In your opinion, what are some of the greatest giant-killings in football? I’d be much more interested in any answers that don’t revolve around the FA Cup!
In your opinion, what are some of the greatest giant-killings in football? I’d be much more interested in any answers that don’t revolve around the FA Cup!
Italy v. Ireland, World Cup 94. Ireland won 1-0 and every Italian I knew was as if in mourning. 🇮🇹🇮🇪
As an Irishman, I’d love to agree with this, but a month before that tournament, Ireland were ranked 12th in the world, Italy were 16th.
It was still a game we probably shouldn’t have won, and Paul McGrath gave a masterclass in the art of defending, but I wouldn’t say it was a complete surprise.
My perception may have been skewed by living in an Italian neighborhood and being 16 and mostly unaware of FIFA rankings. I supported Ireland internationally after that until the Mick McCarthy WC.
I think Jack Charlton became the most loved Englishman in Ireland (probably not a high bar) with his success managing that Irish team.
Apart from most of the Irish team…
You do realise that many talented people of Scotland, Wales and Ireland naturally migrated from their respected countries into England and not the other way round?
It makes one wonder how many pure bred English players would be classed as good enough for England if you omit those players with non-English backgrounds. Not many, me thinks.
Most English players are born in England or have English parents. The Grandparent Rule is an absolute nonsense, and Jack Chartlon took it to its extremes. I’m a Scot myself, and I hate that we do it a lot. It means we’ve capped f#cking useless arseholes like Matt Elliot and Nigel Quashie…
Yes, but that’s not the point I’m making. You commented “Apart from most of the Irish team” . That’s obvious seeing that many of their parents had to migrate to England.
Kane’s father is Irish, he likely moved to England for financial reasons. So Just saying Apart from most of the Irish team doesn’t really hold much resonance.
I hear quips like this all the time and wonder how English people don’t see the irony.
I’ve no problem with sons of Irish parents. Every country picks players due to their parentage. It’s grandsons that stretch it too far for me. They’re not Irish, their parents’ parents were…
I just don’t see it as how anyone could be pedantic like that. It’s not as though England are world beaters.
What’s the fixation with England. I’m not English. I just don’t think the Grandparent Rule is in the spirit of the game. It just encourages mercenaries who’ll play for anyone. That and the cursed residency rule…
That’s a bit of a stretch to justify filling team with plastic paddies to get far in a tournament.
Not a stretch really. I’m not British or Irish, so I don’t have a bias. But I do see the England team as mostly from migrants from the other countries.
I’m form Georgian stock. We’ve had plenty of players (as have Ukraine, Latvia and others) who’ve played for CCCP. If those parents’ hadn’t have had to migrate for economic reasons, who knows things would have been a whole lot different. What we don’t see is Russian players that have gone the other way and played for the countries mentioned.
It’s a lot based on economics.