22 June 2026; Carl Winchester of Derry City and Michael Noonan of Shamrock Rovers during the SSE Airtricity Men’s Premier Division match between Shamrock Rovers and Derry City at Tallaght Stadium in Dublin. Photo by Stephen McCarthy/Sportsfile
Late night kick-offs, nightmare defending, horrific results rolling in from Mexico, the World Cup dream turns sour
Cathal Dervan, Editor
The manager has to go. No doubts about it. Three games, two defeats and one draw. Home before the postcards and the DHL sombrero deliveries. Out, out, out.
We’ve had enough. We went to the World Cup with hope, with optimism, with the momentum of the play-offs driving our sails across the Atlantic and down to Mexico. And we blew it.
We were poorly organised. We were badly set-up. We were lacking leadership and inspiration. The players failed to deliver. The manager let the players down. The team let the country down. They owe us an apology.
The manager must go. Either he resigns this morning or we demand his head on a block. And he can take half that team with him. They think they are world class, the lot of them. They wouldn’t lace me boots.
And they’re as cocky as their manager. He sat there last night and he let us down in his press conference again with his insistence that he’s staying put. He tried to make it all about us.
“I want to use this opportunity to thank our fans. Just getting to the World Cup is a great success,” he said. “For our fans it was an opportunity to take this beautiful, if expensive, trip. We appreciate their support.”
Oh yeah, make us think we’re wonderful. You didn’t spend your hard earned cash on traipsing half way across the world, did you? You didn’t take your kids out of school for a once in a lifetime experience. We promised them Disneyland, you gave them the Rocky Horror Picture show.
And in your own head you’re staying on, aren’t you? You’re not taking that pension, are you? You’re not reading the room? You’re not able to read the room, are you?
“It was a long journey and process,” you said. “I am conscious that after making some changes we will be able to improve for next time. I will definitely fulfil my contract. I never give up on any fights.”
Fight? There was my fight in my dead granny’s rottweiler than there was on the pitch last night. Your lot couldn’t win a fight with themselves in a phonebox.
Hang on, there’s a bit of noise. The phone is buzzing. Wake me up before you go, go. It’s the summer alarm. Hang on, this isn’t Mexico. I’m not in the Azteca Stadium. My team hasn’t just been beaten 3-0 by the host nation. We’re not bottom of the Group A table and home before the Scots.
That was all a dream. And a nightmare. I am Czechia. Or I was there while I slept. And the nightmare returned, prompted no doubt by the shared suffering of our Celtic cousins as they swapped Scotland The Brave for Scotland The Naïve in their pitch battle with Brazil down in Miami.
The World Cup of the endless nights I’m calling it and it was a disaster on Thursday. I decided to stay up for as long as Scotland were in their game against Brazil. I could have gone to bed after 10 minutes, such was the naivety of the Scots defence as they gave the ball to some of the greatest forward thinking players in the world and struggled to get it back, except to pick it out of the net.
I lasted until half-time, which is more than Scotland did. Actually, I fell asleep in the comfy armchair, waking as Neymar returned to the greatest shirt of them all.
I wandered off to bed with a simple question in my head - would Czechia do us a favour and beat Mexico to at least soften the blow that was Prague and prove that they deserved to be on the World Cup stage - and that prompted the nightmare.
Mexico ended up 3-0 winners and Czechia ended up packing their bags early. My life as a Czechia fan came to an abrupt and horrific end. The dream became the nightmare highlighted above.
FIVE2FOLLOW
Recovery time in Boston
Injury worries for England
The Mayo Messi
Arsenal gunning for City’s Cillian
Burnley after Bellamy
But at least their exit might park the Prague pain for a while. They’re now as out of the World Cup as we are and they can call for their manager to quit, call for their FA to sack him, ask questions of the players who gave them not one but two great penalty shoot-outs that it turns out served only to flatter them.
