Football Daily | San Marino make history and bring Nations League vindication
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As any Irish football fan of a certain vintage can attest, Liechtenstein can be a famously difficult place to go. In June 1995, Jack Charlton took a Republic of Ireland side that was ranked ninth in the world to this tiny country for a Euro 96 qualifier against a team of part-timers that included several bankers, a draughtsman, a wine grower, a mechanic, a builder and the obligatory postman. In Mario Frick, Liechtenstein boasted their only professional player as they lined up in the ramshackle 4,500-capacity Sportpark-Eschen Mauren to face a team that included the likes of John Aldridge, Niall Quinn, Jason McAteer, Paul McGrath and Denis Irwin. The ground was full, with the crowd largely comprising Ireland fans who expected a rout but ended up applauding the home side on their lap of honour after they had held their opponents to a scoreless draw. To their acute embarrassment, Ireland had somehow failed to score from any of their 40 shots on goal and drawn with a ski resort.
The mention of 90s BBC lunchtime staple Turnabout (yesterday’s Football Daily) inevitably resulted in me trawling YouTube to find old episodes of a quiz show I used to love, given its run coincided with me being in sixth form or at university. Imagine my surprise when I read the comment ‘Guardian Football Weekly has brought me here’ – from two years ago. Were you recycling old content? I suppose it’s consistent with a wider green agenda” – Adam Clark.
Something has gone very wrong in the world this month when Donald Trump has been reelected, Gary Lineker is unemployed, Mike Tyson looks mellow and now Scotland are winning both home and away, despite not even being on the telly any more. Is this some kind of rip in the tartan fabric of the space-time continuum?” – Justin Kavanagh.
Re: Memory Lane (yesterday’s Football Daily, full email edition). Either that fella with the bass is emulating Hendrix on the guitar and playing a right-handed bass left-handed, or whatever they were serving at the Hilton was a hell of a lot stronger than what they’d serve pro footballers these days” – Dave T Lloyd.
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