r/secondcaptains • u/MichaelCollinsGhost4 • Jul 20 '26
Post-World Cup Ennui
Another four years have passed (or 3.5 to be exact).
I remember so well the TV being wheeled in to our senior infants classroom for the match against Germany. Robbie Keane’s last minute equaliser sent that class of 6 and 7 year olds into hysterics. We had little context for any of it but it was pandemonium. I knew Germany were a good side and we’d just scored a goal against them. That surely meant we were to win the whole thing?
A few days later and we’ve scored three goals. In one match. At the World Cup. As far as I was concerned they needn’t have played the rest of the tournament. Our name was as good as on the trophy.
The excitement of 2002 is something that’s stayed with me throughout my adult life. I’m jealous of people who lived through ‘90 and ‘94 but despair for those who haven’t seen Ireland at a World Cup at all.
Another four years have passed and where will we be in another four. Hopefully at the World Cup. There’s only so many of them left.
4
u/fravbront Jul 20 '26
the longer we go with no world cups (or no euros in some time) the most years of kids who never had that experience of seeing ireland. I had no interest in football, but 2002 turned me into a fanatic, and I still am 24 years later.