Tardelli and ‘the sheet list’

Marco Tardelli is generally an affable chap but his otherwise routine pitchside briefing for the media at Gannon Park yesterday took a mildly argumentative turn near the end.

The assistant manager had almost finished giving the latest team news ahead of the game against Germany when he was asked why Ireland haven’t played well since the end of the European Championship qualification campaign. The Italian appeared to find the question perplexing.

“We didn’t play well in Kazakhstan?,” he asked back, eyebrows raised. “That’s your opinion. My opinion is different. I watched the DVD. It’s different. We had the ball always and we play, we play.”