It Appears As Though Israel Is Playing With Eire

Now it looks like Israel's MNT has gone and done it. They've pissed off Robbie Keane. According to football365.com:

Republic of Ireland striker Robbie Keane has warned Israel revenge will be in the air at Lansdowne Road on Saturday.

Group 4 in UEFA qualifying is turning out to be one of the more interesting World Cup Qualifying pools in the entire world. UEFA's format this time around is one that has raised the ire of many a European footcer fan. Only the top team in each of the eight group and the top two "lucky losers" (the second place teams with the most points) receives automatic qualification for the World Cup.

The six other second place teams are placed in a random draw home-and-away series. The three winners of these playoff series go to Germany. The rest go home.

And there are some very good teams that might end up in 3rd (to which UEFA say "nein" to all): Romania, Finland, Turkey, and Denmark to name a few (that are currently in 3rd or 4th halfway through qualifying, others are holding onto 2nd).

Group 4 was supposed to be one of the less controversial ones: France, Ireland, Swizerland, Israel, Cyprus, and the Faroe Islands went in.

On paper, France and Ireland looked to dominate. Switzerland stood an outside shot of getting into the mix (as they qualified through simularly rough circumstances for Euro 2004).

But then Israel came in and screwed up the Irish and French plans. They tied France 0-0 Saint-Denis (aka at home) on September 4, 2004. And in the return leg in Tel Aviv, they again eeked out a draw 1-1 on March 30 of this year. Mighty France had gained two points out of a possible six on Israel.

Ireland didn't fare much better in their trip to Tel Aviv with a similar 1-1 draw on March 26, 2005.

In both matches in Israel, the larger side took a 1-0 lead only to see it snatched away late in the match by the Israelis. In France it was an 83rd minute goal. But with Ireland it was in injury time!

The standings of Group 4 are as follows:

1. France - 10 pts. (Matches Played: 6; Goal Differential: +4)
2. Israel - 10 pts. (Matches Played: 6; Goal Differential: +2)
3. Switzerland - 9 pts. (Matches Played: 5; Goal Differential: +7)
4. Ireland - 9 pts. (Matches Played: 5; Goal Differential: +5)
5. Cyprus - 1 pt. (Matches Played: 6; Goal Differential: -8)
6. Faroe Islands - 1 pt. (Matches Played: 4; Goal Differential: -10)

Now as part of the qualifying rounds on Saturday all over the world, Israel is making the trip to Dublin. Robbie Keane (and the rest of the team) is looking get more than a draw against the minnow to finally gain some ground on both them and Switzerland (and possibly even France who is idle this weekend because they have a game-in-hand.

I can just picture the volitile Keane, psssibly bringing his still more angry brother Roy, finding where the Israelis are staying on the emerald island. He'd then break a bottle on the stair case to their floor (even though in reality, it's probably a luxure elevator), carry the shattered glass to the rooms, and screaming, "come on you *expletive deleted*, you want to play with Eire, come 'ere."

It's just unfortunate that the match being show in the United States from European qualifying that day are Scotland/Moldova and Serbia/Belgium (though Belgium could be another unlucky third place).

Most people know better than to piss off one Irishman - let alone a whole team of them. :)