FIFA Publish Report on Ireland's World Cup

FIFA praise Duff
By Ade O'Connor
September 30 2002

FIFA have released a report on all 32 of the competing nations, on their performance at the World Cup. The dossier consists of a panels view on the countries performance, analysing their strong points and weak attributes and star players.

Ireland reached the second round of the tournament held in Japan and Korea. However the opening to their tournament was marred by the actions of Roy Keane, who walked out on the camp as the World Cup was fast approaching.

This didn’t stop the Irish making four impressive performances, the Republic were unlucky not to take all 3 points in the opening group match versus Cameroon; a late equaliser allowed Ireland to go into the last match with real hope, needing only a win by 2 clear goals to guarantee participation in the next stage. Saudi Arabia was dispatched with 3-0, but the Republic was to be beaten in a penalty shoot-out competition by Spain.

Despite being knocked out before the quarterfinals, it proved to be a successful tournament for Mick McCarthy’s men in the face of adversity. Fans could take heart in the fact that young starlets made names for themselves and the old guard proved to be as reliable as ever.


The full text of the FIFA analysis is as follows:

"The Rep. of Ireland remained faithful to the 4-4-2 system that they have used for many years.

The flat back, consisting of Staunton and Breen in the middle, flanked by Harte on the left and Finnan on the right, perfected the use of the offside trap.

In front of the back four, Kinsella and Holland worked hard as defensive midfielders and together with Staunton and Breen, they formed a solid central unit that was difficult for opponents to break down.

On the wings, Kilbane and Kelly were responsible for closing down space and although they were mainly confined to defensive duties, as soon as the Irish were in possession, they both pushed forward to join attacks.

When on the back foot, one of the two strikers dropped back into midfield to try to ensure that Ireland had sufficient numbers behind the ball. When attacking, Ireland tended to begin in defence and bypassed central midfield, either with through-balls to the strikers or attacks via the wings.

Only the introduction of Quinn, whenever Ireland were trailing or if they were finding no joy in attack, brought any real tactical changes up front. Quinn was very adept at flicking on the long, high balls aimed at him and he created goalscoring opportunities for his advancing team-mates in this way.

Duff would then switch to the left wing, where he created a whole host of problems for the opposition with his dribbling and impressive pace. This tactic was effective, as it meant that the opposition was suddenly confronted with a brand new Irish attack.

Overall, Ireland were very combative and excellent in the air, and formed a compact, well-organised unit."

Strengths: Team spirit, good organisation, discipline, individual athleticism, heading from defenders

Weaknesses: Encountered problems when forced to dictate the tempo of the game, little variation when attacking, physically draining game plan.

Outstanding Players: Robbie Keane, Damien Duff, Steve Staunton

The FIFA examing panel was as follows: Joseph Venglos (Slovakia), Abedi Pele (Ghana), Carlos Alberto Parreira (Brazil), Frank Farina (Australia), Lim Kim Chon (Malaysia), Francisco Maturana (Columbia), Holger Osieck (Germany), Ivica Osim (Bosnia & Herzegovina), Alvin Corneal (USA), Anghel Iordanescu (Romania) and Andy Roxburgh (Scotland).




Thanks to Mitch the Red, for alerting me of this story.