The Italian Jobs

Following the Republic of Ireland's win against Italy in Euro 2016, we wondered if there was anything interesting to be found in the history of Italian losses in international tournaments - FIFA World Cup, FIFA Confederations Cup and UEFA European Championship. Note that these results are over 90 minutes only, losses on penalties and losses in extra time (e.g. the 2-1 loss to France in 2000 European Championships) were not taken into account.

Only 17 teams hold tournament victories over the Azzuri - Brazil, Chile, Costa Rica, Croatia, Czech Republic, Egypt, France, Ireland, Netherlands, North Korea, Poland, Slovakia, Soviet Union, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and Uruguay.

Of these, Netherlands, Soviet Union, Switzerland and now Ireland have beaten Italy twice in international competitions. Brazil have a record four tournament wins (Two World Cup, two Confederations Cup) victories over Italy.

Both of Switerland's wins have come in World Cup games. Only Netherlands, Soviet Union and Ireland have beaten Italy in both the World Cup and the European Championships.

Both of Ireland's wins have come in the group stages of tournaments (1994 and 2016), a record we share with Brazil's two group stage victories in the 2009 and 2013 Confederations Cup. The Netherlands' wins came in the group stages of Euro 2008, and in the second group stage of the 1978 World Cup - there was no "knock out" stage in that tournament, the eight winners and runners up of the first group stage were grouped into two groups of four for the second round, with the winners of each group facing off in the final.

Travel plans

The draw for the group stages of UEFA Euro 2016 is a week away, but the fixture list has been known for some time, having been announced in April 2014 - http://www.uefa.com/uefaeuro/finals/news/newsid=2095949.html - long before any team had qualified! Following qualification by the Boys In Green, Irish fans have already been researching available flights and accommodation in France.
We've always been interested in new and different way to visualise data, so we've mashed up the current airport and flight data from OpenFlights - http://openflights.org/ - with the Google Maps API - https://developers.google.com/maps/ - to create a journey planner for the group stages: http://irish-abroad.appspot.com/Flights

At the moment, only French airports are included - there are Belgian, Italian and Spanish airports close to stadiums in the tournament - with more to be added. Only internal flights and driving directions are included as travel options between fixtures, public transport needs to be added. If possible, we will add links to the relevant airlines.

What is your preferred fixture combination? 

* Please note that Ireland cannot be drawn for any of the top seed fixture combinations (A1, B1, C1, etc) but they are included for completion

Bosnian Squad

Ahead of the play off against Bosnia this weekend, we've examined the squad announced by manager Mehmed Baždarević to see how each player fared this weekend

Player	Club	Position	Result
Asmir Begovic	Chelsea F.C.	Goalkeeper	Started, Lost 1-0 to Stoke
Ibrahim Šehic	FC Qarabag	Goalkeeper	Started, Beat Khazar Lankaran 1-0
Jasmin Buric	Lech Poznan	Goalkeeper	Started, Beat Górnik Łęczna 3-1
Mensur Mujdža	SC Freiburg	Defender	Off the bench, booked, Drew 1-1 with MSV Duisburg
Emir Spahic	Hamburger SV	Defender	Started, Drew 1-1 with Darmstadt 98
Toni Šunjic	VfB Stuttgart	Defender	Substituted in the second half, lost 4-0 to Bayern Munich
Ermin Bicakcic	TsG Hoffenheim	Defender	Started, Drew 0-0 with Eintracht Frankfurt
Ognjen Vranješ	FC Gaziantepspor	Defender	Started, Lost 3-0 to Sivasspor (Turkey)
Sead Kolašinac	FC Schalke	Defender	Started, substituted in second half, lost 3-2 to Borussia Dortmund
Edin Cocalic	KV Mechelen	Defender	Started, Lost 1-0 to Kortrijk (Belgium)
Ervin Zukanovic	UC Sampdoria	Defender	Started, Lost 2-0 to Sampdoria, Booked
Marin Anicic	FC Astana	Defender	Started, Beat Astana 1-0 (Kazakhstan)
Muhamed Bešic	Everton FC	Midfielder	Out of favour, not played since 12/09, suspended for first leg after red card against Andorra
Miralem Pjanic	AS Roma	Midfielder	Suspended after being red carded against Inter. Scored in his last game against Bayer
Srdan Grahovac	SK Rapid Wien	Midfielder	Started, substituted at half time, Lost 2-1 to Grodig
Haris Medunjanin	Deportivo La Coruna	Midfielder	Not played since 30/10, out of favour – scored twice against Cyprus
Anel Hadžic	SK Sturm Graz	Midfielder	Started, Beat Ried 3-2, Booked
Tino Sven Sušic	HNK Hajduk Split	Midfielder	Started, Lost 1-0 to Osijek
Senad Lulic	SS Lazio	Midfielder	Started, Lost 2-0 to Roma
Sejad Salihovic	Ghuizhou Rehne	Midfielder	Started, Drew 2-2 with Changchun Yatai, Booked
Rade Krunic	FC Empoli	Midfielder	Second half sub, lost 3-1 to Juventus, Booked
Edin Višca	Istanbul BB SK	Midfielder	Started, Beat Trabzonspor 1-0
Edin Džeko	AS Roma	Striker	Started, Beat Lazio 2-0, Scored a penalty
Milan Ðuric	AC Cesena	Striker	Started, Lost 1-0 to Latina (Serie B)
Vedad Ibiševic	Hertha BSC	Striker	Out of favour, not played since 27/10
Ermin Zec	Gabala	Striker	Playing Inter Baku on Monday
Armin Hodžic	GNK Dinamo Zagreb	Striker	Started, Beat NK Istra 1-0
Izet Hajrovic	SD Eibar	Midfielder	Unused sub against Getafe

