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The Story so far

Written by RickReaper

Well the world cup campaign has kicked off and i have been following Northern Irelands progress and its been great so far ._BR_ is doing a fantastic job as usual and N.I are sitting second after three games. The second of which against Norway was gut wrenching even although we got a point which was a result in itself ,classic stuff . Anyway here be a wee write up of the campaign so far with snippets of interviews with the man himself _BR_ .

The World Cup campaign is entering its fourth week and you may or may not know but we kicked off our campaign with a home game against Lebanon (250308996) .The boss _BR_ decided on a 3-5-2 formation and he told the lads to ease themselves into the game .(GK) R. Giles,(ORB) Wallis,(OCD) C. Poobalan,(OCD) B. Mahon,(IM) F. Butt,(IM) F. Hughes,(IM) F. Spreadbury,(IM) A. Wiacek,(OLW) A. Dillion,(FW) R. Mann and (FTW) D. Newbury all made the starting eleven.
It was a nervous start to the campaign but goals from Darrin Newbury and Alan Wiacek secured a 2-1 victory and the three points .
Manager _BR_ stated after the game "Well we got the start the country expected but i will have to be careful in future when i tell the lads to take it easy ,i though a few of them were gonna fall asleep they were so laid back at times .That said it was still job done . "

Our lads next game was another home tie this time against the group favourites Norway (250309000) ._BR_ had to make a few changes to the line up due to injuries and (GK) R. giles,(DWB) Wallis,(CBTW) Ranson,(CB) Clarkson,(DWB) Scott,(IM) Butt,(IM) Hughes,(IM) Keirl,(IM) Wiacek,(IM) Ellard and (DFW) Mac Fhiacra were this weeks starting eleven .The formation was a 4-5-1 and the players had been encouraged to test the norwegian keeper at every chance especially from outside the box .
Well our boys came out of the blocks all guns blazing and Jim Clarkson had the fans going mental after he put us ahead in the 6th minute.FANTASTIC .. The game settled into a stalemate after this and N.I went in with a 1-0 lead at the half .59 minutes into the game Alan Wiacek ripped the guts out of the team and the fans when he missed a penalty that would have finished the Norwegians off .The Norwegians lifted by the miss got themselves back into the game and equalised in the 73rd minute ,what a blow.The match ended 1-1 with N.I feeling robbed .
After the game manager _BR_ said " We came into this game looking for a point and we got that ,so its a great result the lads played brilliantly".
When asked about Wiacek he replied " what can i say ? a saussage too many in his Ulster Fry ? who knows .The lad will have to live with his mistake and maybe he will be banned from the prematch Fry-up,we will see ".

Week three saw the team travel to Montenegro for our first away tie (250309004) _BR_ stated he wanted more than a win from this game as goal difference could be critical when it comes to final standings .So an attacking Formation of 3-4-3 was chosen with the aim to smash right through their central defence.Picking his words carefully _BR_ told the lads not to run themselves ragged but to take it easy and build the attacks up patiently..(GK) Giles,(OCB) B Mahon,(CB) C Arnold,(OCB) Poobalan,(OIM) Spreadbury,(IM) Wiacek,(IM) Hughes,(OIM) Butt,(FW) Newbury,(FW) Mann and (FW) Penson all made the starting eleven.
The game as expected was a walk in the park,with two goals from Gregory Penson and one each from Ricky Mann,Alan Wiacek and Darrin Newbury contributing to a 5-0 win for N.I . After the match _BR_ said " We came here needing to win convincingly ... and we have . We expected to have six points at this stage but hoped for seven and we have the seven and are sitting second in the group so its been a good start ,but with every team being able to take points of each other its gonna be tough , very tough" (/World/WorldCup/Default.aspx?cupId=137&season=40&matchround=1&cupSeriesUnitId=587)

It has been a great start for _BR_ and the N.I national team but there is a long way to go and for our next game we are at home to Iran who have a massive user base compared to us ,but fingers crossed for _BR_ and the lads.
Always remember ..Were not Brazil ..........were Northern Ireland .