Loss leaves World Cup dream hanging on clash with Egypt
Though the Irish had eight penalty corners they failed to score against a resolute Belgian outfit.
The disbelief that they had dominated this encounter and still come away with nothing has been tempered by a shared resolution that they remain on track to make the fourth to eighth place crossover series, provided they win today, and a crack at securing the vital fifth qualification place for the finals in Germany in September.
Ireland were beaten by a ninth-minute goal from Belgium’s 18-year-old striker Jerome Truyens, who latched onto the rebound after Charlie Henderson’s excellent save from Jean-Philippe Brule’s penalty corner attempt.
That was Belgium’s third and last short corner in the match. Ireland went onto have eight penalty corners while Andy Barbour had a glorious chance to equalise in the final minutes.
Assistant Belgian coach Pascal Kina admitted afterwards he thought it “inevitable” Ireland would equalise, despite his team’s excellent defending in short corner situations and the remarkable performance of goalie Cedric de Greve.
Irish keeper Charlie Henderson reckoned the Belgian goal was “just one of those things”.
“I’d nothing to do for the whole second half and that showed the commitment of the guys out there. They did everything except get the ball in the net. Sure we’re disappointed, but that’s the way it goes. Bring on the Egyptians now, that’s what we want. We want the result and if we get it, we’re still in it.”
Irish striker Mark Irwin, one of the few survivors of Ireland’s World Cup qualifying campaign in Kuala Lumpur in 1997, was also upbeat ahead of today’s penultimate Pool A encounter.
“The way this thing works out, we might still meet Belgium again here in China and if that happens then there won’t be a repeat of Saturday,” the Instonians player said.
“We know we missed a big opportunity, but the thing is that we have a chance to put it right very quickly. We still have the possibility of doing what we came here for.”
Irwin added: “In the past we might have kicked off with a really big performance against one of the strong nations and then see the performances taper off. Now, we are gradually stepping up the performances and while the results so far might not indicate as much, that’s the reality. We could get really down about what’s happened, but there’s no point. We know we’re going to have to improve the penalty corner situation and we know we need the confidence to put away the chances we are creating.
“But there is a collective responsibility in this team which I’ve not seen before. Things have developed a lot in the ten years I’ve been involved and the whole thing is much better organised now than ever before. There really is a fine art to coming through one of these things and we’re certainly closer than I’ve ever seen.”
