Does this mean that as they beat England who had a almost full team of eleven men-Rooney, Beckham, Owen etc, they would have won the world cup as England were beaten in the quarter finals only on penalties and had only ten men.?
2006-07-31 09:45:47 · 5 answers · asked by Anonymous in Sports ➔ Football ➔ English Football
Wouldn't have thought so. Northern Ireland did play very well that night, but qualification is taken over 10 games not just one, and they just didn't pick up enough points.
However, they did a lot better than in the Euro 2004 qualifiers where they didn't score a goal. N Ireland have been on the up since Lawrie Sanchez took over, and there has been a steady improvement in performances. Now they have finished around mid-table in their group with a good number of goals scored and a couple of wins under their belt. They hadn't really had a good result against a major nation since beating Spain in the 1982 World Cup, so maybe the victory over England had 'been in the pipeline' for some time.
Lawrie Sanchez seems to be working on their self-belief. He is a good manager and has a good record at getting so-called limited teams to punch above their weight. He said in a Sky Sports interview last year that he made a mock-up table of where he thought they could finish this time round; and then one for Euro 2008. That one ended up with their qualification. That's the collective vision he is getting across to his players. I can see where he's coming from, because if they continue to evolve as they have been doing, they will qualify. They have been improving in the same way as Wales under Mark Hughes, but hopefully will go one step further.
They have some good young players coming through, and now have a recognised centre forward who gives them a cutting edge. A little more tactical work and a bit more infusion of team spirit, and they will be very hard to beat. In 2 years time we might just see them playing in a major tournament.
2006-08-01 06:34:41 · answer #1 · answered by The Global Geezer 7 · 1⤊ 2⤋
I think If Northern Ireland had been in the World cup instead of England we would have been looking at a deserved 3 points for Trinidad and Tobago, followed by a triumphant march to the final, where Dwight Yorke would have rounded off a 11 man move with a back heel to dispatch Italy in the final.
2006-07-31 17:09:09 · answer #2 · answered by Chris H 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
NORTHERN IRELAND were drawn together with ENGLAND during the 2006 World Cup qualifying. although they beat ENGLAND 1-0 that day, the results against the other teams was not good enough so they missed out on the top two spots which ENGLAND & POLAND qualified to the finals. the other teams in the same group are WALES, AUSTRIA & AZERBAIJAN.
2006-08-01 08:05:22 · answer #3 · answered by foongwk140804 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
probably mate. It would depend on who the ref was at the time and if you had ronaldo on your team!!!!!!!
2006-07-31 16:47:04 · answer #4 · answered by jriiselfc 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
LMAO ....U just got lucky..
2006-07-31 16:48:53 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