Curacao holy feck. There are about 20 teams going to the world cup that shouldn't be anywhere near it. I find it strange that UEFA with all its power can't get more of its teams there. Hungary and many many more European teams not even at the play offs would destroy a number of these pub teams that have qualified. NZ just have to turn up FFS and they are guaranteed qualification. Should have kept at 24, 32 at the max but 48 and talk of going to 64

It's all about the  money. No other reason.

32 was more than enough. 48 is  a joke, especially as  the second  round  is a round of 32 . That's  12 groups x 6 games = 72 games , just to eliminate 16 teams. Most of which are cannon  fodder like Curaçao, Uzbekistan and Middle Earth anyway.

FIFA are one  corrupt shower of b@stards.

I'm all for more teams if it makes Irelands chances more likely.

But I think they're messing with something that is as close to perfect as you could get. The 32 teams was just perfect.

The World Cup is hands down the best competition in World Sport but I think increasing it to 48 teams might put that in jeopardy.

[JPGJOHNNYG]

See the bould Ronnie got his red suspended or rescinded effectively. Must be great to be mates with Trump and Infantino. Bring back Sepp, all forgiven.

And I see  FIFA are  keeping the big seeds apart in the second  round , so the likes of Spain Argentina France  won't meet until the semis or final.

I'm  hoping  for a Cape Verde v Curacao final . That'll show 'em!

cape verde v Curacao holy feck. There are about 20 teams going to the world cup that shouldn't be anywhere near it. I find it strange that UEFA with all its power can't get more of its teams there. Hungary and many many more European teams not even at the play offs would destroy a number of these pub teams that have qualified. NZ just have to turn up FFS and they are guaranteed qualification. Should have kept at 24, 32 at the max but 48 and talk of going to 64

It's all about the  money. No other reason.

32 was more than enough. 48 is  a joke, especially as  the second  round  is a round of 32 . That's  12 groups x 6 games = 72 games , just to eliminate 16 teams. Most of which are cannon  fodder like Curaçao, Uzbekistan and Middle Earth anyway.

FIFA are one  corrupt shower of b@stards.

I get the extra matches to make money and I get it that they give loads of slots to shit confederations so that Saudi and Qatar get in and they would love china there for the massive market but even with all the extra help they are still too shit, what I don't understand is you could end up denying Italy, Poland, turkey etc a place, massive markets and good footballing teams and letting absolute garbage in that offer nothing footballing or financial

[JPGJOHNNYG]

See the bould Ronnie got his red suspended or rescinded effectively. Must be great to be mates with Trump and Infantino. Bring back Sepp, all forgiven.

And I see  FIFA are  keeping the big seeds apart in the second  round , so the likes of Spain Argentina France  won't meet until the semis or final.

I'm  hoping  for a Cape Verde v Curacao final . That'll show 'em!

cape verde v Curacao holy feck. There are about 20 teams going to the world cup that shouldn't be anywhere near it. I find it strange that UEFA with all its power can't get more of its teams there. Hungary and many many more European teams not even at the play offs would destroy a number of these pub teams that have qualified. NZ just have to turn up FFS and they are guaranteed qualification. Should have kept at 24, 32 at the max but 48 and talk of going to 64

It's all about the  money. No other reason.

32 was more than enough. 48 is  a joke, especially as  the second  round  is a round of 32 . That's  12 groups x 6 games = 72 games , just to eliminate 16 teams. Most of which are cannon  fodder like Curaçao, Uzbekistan and Middle Earth anyway.

FIFA are one  corrupt shower of b@stards.

I'm all for more teams if it makes Irelands chances more likely.

But I think they're messing with something that is as close to perfect as you could get. The 32 teams was just perfect.

The World Cup is hands down the best competition in World Sport but I think increasing it to 48 teams might put that in jeopardy.

Agreed there are going to be a lot of poor matches between minnows that no-one cares about, also getting through the group used to be a massive achievement but it looks like you could be in a group with not even 1 but 2 joke teams

[tonto1888]

Say the context is abit different- Ireland are totally shite and have barely won any games worth talking about in a fair few years.

They'd a shot to nothing and got 2 huge results against all odds, including a hugely dramatic last gasp winner from a lads who's career hadn't really lived up to expectations capping off 5 goals for his country in less than a week which is some achievement in itself. If you can't go bananas and enjoy a moment like that then what is the point playing?

In contrast Villa should be playing at a higher level than fighting relegation, not too say that they can't celebrate that relief abit too. 

Fully agree with this

[laoislad]

See the bould Ronnie got his red suspended or rescinded effectively. Must be great to be mates with Trump and Infantino. Bring back Sepp, all forgiven.

It's laughable that this has happened but the surprise is that anybody is surprised. FIFA a great bunch of lads.
The Ref that sent him off will probably never get an international game again.

[weareros]

FIFA for all its faults used to reject political interference. That ended when Infantino dropped the ban on UK associations displaying military poppies. It's highly possible he'll remove cities like Boston from hosting World Cup games at Trump's request. Man needs removed himself. The thick head on him with the daz white sneakers under the suit.