He trained this morning with us and he’s fit now.”The Czechs arrived in Belfast yesterday and reported no fresh injury worries ahead of the game.McIlroy feels his side can use their underdog tag to advantage. “Everyone is expecting us to lose this game and that’s not being defeatist or anything because the Czechs are a great side,” he said “But the pressure is not on us We will go out there and we will play our game. We’ve got a little bit of a plan, which hopefully we can take to them.”Hopefully they watched us against Norway when we lost 4-0 last month because it will be nothing like that. Shape, form and anything like that will be totally different. When we have the ball I want us to try and pass it and be confident.”If we’re not going to be confident, then we’re going to be frightened of these lads and who knows what will happen to us then?”I think it’s great for these lads to be playing against the Nedveds and Poborskys and we’re all really looking forward to it. We want to get about them, rattle them and ask them the question do they fancy it? We’ll see what the answer is and hopefully it will be no.”Jim Magilton, who will be captain of the Irish against the Czech Republic, feels Ipswich Town, his club side, can be a role model.

“We went into this season as underdogs in every game,” he said. “We set out our stall and we said that we would have 38 cup finals.”We’ve got an inner strength at Ipswich and we said that we’ve got to try and build a cocoon around us. Good or bad media, it wouldn’t make any difference and it would be about where we finished in the league I think Northern Ireland is exactly the same Every game is a cup final.”. The Wales Under-21 side slumped to a 1-0 defeat in Armenia, with their manager, Jimmy Shoulder, accusing the hosts of “kicking my players from pillar to post”. The Wales Under-21 side slumped to a 1-0 defeat in Armenia, with their manager, Jimmy Shoulder, accusing the hosts of “kicking my players from pillar to post”.
The Welsh dominated much of this European Under-21 Championship qualifier but lost out to a breakaway winner with just eight minutes left. In halting the Welsh attacks, Armenia gave away more than 30 free-kicks, many of them against the strikers James Thomas and Chris Llewellyn. Against such tactics, Wales were unable to turn their general control into a much-needed victory.”Llewellyn has finished the game with the backs of his legs red raw,” Shoulder said.

“Every time he went for the ball his legs were raked by one of their defenders. Thomas was kicked to bits and he’s come off with his shirt ripped and torn from the amount of times he was pulled and tugged back.”The opposition were just allowed to get away with it right through the match and, considering the treatment they had to suffer, I think our front two did pretty well. But it wasn’t just those two: Stuart Roberts was also hacked almost every time he got the ball.”Armenia’s winner came in the 82nd minute when the substitute Aram Akopyan chipped the ball over the Welsh goalkeeper, David Walsh.. In his last tournament before the Masters, the first major championship of the season and the only one he did not win last year, Tiger Woods again suffered from water torture in the second round of the Players’ Championship here.

Woods got wet at the 17th but still managed a 69, only the second time he has broken 70 on the Stadium Course at Sawgrass, to be three under at halfway. In his last tournament before the Masters, the first major championship of the season and the only one he did not win last year, Tiger Woods again suffered from water torture in the second round of the Players’ Championship here. Woods got wet at the 17th but still managed a 69, only the second time he has broken 70 on the Stadium Course at Sawgrass, to be three under at halfway.
But there was worse trouble in store for Lee Westwood, who twice found the water off the tee at the 18th and took a quadruple-bogey eight to finish on four-over 148. Westwood quickly made arrangements to return home to Worksop to be with his wife, Laurae, who is expecting their first child.Westwood will not travel to the Masters unless the baby has arrived, but there was no question of the European No 1 wanting to curtail this week here. He eagled the par-five second hole with a putt from 30 feet and kept the momentum going with birdies at the sixth and ninth to be out in four under.

But a six at the par-five 11th sent the Englishman into reverse and further bogeys followed at the 13th, 14th and 15th.”I didn’t really hit a bad shot until the last hole,” Westwood said. “I got into a good position on the front nine and then hardly made a mistake until I suddenly hit two shots left at the 18th. It just shows how fine the margins are on this course.” Starting at the 10th, Woods set off with five pars before birdieing the 15th and almost eagling the 16th. Woods has been undone by the 17th before and once more the combination of a short-iron shot, wind and a lake surrounding the island humbled the world No 1. His tee shot spun off the front of the green and a three with his second ball gave him a double bogey.It was his second double in successive days after the six at the 18th on Thursday, when he pulled his drive into another massive expanse of water. This time Woods pushed his drive into the right rough but produced a brilliant second to set up a birdie from six feet. Two more followed at the first and second before he reverted to par mode.Jerry Kelly, a former ice hockey player who has never won on the US Tour, could put that right in the grand manner by scooping the £770,000 first prize as an eagle at the second and birdies at the 16th and 18th helped the 34-year-old to a 66 and nine-under halfway total of 135.Colin Montgomerie, who is not impressed by some of the tee-times he is given as a non-winner on the US Tour, was up at 5.30am but was happy to get round in a second successive 71 to be two under.