A football match lasts 90 minutes but the memories can stay with you for a lifetime.

There is never a good reason not to watch a football match, writes Liam Mackey

Gibraltar versus Ireland in Faro last weekend was the first international I’ve attended where the pre-match traffic actually thinned out the closer you got to the ground.

World Cup winners Germany will look to make amends for their Euro 2016 qualifying defeat to Poland last year when the two sides meet again in Frankfurt on Friday to heave their qualification campaign back on track.

Germany was fooling itself if it believed the peaceful post-WW2 neighbourhood it helped create transcended the logic of brute force, as the Ukraine crisis reveals, writes Lucian Kim.

Given Robbie Brady’s personal experience of competitive matches at the Aviva, he’s surely due a upturn tomorrow against Poland. 

As I write, on Thursday afternoon, disarray reigns in the eurozone … again, says Brian Lucey. 

The rivalry between Scotland and Ireland ahead of next month’s Euro 2016 qualifier is providing plenty of fodder for conversation in the north east corner of England these days.

John O’Shea celebrated his 100th international cap in style by firing the Republic of Ireland to a creditable Euro 2016 point in Germany.

Poland 2 Germany 0

German-US relations are facing a new test over a German intelligence employee who reportedly spied for the US, with Germany’s president saying if the allegations are true, that kind of spying on allies must stop.

Joachim Low has warned Germany they must not underestimate Algeria, who will be looking to settle a 32-year-old score tonight.

Defender Pepe is expected to return from suspension to start for Portugal against Ghana this evening (5pm) — and the Real Madrid star is praying for "a miracle".

Germany national team head scout Urs Siegenthaler believes coach Joachim Low is on the verge of the crowning moment of his coaching career.

The NSA has stepped up its surveillance of senior German government officials since being ordered by Barack Obama to halt its spying on chancellor Angela Merkel, Bild am Sonntag reported yesterday.

Noel King is a football fan and a football manager — but it will be the latter not the former which dictates how Ireland set out to play against Kazakhstan tomorrow night.

Newcastle keeper Rob Elliot has been called into the Republic of Ireland squad for the first time for the World Cup qualifiers against Germany and Kazakhstan.

WORLD CUP 2014 GROUP C QUALIFIER:

Germans sleep better, Bismarck once said, when they don’t know how sausages and laws are made.

The Champions League final traditionally ends the football season across Europe, but it doesn’t feel that way this year.

Sweden superstar Zlatan Ibrahimovic is prepared for anything the Republic of Ireland might throw at him in their crucial World Cup qualifier in Stockholm.

Sweden coach Erik Hamren would prefer if the roof on the Friends Arena was closed tomorrow in their crucial World Cup qualifier against the Republic of Ireland in Stockholm.

Real Madrid recorded their sixth victory over Ajax in the last three seasons with an impressive display to win 4-1 at the Santiago Bernabeu.

Republic of Ireland striker Simon Cox has warned Germany not to expect a repeat of their World Cup demolition job when the sides meet again next year.

There’s no getting away from the fact that the last few days have been very tough and although it would have been easy not to write this piece — especially in the midst of all the headlines surrounding the manager’s position — I think it’s important that the fans know exactly how much we the players and all the backroom staff here are hurting.

Faroe Islands boss Lars Olsen tip-toed diplomatically around the subject of Giovanni Trapattoni’s end-game when he fielded a series of questions on the subject ahead of tonight’s World Cup qualifier in Torshavn.

Faroe Island boss Lars Olsen has warned his players to expect a Republic of Ireland backlash as manager Giovanni Trapattoni fights to save his job.

Sean St Ledger misses out on tonight’s friendly against Oman at Craven Cottage but the defender will always have happy memories of this ground.

MICHAEL Noonan made an extraordinary admission in the Dáil on Thursday.

Italy playmaker Andrea Pirlo believes his cheeky penalty changed the course of Sunday’s Euro 2012 quarter-final with England.

Wesley Sneijder has sent the Netherlands’ angry and shell-shocked supporters a heartfelt apology for the way his team have performed so far at Euro 2012, indicating just how low the World Cup finalists have sunk in the space of two years.

In early 1989 I attended a seminar at the Insead Institute in Paris.

Germany striker Mario Gomez has hit back at criticism of his performance in their win over Portugal by pointing out only Lionel Messi scored more Champions League goals than him last season and questioning why he should change his game.

THIS referendum debate can be reduced to competing emotions and a few heads shouting ‘Look at me!”.

The Government insists it will proceed with the fiscal treaty referendum even though Germany is delaying its ratification as the fallout from the French and Greek elections continues.

The debate on the referendum on the Intergovernmental Treaty on Stability, Co-ordination and Governance in the Economic and Monetary Union, otherwise known as the fiscal compact, kicked off in earnest this week.

GIOVANNI TRAPATTONI got some — but by no means all — of his wishlist at yesterday’s World Cup fixtures meeting in Frankfurt.

German lawmakers today backed an expansion of the size and powers of the eurozone bailout fund, in a major step toward tackling the bloc’s sovereign debt crisis.

IT has been a crazy few days and weeks in the financial markets.

SWEDEN coach Erik Hamren has targeted the matches against the Republic of Ireland as his side’s best chances of finishing second in World Cup qualifying Group C after Saturday night’s draw.