Croatia's Darijo Srna wins a header over Ireland's Aiden McGeady (Reuters)
The Irish brought over 30,000 supporters to Euro 2012, and they came to witness the first Irish involvement in a major tournament in 20 years. Their last appearance was at the 2002 FIFA World Cup. Their fans made their presence known, but unfortunately for the green faithful, the team's showing ended up being lacking.
The supporters, whether wearing green or the blue/red and white checkers of Croatia had hardly settled into their seats when the Croats opened the scoring. They sent in a corner kick on three minutes that the vaunted Irish defense failed to clear. Croatia striker Mario Mandzukic eventually got his head on it and put it in the net while the defense ball watched. It was 0-1 to Croatia.
Ireland responded pretty well and their best spell of the match came in the next 10-15 minutes after the opening goal. In the 7th minute Damien Duff tried a shot and missed, announcing Ireland's intentions. In the 19th minute Sean St. Ledger got his head to a free kick from Aiden McGeady and scored the equalizer for Ireland, the match proceeded at 1-1.
However Croatia took control of the match pretty much from that point on. In the 22nd minute Ivan Perisic sent in a blistering volley to the Ireland goal but it was well saved by Shay Given. They managed to take the lead again right before halftime. In the 43rd minute the ball ended up ping-ponging around the Ireland penalty area after a free kick. Everton's Nikica Jelavic came away with the ball and smashed it past Given to give Croatia the 1-2 lead going into the break.
The Croats threw the knockout punch shortly after halftime. In the 48th minute they managed to get yet another ball into Mandzukic. The result was the same as the third minute as the big forward rose to head the ball once again into the goal to give Croatia 1-3 lead.
The Irish never really threatened the Croatian goal in the second half. They tried long ball after long ball, but not much came of it. They probably should have had a penalty though. In the 62nd minute Croatian defender Gordon Schildenfeld went through Robbie Keane's back and put him down in the 18. However, the referee wasn't interested. The Irish were denied the shot to get back in the match from the spot and Croatia pretty much coasted through the last 30 minutes to secure the 1-3 win, putting themselves at the top of Group C.
No comments:
Post a Comment