JUST WHEN STEPHEN WARD thought he was out, Ireland have pulled him back in.
The Wolves defender is on his way to the United States to join up with Martin O’Neill’s squad after Marc Wilson tweaked his hamstring after 40 minutes of the 1-1 draw with Costa Rica on Friday.
O’Neill said, “Marc was feeling tight at the start of the half and it just kept going. He doesn’t feel as though he’s pulled it which is maybe a God-send but he said it was very, very tight and he couldn’t continue. He will be out now. I wouldn’t foresee him at all being fit in a couple of days.
I spoke to Stephen yesterday [Thursday] and I just said ’let’s see how we get on tonight in terms of injuries and such things’ but I would hopefully be calling him in [Saturday] morning. He is ready and willing to come.”
There is a possibility that Ward could be marking Cristiano Ronaldo if the Portuguese star is given a run-out at allay fears over his knee [tendinitis] problems. He would certainly be the wiser bet to start on the left side of Ireland’s defence after James McLean underwhelmed in the position when drafted in to cover for Wilson.
O’Neill, again, refused to answer any questions about Roy Keane but assured reporters he would speak about his assistant’s job offer from Aston Villa after the Portugal game. He does seem likely to make Steve Walford a permanent addition to his coaching staff.
O’Neill commented, “When this trip is over, I will sit down with them and see. I’ve enjoyed them. I know what they’re capable of doing, particularly Steve Walford, whom I’ve had for quite some considerable time. I think they’ve enjoyed it as well. We’ve lots to work on.
“They are [not] used to this because they are day-to-day coaches. But they’ve really enjoyed it. I think, again, they can give us a little bit in terms of organisation and little things like this here but I will see. I will speak to them and probably sit down after we’ve had the Portugal game.”
“upset the natural flow of the game”. can’t agree with that. you have lads throwing themselves on the ground left, right and centre which is far more disruptive in my opinion, especially in the bigger knockout games when they’re a goal up. sure they had water breaks in some matches in the last World Cup which went by almost unnoticed. time for the video ref.
Also it should be easy enough to moderate the use of video techology. I.e limit the number of times it can be referred to in a game…. each coach can call for a video replay three times and no more!
About time but I would rather see it use for cheating and simulation
You can nearly tell by looking up that Barcaloni19 page on youtube that you would get 9/11 conspiracy clips in the suggested videos. Short memories, he seems to forget the second leg at Stamford Bridge only the year before.
All club have been stung over the years by bad decisions but when it’s costs a team a trophy/promotion or indeed regelation it can be hard to swallow .
If ever there was a club that benefited from extremely dubious refereeing, Barcelona is it.
The farce at Stamford Bridge
The Thiago Motta red card with Busquets peeking through his hands to see if he could stop rolling around yet
Van Persie’s second yellow for playing the ball after as the whistle was blown
And then from this tie, the Suarez non-red, the Iniesta non-red and the Torres sending off.
You lost all credibility when you said Torres was harshly sent off last week.
In that inter game the goal Barcelona got was actually offside so if they had video ref back then that goal wouldn’t have stood, and also the ridiculous motta red card would never have happened
They weren’t in the video so clearly didn’t happen.
3 for the manager is too many. Its been in hockey for a few years at the high level and only now is it really a very good system without issue of bias or unfair advantage. Currently, each team has one video refferral, which they keep if they are proven correct or in the case of “no decision possible”. When the team refers and they are mistaken, they lose the referral. Teams must refer immediately after the incident (within 3 seconds i think) and it has to be close to a goalscoring event (can’t be at midfield). It goes upstairs to a ref who avails of different camera replays. There are still instances when cameras don’t pick up the incident or it is unclear what happened although football games have so many cameras this might not be an issue. Also, there are still complaints to referees even after video referrals! In football there would be issues surrounding interpretation – handball/ball to hand for instance but these would simply have to be cleared up by rules committees. I think aswell that referees own referrals would be useful but in rugby these are taken too much in my opinion. The system works well, there is usually 3 or 4 refferals a game and they are swift and exciting. I think it would work. 6 a game would be hefty and would lead to a scenario whereby there would be a refferal by a winning defensive team over a free kick the last minute purely to waste time/stop momentum type of thing. This is not attractive to see.
Trust no one
Didn’t need last night to prove this. Just the last 30 years of diving, cheating, handballs etc etc etc