Hungary top the standings with four points, two ahead of Iceland and three clear of Portugal, who play bottom side Austria later on Sunday morning (NZT).”I used to watch the Channel 4 stuff going back to when Gazza was there and Maradona was at Napoli”. But he relished getting one over on his critics in Bordeaux, saying that certain people were trying to manipulate Belgian fans with their views on him. Ireland has a point from its 1-1 draw against Sweden in its first match.
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Roy Keane has called for Ireland to play with “courage and balls” in Wednesday’s do-or-die showdown with Italy in Lille.
Questions had been raised about the quality of the surface before the tournament began and Ireland’s Group E game with Italy will be the fourth game at the venue.
The defeat leaves Ireland with little hope of progressing to the last-16 and they must now beat Italy in their final group game on Wednesday to have any chance. With Romelu, we wanted to give him some confidence.
Roy Keane, the Republic assistant, is not concerned about being unable to train at the stadium but is hopeful the surface will be up to scratch come kick-off.
Hoolahan said: “It brought us back into reality”.
“We must go and try to win – that can be our only thought”, the former Celtic manager said. “I read some of the speculation, but I never felt that my place in the starting team was under threat”.
“We tried to rectify that at half-time but the disappointment came from the fact they broke on us for the first goal”. After players such as Kevin de Bruyne and captain Eden Hazard failed to shine against Italy, a convincing win against Sweden would help ease fears that team has underachieved.
“It’s still very much touch and go but if you speak to the player he’s improving every day, but of course the game is coming up quickly”.
“We have beaten the Germans (in qualifying) in the a year ago”.
If they don’t and the Austrians end Iceland’s dream, we then require Portugal to batter Hungary in the other game to hammer their goal difference – or Hungary to get a draw and perhaps eliminate Ronaldo and the boys.
Asked if his players needed to learn to adapt their tactics, Keane said: “My advice would be to take them out”.
That can’t happen this time because Italy have already won twice in our group.
“It could be a problem that they have a lot of motivation and there’s less for us”, De Rossi said.
“There are no longer weak teams and it’s very tactical”, he said.
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Having been substituted after the second goal on Saturday, it could be argued he’s been preserved but O’Neill may feel Stephen Quinn is a better option in that role against the slick Italians.