UEFA Euro 2016 Group D final fixtures Permutations and Combinations

Following the completion of the fixtures in September, which included Georgia's shock win over Scotland, the qualifying fate of the Republic of Ireland is very much in our own hands. With that in mind, we've compiled our traditional table with the various permutations and combinations of the final set of fixtures.

We have made two assumptions:

• Scotland will beat Gibraltar in their final qualifier in Faro
• Germany will beat Georgia in their final qualifier in Leipzig

Assuming those results, there are three fixtures left to examine, with 27 (3^ 3) possible combinations:

• Scotland - Poland
• Ireland - Germany
• Poland - Ireland

In all likelihood, we are going to be looking at the bottom row of our table following Germany's visit to Dublin on the 8th October, but things do look good for the Boys In Green, with seven chances of finishing second (highlighted in green), and 15 chances of finishing in third (highlighted in orange), and a play off spot.

Should Poland beat Scotland, then Martin O'Neill's men will be guaranteed at least third.

Permutations	Scotland beat Poland			Scotland draw with Poland			Scotland lose to Poland
	Ireland lose to Poland	Ireland draw with Poland	Ireland beat Poland	Ireland lose to Poland	Ireland draw with Poland	Ireland beat Poland	Ireland lose to Poland	Ireland draw with Poland	Ireland beat Poland
Ireland beat Germany	Team Pts Germany 22 Poland 20 Ireland 18 Scotland 17	Team Pts Germany 22 Ireland 19 Poland 18 Scotland 17	Team Pts Germany 22 Ireland 21 Poland 17 Scotland 17	Team Pts Germany 22 Poland 21 Ireland 18 Scotland 15	Team Pts Germany 22 Poland 19 Ireland 19 Scotland 15	Team Pts Germany 22 Ireland 21 Poland 18 Scotland 15	Team Pts Poland 23 Germany 22 Ireland 18 Scotland 14	Team Pts Germany 22 Poland 21 Ireland 19 Scotland 14	Team Pts Germany 22 Ireland 21 Poland 20 Scotland 14
Ireland draw with Germany	Team Pts Germany 23 Poland 20 Scotland 17 Ireland 16	Team Pts Germany 23 Poland 18 Scotland 17 Ireland 17	Team Pts Germany 23 Ireland 19 Poland 17 Scotland 17	Team Pts Germany 23 Poland 21 Ireland 16 Scotland 15	Team Pts Germany 23 Poland 19 Ireland 17 Scotland 15	Team Pts Germany 23 Ireland 19 Poland 18 Scotland 15	Team Pts Germany 23 Poland 23 Ireland 16 Scotland 14	Team Pts Germany 23 Poland 21 Ireland 17 Scotland 14	Team Pts Germany 23 Poland 20 Ireland 19 Scotland 14
Ireland lose to Germany	Team Pts Germany 25 Poland 20 Scotland 17 Ireland 15	Team Pts Germany 25 Poland 18 Scotland 17 Ireland 16	Team Pts Germany 25 Ireland 18 Poland 17 Scotland 17	Team Pts Germany 25 Poland 21 Scotland 15 Ireland 15	Team Pts Germany 25 Poland 19 Ireland 16 Scotland 15	Team Pts Germany 25 Poland 18 Ireland 18 Scotland 15	Team Pts Germany 25 Poland 23 Ireland 15 Scotland 14	Team Pts Germany 25 Poland 21 Ireland 16 Scotland 14	Team Pts Germany 25 Poland 20 Ireland 18 Scotland 14

YBIG Football Show

On this week's YBIG Football Show, Dave O'Grady chats to Irish fans and journalist's about Friday's crucial qualifier with Scotland.
Also featured is an interview Dave O'Grady did for PogMoGoal with Irish legend Alan McLoughlin!  Email Dave@TalkingSport.org

Euro 2016 Group D Fixtures

Republic of Ireland's fixtures for Euro 2016

Date	Time	Fixture
Sun 07/09/2014	17:00	Georgia vs Ireland
Sat 11/10/2014	17:00	Ireland vs Gibraltar
Tue 14/10/2014	19:45	Germany vs Ireland
Fri 14/11/2014	19:45	Scotland vs Ireland
Sun 29/03/2015	19:45	Ireland vs Poland
Sat 13/06/2015	17:00	Ireland vs Scotland
Fri 04/09/2015	19:45	Gibraltar vs Ireland
Mon 07/09/2015	19:45	Ireland vs Georgia
Thu 08/10/2015	19:45	Ireland vs Germany
Sun 11/10/2015	19:45	Poland vs Ireland

Also, here's an iCal of the fixtures for your phone/email/calendar: Click here