Ireland battered, bruised and humiliated

Saturday, October 13, 2012

Republic of Ireland 1 Germany 6
Yes, it was Germany and, yes, it was an experimental Irish team but there can be no escaping the painful reality that this was a wretched and humiliating night for Giovanni Trapattoni and his players, as they made the wrong kind of history by equalling the worst defeat ever suffered at home by an Irish side — a grim record which, until last night, had stood through all the decades since Spain won 5-0 here in 1931.

Many of the fans who left early last night were calling time on the Italian’s reign as they passed close to the press box and, if the opposition had been any team other than one of the top two in the world, Trapattoni really wouldn’t have a leg to stand on.

Instead, physically bruised and psychologically battered, his make-shift squad will move on to the Faroe Islands for a game on Tuesday which now has the potential to be a deal-breaker in terms of the manager’s position. Any slip-up in Torshavn — and last night relieved Sweden showed what a banana skin a game up there can be — and it will be impossible to make a convincing footballing case for Trap to remain in charge.

But, first, he and his players will have to get last night’s agonising ordeal out of their system. By any objective analysis going into the game, this was a significantly weakened Irish side, missing no less than seven of what would have been regarded — certainly by Trapattoni — as the first choice 11. Damien Duff, retired, and Richard Dunne, injured, were arguably the two biggest losses, with the failure to make the cut of Glenn Whelan, Robbie Keane and Kevin Doyle, in tandem with Shay Given’s retirement, adding to the sense of the spine of the team having been surgically removed.

But, necessity being the mother of invention — and bearing in mind that Ireland’s most experienced line-up had fared dismally at the Euros — the faint hope was that a negative could be turned into a positive through a younger and more experimental selection taking its chance to stake a more permanent claim.

But it didn’t take terribly long for a rampant Germany to make a complete mockery of such wishful thinking.

Much had been made in advance of Ireland adopting a 4-3-3 formation but, as expected, it soon enough turned into a damage-limitation 4-5-1 which, ultimately, did little to actually limit the damage. To be fair, the home side had begun brightly enough, with James McCarthy seeing more of the ball in the first five minutes than he had in probably the whole of the game in Kazakhstan. And Jon Walters was proving a real handful for his markers, using his boxer’s physique to stand his ground and hold the ball up well though, unfortunately, when he laid off one inviting half-chance for Keith Andrews, the midfielder made poor contact with the ball and slashed his shot well wide.

Still, it was a full 15 minutes before the Germans mounted an effort on Keiren Westwood’s goal, Thomas Muller heading harmlessly over the top. But just as people were expressing relief that Ireland hadn’t once again succumbed to an early goal against a top side, the visitors began to show precisely why they are regarded as one of the very best in the world.

Their lancing passes always had a dangerous look about them but for almost a half an hour the Irish defence held firm whenever the Germans threatened a breakthrough. But even if most of the visitors’ football was being played in front of a bank of green shirts, there was an increasingly ominous sense about the way the Irish were being pegged back deeper and deeper in their own half.

In the 29th minute, John O’ Shea could count himself very lucky when he was caught napping by Marco Reus. The Borussia Dortmund man perhaps fell a little too easily inside the box when O’ Shea tried to hold him back but he could still feel understandably aggrieved when referee Nicola Rizzoli booked him for diving instead of awarding a spot-kick.

But three minutes later, Marcel Schmelzer got in behind the defence on the left and, when any number of green shirts failed to clear the danger, Reus picked up the pieces to lift his shot over Westwood and into the roof of the net.

Keeping it one-nil until half-time seemed to be the most the Irish could now hope for but soon enough Reus and Germany had doubled their advantage. Mesut Ozil and Jerome Boateng exchanged raking passes that set up Reus to crown a classic counter-attack with a superbly taken goal.

Ireland badly needed to do something to lift the crowd, and some composed play and good early pressure at the start of the second half briefly offered a modicum of hope. And there were huge cheers too when Shane Long was sprung replaced Keith Fahey.

But before the West Brom man could make any sort of impact, Germany were three up. And this time it was a real self-inflicted wound, Darren O’ Dea horribly mistiming a tackle in the penalty area on Miroslav Klose, Mesut Osil making no mistake from the inevitable spot-kick.

Then, as Irish resistance totally crumbled, it was four before the hour mark, Klose rounding Westwood with ease to edge nearer Gerd Muller’s all-time record. And right on 60 minutes it was five, Tony Kroos answering O’Shea’s clearing header with a left-footed volley to the corner of the net.

All that was left for Ireland now was to try to retain a bit of dignity in the face of what had turned into an embarrassing rout. But though the players continued to work hard in what must have been the most draining circumstances imaginable – what had been a full house at the Aviva having emptied out well before the end — they were unable to prevent Germany hitting them for six in the 83rd minute when Kroos unleashed a rocket from just outside the edge of the box which left Westwood helpless.

At which point, Givoanni Trapattoni finally withdrew Simon Cox and sent Robbie Brady on for his senior competitive debut – one tiny hint of perhaps a brighter future for Ireland on one of the blackest nights in the country’s football history. And, indeed, it was young Brady’s typically well-delivered corner which allowed another sub, Andy Keogh, to take the bare look off the scoreboard with a stooping header.

But desultory Irish cheers soon gave way to boos as the referee finally brought a night of sheer misery to a close.

REPUBLIC OF IRELAND: K Westwood, S Ward, J O’Shea, D O’Dea, S Coleman, A McGeady, J McCarthy, K Andrews, K Fahey, S Cox, J Walters.

Subs for Republic of Ireland: Shane Long for Keith Fahey (51) Andy Keogh for Aiden McGeady (68) Robbie Brady for Simon Cox (84).

GERMANY: M Neuer, H Badstuber, J Boateng, M Schmelzer, P Mertesacker, B Schweinsteiger, M Özil, S Khedira, M Klose, M Reus, T Müller.

Subs for Germany: Tony Kroos for Sami Khedira (45) Lukas Podolski for Marco Reus (66) Andre Schurrle for Miroslav Klose (71).Home