We’ll always have Prague. Unfortunately. They’ll always have Mexico. Good enough for them too.
Now pass me that Cape Verde flag. I’ve a team and a country to support at the World Cup finals.
No noise, just the news & views that matters. The Sports Hacks is a reader supported publication - if you like what you read, please consider becoming a free or paid subscriber and sharing our work.
As we continue at the business end of the World Cup group phase, Kevin Bannon joins editor Cathal Dervan to update us on the progress of his Five To Watch, tell us how England is reacting to Pico Lopes and Cape Verde and throws his expert eye over the Golden Boot contenders.
or listen to the full episode on our Spotify channel
Check our socials later (X here or insta here) to get the latest from the World Cup giraffes!
The key stories developing today
An Irish pub in Boston closed on Tuesday to give a staff a well deserved break after a fortnight catering for the needs of the Tartan Army - but English supporters in town for their World Cup clash with Ghana didn’t see the funny side of it.
The Dubliner became the unofficial Scottish hub for the two weeks they were based in Boston around their opening World Cup games against Haiti and Morocco.
As the visitors from Scotland drank Boston dry and regaled the locals with their bagpipes and songs, the staff at the Dubliner worked tirelessly according to a report carried in several US papers and on the Irish website The Journal.
By Tuesday, with the Scots moved on to Miami, the pub owners decided to give their staff a day off even if that meant losing out on revenue from the English supporters.
In a notice posted online, the pub said: “Thank you to our incredible staff! Over the past two weeks, you showed up, stepped up, and gave it your all. Your hard work does not go unnoticed.”
The Journal reports that the message was accompanied by a drawing of the pub decked out with US, Irish and Scottish flags.
“Thankfully there’s nothing happening in Boston today so we will be back tomorrow,” the pub continued, with the hashtag ‘no Scotland no party’.
The report says that was seen to be a swipe against the England-Ghana match that took place on Tuesday.
Reece James is the big injury doubt for England ahead of their final World Cup group game against Panama on Saturday - and Declan Rice will also have his fitness monitored.
James has struggled with a hamstring injury of late while Rice may be rested as he also fights against a long term hamstring problem.
Rice’s Arsenal team-mate Bukayo Saka is likely to be fit for Saturday according to a report in the Guardian and could start.
“He seems to be more and more ready, and will hopefully push, and then we will see what is coming,” England manager Thomas Tuchel said. “He’s getting there, and there’s more and more training sessions, so he needs to have more sessions now. Two sessions to be ready for Panama. It’s not only about Bukayo, but it was good he got some minutes under his belt. Hopefully, there is no reaction and he is good to go.”
A Spanish football account has turned Mayo gaelic football legend Lee Keegan into a social media phenomenon in their bid to discredit Argentina and record World Cup goalscorer Lionel Messi.
As reported by the Irish Sun, the tweet features a compilation of Keegan’s mazy runs with the ball and was used sarcastically to suggest that Messi and Co will benefit from a few refereeing decisions as the tournament progresses.
The paper states that the tweet translates to: “The most legal goal that Argentina is going to score starting from the round of sixteen.”
Arsenal are leading the chase for Cork City’s Irish under 21 international midfielder Cillian Murphy, still just 16 and already a first team star at Turners Cross.
The Irish Examiner reports that Murphy is close to agreeing a move across the water that will see him remain at City on loan until his 18th birthday in July, 2027.
John Fallon writes that scouts from Arsenal and Bundesliga side Borussia Dortmund watched Murphy deliver a player of the match performance against Treaty United last weekend.
Welsh FA Chief Executive Noel Mooney is set to start the search for a new national team manager after Craig Bellamy engaged in advanced talks with Burnley to become their new boss.
The relegated side approached the FAW for permission to talk to their former coach Burley about replacing Scott Parker in time for their return to the Championship in August. Former Wolves boss Rob Edwards and Steve Cooper are the frontrunners to replace Bellamy.
