Northern Ireland becoming Spain’s bogey team
I have preiviously been accused of being anti-Spanish so I’ll be careful with my words this time. But what is it with Spain and Northern Ireland? The Irish knocked them out on their own turf at World Cup ‘82 and since then the Spanish have struggled against them. During the Euro 2004 qualifiers, a 0-0 draw at Windsor Park effectively handed the group to Greece. Then last night Spain lost 3-2 thanks to a David Healy hat-trick. Fans are now calling for the head of Luis Aragones. In a poll on Marca almost 80% of the c. 145,000 voters said that el sabio de Hortaleza should quit. The question is whether there is anyone better to replace him. Maybe they should appoint Pepu Hernandez, coach of the World Championship winning basketball team. He at least managed to get a talented bunch of individuals to function as a unit.
September 10th, 2006 at 8:41
hehe, didn’t mean to shorten your words with any accusations.
(and spain are at least FIBA champions as I predicted before). On top of it you are more than right about this one, it is totally ridiculous. Thing that made me the most mad was N. Ireland’s second goal where X. Alonso just stares at it bouncing in front of the goal, and doesnt even bother to clear it… Trust me I would have had no problem with you railing the team for this one…
L. Aragones needs to change the team more… Find a solid block as you say… If he doesn’t he will become victim of another of Spanish coaches most common occurrences, being fired…
September 15th, 2006 at 2:05
Dani, let’s see how they perform against Sweden. I think the team is lacking a leader. I would have thought that Puyol, with his combative style would be a good choice, rather than Raul who has been out of shape for a while now.