Le Guen lauds spirit of Ireland

Well, at least there is one prominent football man who thinks that Ireland set a fine example in Kazakhstan last Friday.

When Oman manager Paul Le Guen was asked yesterday if he’d seen video of the near humiliation for Giovanni Trapattoni’s men in Astana, he answered in the affirmative and then proceeded to accentuate the positives of the late, late show which produced Ireland’s miraculous escape.

“The Irish team have the habit of playing together,” the Frenchman said. “They have great spirit. Even when they were in some difficulty, they were able to gel and get a very good result. They have great fighting spirit, a great team spirit. I think for us, it is an example and I will tell the players to follow this example.”