Beware the Mexican humidity at next summer’s World Cup.
At the Soccer Writers’ 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.
The unforgettable image of Staunton at USA ‘94, melting in the early afternoon Orlando sun, before and during the 2-1 defeat to Mexico, inevitably came up in conversation.
Turns out, Staunton was so rattled by the experience that he sheepishly knocked on Jack Charlton’s hotel room door the night before the last 16 tie against the Netherlands, back at the Citrus Bowl in Orlando.
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“I said: ‘It’s a waste of time playing me tomorrow, Jack,’” Staunton remembered. “He looked at me, I won’t say what he said, but I got the full volley of ‘you are not going to tell me who is and is not playing!’
“But Jack, I said, it is a waste of time, I’d be lucky to make half-time. It’s 100 degrees! The humidity! I can’t breathe after one run.”
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.
Sure enough, Terry Phelan replaced him at half-time as Ireland were sunburned and sent home after a 2-0 defeat.
Every June, without fail, the rainy season covers Mexico. This leads to thunderstorms and severe humidity that would have “Stan” banging on Big Jack’s door to escape the sweltering conditions of Guadalajara and Mexico City.
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 Hallgrímsson can guide his team through the playoffs in March.
“First things first, we’re not there yet,” said Hallgrímsson. “At least now we know we are in Mexico and there’s going to be heat there in June for sure.
“The stadiums are not air-conditioned in Mexico. So, that would be one problem that we would need to solve.”
In the same breath, on a freezing afternoon in Washington DC, Hallgrímsson checked himself while chatting on zoom to Irish reporters back in damp, windswept Dublin.
“We haven’t started thinking about that yet. Like I said, let’s focus on Czech Republic and hopefully a game after that. That would be a big one. But like I said, it’s 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.”
Hallgrímsson stops talking abruptly.
“Sorry, there’s music in the background,” he said as FIFA’s cringe-inducing, star-studded World Cup draw turned into a celebration, led by the live performances of the Village People and Lauryn Hill.
“There is quite a lot to get my head around,” he said of the draw. “I was just enjoying the music. I wasn’t thinking much about what it was. It was a nice show. Probably some musicians that you would go and see at concerts. I don’t need to do that now.
“It was maybe a show first and a football [draw] second. That’s not how it should be in a World Cup draw. It was too long for me.”
Hallgrímsson 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.
“Actually, I’ve been talking to some of the coaches here about the possibility,” he revealed. “Hopefully that will happen. But everybody has to agree on it, the association and the opponents, and where we’re playing. Hopefully something like this will come up from being here.”
Hallgrímsson was understandably cautious as Ireland have plenty of road to travel before the World Cup becomes a reality. For Roberto ‘Pico’ Lopes, however, the June 15th game between Spain and Cape Verde is set in stone.
Lopes’ 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.
“Spain have one of the best players in the world in Lamine Yamal,” said Lopes. “Uruguay 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.”
