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The Carling Nations Cup 2011 Discussion Thread


David

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The Carling Nations Cup kicks off this coming Tuesday with the Republic Of Ireland facing Wales, and Scotland facing Northern Ireland on the Wednesday.

 

I'm going to try and get over to Dublin for a week in May for the games against Wales & the Republic.

 

Fixtures look like this;

 

Tuesday, February 8th - Republic Of Ireland vs Wales

Wednesday, February 9th - Scotland vs Northern Ireland

Monday, May 23rd - Northern Ireland vs Republic Of Ireland

Tuesday, May 24th - Scotland vs Wales

Thursday, May 26th - Wales vs Northern Ireland

Friday, May 27th - Scotland vs Republic Of Ireland

 

There are already talks that will hopefully see England take part in the tournament in 2013;

 

The English Football Association said it is in talks with other home nations to play a one-off tournament in 2013.

 

But it does not want to revive the home international tournament, which involved England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, on a regular basis.

 

The FA is investigating the proposal as part of its 150th anniversary.

 

"We're talking to the home nations about a possible one-off round of matches with them," said FA general secretary Alex Horne.

 

"I think we'd be talking about a series of one-off matches in 2013 to mark our 150th anniversary."

 

The last home international tournament took place in 1984, exactly one hundred years after the first championship took place.

 

Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, plus the Republic of Ireland, are due to take part in the Carling Nations Cup in February and May this year.

 

It was thought that the FA's new sponsorship deal with Vauxhall, who are also sponsoring all the other home nations, might encourage England to enter a yearly tournament.

 

And, despite suggesting 2013 would be a one-off, Horne admitted discussions were at an early stage and did not entirely rule out the prospect of a regular tournament in the future depending on whether the event in two years' time is a success.

 

"What I don't want to do is determine a footballing strategy for future management," Horne told BBC Radio 5 live.

 

"The reality of preparing for qualifiers that we face for the European Championship and the World Cup mean that managers rightly want to experience different playing styles, and fans want to experience different playing styles, and we only have a limited number of friendly matches available.

 

"So I wouldn't want to commit to a resurgence of a tournament, but as a one-off it has real merit and I think we should take it a step at a time. It's still early days in the conversations at the moment."

 

England are due to face Wales twice as part of their Euro 2012 qualification campaign, with their first game in Cardiff on 26 March.

Source: BBC.com

 

Is anyone else planning on attending any games? And can any of our Irish members give advice on pubs, hotels and places to eat etc when were on our travels?

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I usually hate internationals as it takes the emphasis away from club football, but I'm looking forward to these ones a bit more than I normally would. It's good to have a home nations tournament even if England aren't participating. Even though they are essentially glorified friendlies, everyone should want to win this for some bragging rights.

 

The big one for me is on Wednesday. I want to bury those scummy Northern Irish motherfuckers (even though Paddy McCourt and Niall McGinn are in the squad :(). Looking forward to the Scotland/Republic match: I'm actually tempted to make the trip over for it as I love Dublin. The fixture itself is going to cause a silly rift amongst the Celtic support though, so I'm glad it takes place once the season is over.

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Fairly strong Irish team there, missing a couple of key names but then all the countries will be. Like Soapy says, this at least has a bit more interest about it than the normal meaningless friendlies played on designated 'international fixture' dates. Somewhat unsurprisingly, Scotland captain Darren Fletcher has pulled out for our game against Norn Iron tomorrow, but the squad still looks pretty good despite Steven Fletcher's refusal of a call-up. Of course, as it will be from now on, if Kenny Miller pulls out our strikeforce is weakened considerably.

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Fairly strong Irish team there, missing a couple of key names but then all the countries will be. Like Soapy says, this at least has a bit more interest about it than the normal meaningless friendlies played on designated 'international fixture' dates. Somewhat unsurprisingly, Scotland captain Darren Fletcher has pulled out for our game against Norn Iron tomorrow, but the squad still looks pretty good despite Steven Fletcher's refusal of a call-up. Of course, as it will be from now on, if Kenny Miller pulls out our strikeforce is weakened considerably.

 

I think you're being a bit unfair on Darren Fletcher there. It's very rare for him to pull out of any squad, even friendlies. He had over 50 caps by the age of 26 which backs this up and I think you can really see what it means to him to play for Scotland.

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Oh, I'm not having a go at him in general by any means. Clearly being Scotland captain means a lot to him, and he's actually been starting to play for his country like he cares lately. I'm just not particularly surprised he's pulled out of this particular game since Man Utd have a huge game against City on Saturday at midday. It's completely understandable and if I was Fergie I wouldn't want him travelling across to Dublin for a game such as Wednesday's.

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Looking forward to this, should provide some decent competitive matches for friendlies. I don't think the teams will take it as seriously as Sky but it should be good anyway. Lots of Tigers and ex-Tigers should be involved tonight and at some point. Evans, McShane, Kilbane, Hunt, Folan, Andrews, Walters, Myhill, Ricketts, Evans, etc. Ireland look the strongest outfit followed by Scotland.

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