Summary

The Boys in Green Word on the Week 28th March 2026.
It was a given that they would win! The Czech team was not rated highly. Participation in the upcoming World Cup competition for the first time was anticipated. A summer holiday in Mexico beckoned. Olay, Olay, Olay floated across the pitch but alas it was premature!
There was to be no return to the glory days of Jack Charlton. Perhaps part of the problem was that the Boys in Green were the Boys in White? Did the white strip the players were clothed in, take away from the National pride which commonly would be present at such an event?
Whatever it was, the passion to win was not evident. Perhaps finding themselves two goals up after 10 minutes play sowed confusion in the team. They did not have much experience defending a lead!
They certainly did not have experience in taking penalties. This lack showed when the game ended with the scores even at two goals each and was decided over penalties. We lost four goals against us to only two we scored.
The stunned silence from the Irish supporters spoke volumes! They had travelled in their thousands, often without a ticket for the match, their optimism of a win driving them on. But in a game littered with penalties the concluding shootout would remind them they had lost the last three games the same way!
Quoting from Ecclesiastic chapter 7 verse 2; It is better to go to a house of mourning than to go to a house of feasting, though true, would have been small consolation! What is required is a radical revision of priorities putting God first before football acknowledging our sin before God, not simply losing a game but losing our way.
We need a new manager! We need to take Jesus up on his invitation to be yoked to Him (Matthew 11 verses 28/9). It is not just for losers (we all are in this category) but for those with self-centered hearts. We need to hear of the promise of a new heart and a new spirit involving the removal of the heart of stone and the receipt of a heart of flesh (Ezekiel 36 verses 25/7).