first Irishman to make 100 appearances for his country. Together with Gary Breen, he formed an impressive central defensive partnership in front of Shay Given. Staunton was the first footballer to have reached a century of caps for the Republic of Ireland national team, and as of the end of Ireland's qualifying campaign for the 2010 FIFA World Cup he was still the joint record holder with former teammates Shay Given and Kevin Kilbane, though both players (along with Robbie Keane) have since emulated Staunton's appearance record. Ireland's competition ended once more in the second round when they lost agonizingly to Spain in a penalty shoot-out after the game had finished 1–1. Staunton announced his retirement from international football immediately afterwards after setting a national record of 102 appearances. He is the only player to have played in every single one of Ireland's 13 World Cup finals games. On two occasions he scored directly from corner-kicks. The first of which came in a 2–0 victory over Portugal on 7 June 1992, during a US Cup game in Boston and the second came in a 3–0 defeat of Northern Ireland on 31 March 1993 during a World Cup qualifier in Dublin. Managerial career National team Following the Republic of Ireland's failure to reach the 2006 FIFA World Cup, the tenure of manager Brian Kerr came to an end. A three-man Football Association of Ireland (FAI) subcommittee spearheaded by its former treasurer John Delaney was formed with the remit of appointing a capable successor to Kerr. Delaney assured the Irish public that a "world class" management team would be appointed to oversee Ireland's qualification campaign for the 2008 European Championship. After an initial flurry of rumours linking names of the calibre of Alex Ferguson, Terry Venables and Bobby Robson with the post, Staunton was released from his player/assistant manager role for Walsall on 12 January 2006 and was officially named as Kerr's replacement the following day, with former England manager Sir Bobby Robson supporting him in the role of International Consultant and with former Aston Villa teammate Kevin MacDonald as coach. Staunton was something of a shock appointment given the names that had been circulated and his own limited coaching and managerial experience. His international management career enjoyed a dream start, something Staunton called "a bit of a fairytale", when he led Ireland to an impressive 3–0 victory over Sweden on 1