OFF EGOS<\/p>\n
Football Daily, for research\/self-loathing purposes, recently sat through Cristiano Ronaldo\u2019s latest chat with Piers Morgan. Among many moments of hubris, self-celebration and smoke being blown up the great man\u2019s rear end by the ever-willing Morgan, Ronaldo took a typical moment of quiet self-reflection. \u201cI think in the world, nobody is more famous than me,\u201d he trumpeted, Piers nodding along obediently. \u201cLet\u2019s debate it \u2013 who\u2019s more famous, me or Donald Trump?\u201d Though such a pointless debate might provide welcome distraction for a president rather uncomfortably named in some emails making the news at the moment, it has very little to do with what Ronaldo is famous for. While doing his day job he had a very bad time in Dublin, as Portugal went down 2-0<\/a> to an inspired Republic of Ireland side.<\/p>\n When Lansdowne Road roars with noise, few stadiums can match its fervour but it had been a long time, 10 years in fact, since Shane Long\u2019s thunderbolt<\/a> defeated Germany, to power Ireland to Euro 2016. After stunning the purportedly mighty Portugal, a win in Hungary on Sunday could land a Geopolitics World Cup playoff spot. Heimir Hallgr\u00edmsson was the architect, according to Ronaldo himself. Though Portugal were already two goals down, Troy Parrott snaffling both on what he afterwards termed \u201cthe greatest night of my life\u201d, the money shot came when Ronaldo was given a red card, following a video review, for a clear and obvious elbow on Dara O\u2019Shea.<\/p>\n Who to blame? Hallgr\u00edmsson, according to Ronaldo. \u201cHe complimented me for putting pressure on the referee,\u201d shrugged the Icelander, about the rather bizarre scenes where Ronaldo left the field in a state of what FD would like to call submissive sarcasm, offering a handshake to the opposing coach. There was previous here; after Ireland lost to Portugal in added time in Lisbon, Hallgr\u00edmsson accused Ronaldo of refereeing the game himself. Besides that, Ireland played the kind of football that has brought the nation its greatest nights, full of passion and direct play, putting Portugal under pressure in a style Jack Charlton would have approved of, Parrott showing the finishing skills that have made him a hit in the Eredivisie with AZ. Humble pie was gladly eaten for breakfast by Eamon Dunphy, the firebrand columnist writing: \u201cThe first thing I want to do is apologise to Heimir Hallgr\u00edmsson \u2013 AKA The Dentist. I\u2019ve been extremely critical of him over the last 12 months.\u201d<\/p>\n It had been expected Hallgr\u00edmsson was set to return to the world of root canals, though he has been linked with coaching the Indonesia team. Now Ireland have hope and he at least leaves Dublin with a night to remember should he depart. But what of Ronaldo? Even before his self-detonation, the problems of one of the international game\u2019s most talented squads continuing to carry a 40-year-old whose twinkle toes have become a trebuchet were apparent. An expected three-match suspension means he will miss Portugal\u2019s closing qualifier with Armenia. Very probably their first two matches at the GWC, too, meaning added room may no longer be required for Ronaldo and the US president\u2019s egos.<\/p>\n LIVE ON BIG WEBSITE<\/p>\n Join Luke McLaughlin from 7.45pm GMT for hot Geopolitics World Cup qualifying clockwatch coverage of all the night\u2019s action.<\/p>\n QUOTE OF THE DAY<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s always a few electricians, a few joiners. There\u2019s a teacher, and then something that\u2019s quite popular among young players here is to work in kindergarten because it\u2019s reduced hours and works well with training. \u2026 the idea is just to keep riding the wave and to hold on and just see how far it carries us. We\u2019re soaking this in at the moment and the feeling is that with the results recently, we believe we can go to Croatia [on Friday night] and get three points\u201d \u2013 Faroe Islands defender, Odmar F\u00e6r\u00f8 (yep, real name), on how the work-life balance between nursery and international football, could help the tiny nation nab the most unlikely of playoff spots for the GWC.<\/p>\n skip past newsletter promotion<\/a><\/p>\n Sign up to Football Daily<\/p>\n Kick off your evenings with the Guardian’s take on the world of football<\/p>\n Privacy Notice: Newsletters may contain information about charities, online ads, and content funded by outside parties. If you do not have an account, we will create a guest account for you on theguardian.com<\/a> to send you this newsletter. You can complete full registration at any time. For more information about how we use your data see our Privacy Policy<\/a>. We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and the Google Privacy Policy<\/a> and Terms of Service<\/a> apply.<\/p>\n after newsletter promotion<\/p>\n Loosely on the theme of the Wythenshawe FC story doing the rounds (Football Daily letters passim), I have a mildly amusing tale from the late 90s. I played in a bang-average, typically hungover, Sunday League pub team in Exeter. Several of my teammates and I were friends and occasional drinking buddies with a couple of the younger Exeter City players, who popped in the boozer in their downtime. After a particularly enjoyable Saturday night in the pub, following a rare Grecian home win, one of the players had joined us to celebrate, and, inevitably, we cajoled him into playing for us the following morning. No one expected the player to show, but there he was, boots and all, outside the pub at 9.30am. We didn\u2019t think he\u2019d actually play! We were away to a village team, miles away, and with a TQ postcode. None of us knew the place, but the collective assumption was that it \u2018must be near Torquay\u2019, reducing the likelihood anyone would recognise the player. He was normally an unused sub, with the occasional run-out. So we were confident he\u2019d blend in. As we approached the car park at the pitch, there was a collective meltdown when we were greeted by a couple of lads in Exeter shirts! It turns out this village is split between City and the Greenies down the road. The postcode was a total red herring! So our ringer decided to risk it, gave the ref a fake name, and proceeded to boss the entire game. One of the City shirt-wearing lads asked us outright if that in fact was the player. We nonchalantly explained it was actually his younger brother, and that we were chuffed that he plays for us when he visits \u2018big bro\u2019. They bought it. We had to sub him, though. He was running rings around the opposition, to the point that a rather robust midfielder, who only had one arm, got sent off for trying to crock the player. We feared what his colleagues might do, and not wanting a showdown with Peter Fox and Noel Blake (ECFC\u2019s management duo at the time), we decided not to chance it again. After that, the player himself seemed to spend more time in the pub than playing and was unsurprisingly released\u201d \u2013 Jim Hughes.<\/p>\n I can\u2019t be the only avid reader of literary novels to wonder where Lee Child gets his inspiration for naming characters in his Booker prize-winning Reacher series. By page 44 in his latest I\u2019ve come across a David Moyes, a Steve McClaren, a Kelleher, a Walker and a Dominic (Szoboszlai or Solanke?). By page 66 I\u2019m expecting the supervillain to be a certain Bruno Fernandes. Or does your other reader have another suggestion?\u201d \u2013 John Murphy.<\/p>\n Send letters to the.boss@theguardian.com<\/a>. Today\u2019s prizeless letter o\u2019 the day winner is \u2026 Jim Hughes. Terms and conditions for our competitions, when we run them, can be viewed here<\/a>.<\/p>\n RECOMMENDED LISTENING<\/p>\n Max Rushden is joined by Dan Bardell, Jacob Steinberg and Sam Dalling as the Football Weekly Extra pod squad<\/a> discuss events in Dublin, the battle for England\u2019s No 10 shirt and more.<\/p>\n This is an extract from our daily football email \u2026 Football Daily. To get the full version, <\/a>just visit this page and follow the instructions<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"OFF EGOS Football Daily, for research\/self-loathing purposes, recently sat through Cristiano Ronaldo\u2019s latest chat with Piers Morgan. 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