Euro 2016 Group E: Republic of Ireland 0 Belgium 3
SATURDAY night in Bordeaux. A few bars of the Pogues classic A Pair Of Brown Eyes drift through the muggy midnight air as fans pick their way through thousands of empty cans, bottles and plastic glasses. The game was lost but the party continued.
Ireland supporters chant: ‘Don’t take me home, don’t take me home, I want to stay right here and drink all the beer, don’t take me home’.
A fair percentage of the beer must already be gone and reality began to bite after Belgium exposed the limitations of Martin O’Neill’s team on Saturday afternoon.
Unless the Republic improve dramatically against Italy on Wednesday night everyone will be packing their bags come Thursday morning.
Romelu Lukaku’s two precise finishes and Axel Witsel’s header at Stade de Bordeaux left the Boys in Green bottom of Group E and in need of dramatic reversals in form and fortune to survive in this tournament.
Robbie Brady says Ireland are capable of getting the win they need to have a chance of progressing to the knockout stage against group leaders Italy in Lille.
“Naturally you’re disappointed, but we’ve got to try and shake it off because we’ve got a massive game against Italy,” said Brady after Saturday’s chastening loss.
“We need to prove our worth and show why we’re here – to get out of the group. It will be a tough task but hopefully we can go on and do it.”
Brady views Wednesday night’s showdown as the biggest game of his life.
“We have a few days’ preparation now before the biggest game of our lives,” he said.
“Even up to this point we’ve never done things the easy way – it always looks like we’re out and then we come back again and that’s what we’ll be needing to do to put ourselves through. The spirit is still there.
“We have a lot of match-winners in this team and hopefully someone can come up with the goods come the Italy game.”
Brady battled right to the finish at Stade de Bordeaux but Belgium looked superior all over the pitch. The Republic, set up defensively and wasting time from early on, were unable to reproduce the fluent, ambitious football they had played against Sweden in their opening game.
Both of Lukaku’s goals came via blistering counter-attacking moves. The first came early on the second half after Shane Long took a boot in the face when he challenged defenders Thomas Vermaelen and Toby Alderweireld for a Brady free-kick in the Belgium box.
Ireland screamed for a penalty, but referee Cüneyt Çakir was having none of it.
Republic defender Stephen Ward had an excellent view of the incident and was in no doubt Ireland should have had a penalty.
“I was in the box at the time and I thought it was a penalty,” he said.
“I said to the ref, if it was anywhere else on the pitch, he gives it.”
When the ball was hacked away Lukaku picked it up to start a sweeping move. He swapped passes with Kevin de Bruyne and shot past Darren Randolph from the edge of the box
Brady added: “Conceding the first goal the way we did was a bit disappointing.
“We were chasing goals after that, I wouldn’t say recklessly, but maybe not being smart. It was too late by the time we started to try to get a hold of the game – they had already hurt us with two goals and when the third one went in it was... disappointing.”
Ireland rallied and produced their best spell of the game before midfielder Witsel scored the second with a powerful header after a perfectly-timed run into the box to meet a Thomas Meunier cross.
Right-back Munier was involved again when the Red Devils killed the game off.
He robbed James McClean at the corner flag and played in Eden Hazard on the right wing.
Chelsea star Hazard hurdled Ciaran Clark’s rash all-or-nothing challenge, galloped forward, drew John O’Shea and squared the ball to Everton striker Lukaku who was in acres of space in the box. Touch, shot, goal.
Game over, but not tournament over according to goalkeeper Randolph, who is confident Ireland can bounce back in style against Italy.
“It’s not the end of the world, we lost the game but we still have one more game left and we have to go and win it,” he said.
“Every player in that changing room has lost games before. You get over it, you look to the next game – it’s done now.
“You go back, look over the video, go through what we did well and what we didn’t do well and then we look at the Italians and go again.”
With qualification as Group E winners already assured, Italy boss Antonio Conte said he would “pick a side to win the match, but also to rest players” for Wednesday night’s final group game.
Six Italy players – goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon, defenders Leonardo Bonucci and Giorgio Chiellini, midfielders Daniele de Rossi and Thiago Motta, and forward Eder – are a booking away from a suspension.
Manager O’Neill may ring the changes too – Clark and James McCarthy could both be left out and, with Jon Walters still not fit, Daryl Murphy might partner Shane Long up front. Murphy is desperate to get involved.
“I’m delighted to be here but you don’t want to just make up numbers, you want to get a chance,” he said.
The Ipswich Town striker hasn’t scored for the Republic in 20 appearances but would relish the opportunity to come up with an unforgettable ‘moment’ on the big stage.
“It would be nice,” he admitted.
“We need to believe going into that game that we can win it, it’s as simple as that. We’ve played some very good teams and got good results so there’s no reason why we can’t do that.
“Of course the belief is there, this game is gone, we’re onto the next one now.”
