My best guess is that it's making fun of the English team because of its fans' bad behavior during the Lansdowne Road football riot. The Republic of Ireland team was coached by a star player from the England 1996 World Cup team. The incident would have been a few years before the game was developed. But it's a weird thing for an American studio to do!
the team match up is almost certainly in reference to the Troubles. consult your local Wikipedia.
I imagine Take Two would have received a pretty severe admonishment from Sony if this was made known during release! yeesh!
My best guess is that it's making fun of the English team because of its fans' bad behavior during the Lansdowne Road football riot. The Republic of Ireland team was coached by a star player from the England 1996 World Cup team. The incident would have been a few years before the game was developed. But it's a weird thing for an American studio to do!