Publicans will open their premises early on Sunday to accommodate thousands of World Cup fans cheering on the Irish team as they take on Spain. Pubs will open earlier than the usual Sunday opening time, but drink will not be served until the crunch tie kicks off at 12.30 in Suwon, South Korea.
The country ground to a halt during the Irish team’s past World Cup adventures. This Sunday, as the team faces its latest challenge, the streets of Ireland are expected to be empty again.
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Spain has a reputation at major tournaments as an underachieving team. Mick McCarthy and four million Irish people will be hoping they do nothing to improve that reputation on Sunday.
Victory against Spain will see Ireland progress to a quarter-final showdown in Gwangju against the winners of the match between Korea and Italy.
However, in 23 previous encounters, Ireland has only managed to beat the Spanish four times (on two of those occasions an own goal gave Ireland victory). For the 17 goals Ireland has scored against them, the Spanish have bagged 47.
Fans in Ireland will be joined by several hundred supporters who this week made the long journey home from Japan and Korea after phase one of the tournament.
But thousands more fans have chosen to travel on to South Korea. And many of those had travelled out on packages which had return flights scheduled this week but have forfeited the tickets.
Several hundred fans have been able to purchase packages to South Korea for between €1,700 and €2,900 and 500 fans are making their way there under their own steam.
Although the timing of the game with Spain also clashes with 12.30 mass in many parishes, there are no plans to reschedule any of the services. "There are a sufficient number of masses to allow people to both see the match and attend church," a spokesman for the Archdiocese of Dublin told ireland.com.
Tomorrow, England take on Denmark in Niigata for a place in the last eight. If England can overcome the Danes their reward will be a quarter-final meeting in Shizuoka with the winners of the game between Brazil and Belgium.