A New Beginning

Like millions more, I watched the England v Croatia soccer match last night.

For those who don't follow soccer (and many of those who watched last night's game must be wishing that they didn't, either), Croatia won the match, at England's own home ground; England failed to qualify for next year's Euro 2008 championship; bars, sportswear manufacturers and sellers, pizza suppliers and various other companies are projecting a total of over £2 billion lost earnings; and the head coach has, not too surprisingly, been fired.

As my own team, Ireland, has already been dumped out of the competition and has sacked the manager, I've got a pretty good idea of how they feel, and it isn't pretty.

No-one, either in Ireland or in England, is likely to thank me for saying this, but I believe the only thing to do now is to learn whatever lessons are appropriate, and move on.

Dwelling on a disappointment hurts - and it does nothing to put the situation right.

So the English and the Irish teams won't be in Euro 2008 next summer. Fine. That's one distraction out of the way. That gives both teams an extra year to prepare for the next World Cup, in 2010.

Yes, that might sound like a whole long way away - but not when you consider just how far both teams have to improve to be contenders... and yes, we're into reframing things again.

Well, why not? Both teams are capable of far more than they've shown us recently, and both countries' fans would relish some good performances and a few convincing wins. At the very least, we'd like to see them play as if they have some purpose out there.

Commentators in both countries have blamed the dismal showing on the players' and the coaches' attitudes. I don't want to labor the point, but if people can't go out and play as if they've got some self-belief (Croatia clearly had no problem doing that!), then all they can expect is failure.

Please, boys - on both sides of the Irish Sea - put some positive energy into it, and give us something that will make us proud of you. It isn't just success we want. Most supporters can endure a gallant failure, but we can't support a team that doesn't show much passion.

Believe in yourselves, so the supporters can believe in you, as well.

We really want to.