{"id":218411,"date":"2025-12-06T10:49:14","date_gmt":"2025-12-06T10:49:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/218411\/"},"modified":"2025-12-06T10:49:14","modified_gmt":"2025-12-06T10:49:14","slug":"steve-staunton-recalls-impact-of-usa-94-heat-as-ireland-learn-potential-world-cup-opponents-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/218411\/","title":{"rendered":"Steve Staunton recalls impact of USA \u201994 heat as Ireland learn potential World Cup opponents \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Beware the Mexican humidity at next summer\u2019s World Cup<\/a>.<\/p>\n

At the Soccer Writers\u2019 of Ireland awards in Dublin on Friday afternoon, Steve Staunton was feted with the International Achievement award in recognition of his three World Cup appearances for the Republic of Ireland in 1990, 1994 and 2002.<\/p>\n

The unforgettable image of Staunton at USA \u201894, melting in the early afternoon Orlando sun, before and during the 2-1 defeat to Mexico, inevitably came up in conversation.<\/p>\n

Turns out, Staunton was so rattled by the experience that he sheepishly knocked on Jack Charlton\u2019s hotel room door the night before the last 16 tie against the Netherlands, back at the Citrus Bowl in Orlando.<\/p>\n

\u201cI said: \u2018It\u2019s a waste of time playing me tomorrow, Jack,\u2019\u201d Staunton remembered. \u201cHe looked at me, I won\u2019t say what he said, but I got the full volley of \u2018you are not going to tell me who is and is not playing!\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cBut Jack, I said, it is a waste of time, I\u2019d be lucky to make half-time. It\u2019s 100 degrees! The humidity! I can\u2019t breathe after one run.\u201d<\/p>\n

Charlton was unmoved, and more importantly he was holding court in his room with the Guinness tap flowing, so he told Staunton a decision would not be made until the next morning. A few hours later, before the sun could burst through the clouds, Charlton told Staunton he was playing.<\/p>\n

\"Ireland’sIreland\u2019s Roy Keane and Steve Staunton leave the pitch after the game in 1994. Photograph: Billy Stickland\/Inpho <\/p>\n

Sure enough, Terry Phelan replaced him at half-time as Ireland were sunburned and sent home after a 2-0 defeat.<\/p>\n

Every June, without fail, the rainy season covers Mexico. This leads to thunderstorms and severe humidity that would have \u201cStan\u201d banging on Big Jack\u2019s door to escape the sweltering conditions of Guadalajara and Mexico City.<\/p>\n

These are the cities Ireland will face South Korea on June 11th and Mexico on June 24th next year, with a trip to Atlanta to play South Africa on June 18th, if Heimir Hallgr\u00edmsson can guide his team through the playoffs in March.<\/p>\n

\u201cFirst things first, we\u2019re not there yet,\u201d said Hallgr\u00edmsson. \u201cAt least now we know we are in Mexico and there\u2019s going to be heat there in June for sure. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe stadiums are not air-conditioned in Mexico. So, that would be one problem that we would need to solve.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the same breath, on a freezing afternoon in Washington DC, Hallgr\u00edmsson checked himself while chatting on zoom to Irish reporters back in damp, windswept Dublin.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe haven\u2019t started thinking about that yet. Like I said, let\u2019s focus on Czech Republic and hopefully a game after that. That would be a big one. But like I said, it\u2019s a very short turnaround from the games in March and then final preparation for the World Cup. A lot of things still need to happen.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hallgr\u00edmsson stops talking abruptly.<\/p>\n

\u201cSorry, there\u2019s music in the background,\u201d he said as FIFA\u2019s cringe-inducing, star-studded World Cup draw<\/a> turned into a celebration, led by the live performances of the Village People and Lauryn Hill.<\/p>\n

\"VillageVillage People perform during the Fifa World Cup 2026 Official Draw. Photograph: Jess Rapfogel\/Getty <\/p>\n

\u201cThere is quite a lot to get my head around,\u201d he said of the draw. \u201cI was just enjoying the music. I wasn\u2019t thinking much about what it was. It was a nice show. Probably some musicians that you would go and see at concerts. I don\u2019t need to do that now.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was maybe a show first and a football [draw] second. That\u2019s not how it should be in a World Cup draw. It was too long for me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hallgr\u00edmsson was unable to confirm if the FAI can facilitate a training camp, with a possible friendly, ahead of the March 26th playoff against the Czech Republic in Prague.<\/p>\n

\u201cActually, I\u2019ve been talking to some of the coaches here about the possibility,\u201d he revealed. \u201cHopefully that will happen. But everybody has to agree on it, the association and the opponents, and where we\u2019re playing. Hopefully something like this will come up from being here.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hallgr\u00edmsson was understandably cautious as Ireland have plenty of road to travel before the World Cup becomes a reality. For Roberto \u2018Pico\u2019 Lopes, however, the June 15th game between Spain and Cape Verde is set in stone.<\/p>\n

Lopes\u2019 dad Carlos is a native of Cape Verde, with the Crumlin native first capped in 2019 before he played a key role in the island off the coast of west Africa qualifying for the first time in their history. <\/p>\n

\u201cSpain have one of the best players in the world in Lamine Yamal,\u201d said Lopes. \u201cUruguay is a really interesting opponent and Saudi Arabia are on the up, they are a country that has put a lot of investment in football.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Beware the Mexican humidity at next summer\u2019s World Cup. At the Soccer Writers\u2019 of Ireland awards in Dublin…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":218412,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[76],"tags":[18,34476,17065,19,17,118216,6634,132,35350],"class_list":{"0":"post-218411","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports","8":"tag-eire","9":"tag-fifa","10":"tag-heimir-hallgrimsson","11":"tag-ie","12":"tag-ireland","13":"tag-john-o-shea","14":"tag-republic-of-ireland-mnt","15":"tag-sports","16":"tag-world-cup"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/115672237510691920","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/218411","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=218411"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/218411\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/218412"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=218411"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=218411"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=218411"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}