Road to Rio a cul-de-sac

Republic of Ireland 1 Sweden 2

Sweden came from behind to win this crucial qualifying match and put themselves back in prime position to claim a play-off place from Group C.

The deflated Irish team must now limp off to Vienna on Tuesday to face an Austrian side who will also be fighting for what remains of their World Cup lives, after losing to Germany in Munich. But, after last night’s dispiriting fare in the Aviva, few will be expecting anything in the way of a miracle recovery from the visitors. More likely instead is that Vienna will see the last rites performed on the Italian era in Irish football.

The pity is that it had all begun so promisingly at a packed Aviva last night.

In the game’s very first minute there was a reminder of what Ireland have missed over the last year, Richard Dunne rising high to head down a Seamus Coleman free kick and setting up Shane Long for shot.

With plenty of nerves evident in the Swedish defence, the home side were clearly on top in the game’s opening phase, moving the ball around with confidence and, when not in possession, quick to snap at Swedish heels.

Still, goal chances were at a premium, Glenn Whelan and Jon Walters reduced to shooting from distance, and rather more in hope than expectation. At the other end of the pitch, there were also worrying signs as Ireland cheaply gave away a couple of free-kicks but, on each occasion, Zlatan Ibrahimovic saw his tame efforts come back off the green wall.

There was a real scare for the home side in the 16th minute, however, Marc Wilson recovering well from his initial misreading of a high ball to block an Ibrahimovic effort.

In a game with no discernible pattern, it began to look as if it would take something out of the ordinary to break the deadlock, and it almost came, freakishly, courtesy a James McClean cross which floated over the head of the stranded Andreas Isaksson and bounced off the crossbar.

But when the threatened Irish breakthrough did finally arrive, in the 21st minute, there was no surprise about the identity of the scorer.

It was a real poacher’s goal too, the skipper seizing on Mikael Lustig’s undercooked header back to goal and, though initially impeded by goalkeeper Isaksson, Keane was up quickly to blast a rebound off the post high into the roof of the net.

As the players and the supporters celebrated, the encouraging feeling that Sweden were now there for the taking had to be offset by the familiar gnawing concern that Ireland rarely seem more vulnerable than when they’ve taken an early advantage.

And so it proved.

There was a warning on the half-hour mark when Sebastian Larsson beat the offside trap only to head woefully wide with the goal at his mercy.

But the reprieve for Ireland lasted a mere two minutes, Lustig making up for his mistake in helping set up the goal by delivering a superb cross which the veteran Johan Elmander, just evading Richard Dunne, met with a flying near post header to leave David Forde helpless.

The sense that Ireland had to roll the stone back up the hill again was heavy in the Aviva air at the start of the second half, as Seamus Coleman overplayed an attempt to clear his lines, giving the Swedes an early glimpse of goal.

By now, Ireland were struggling badly to get on the ball in the middle of the park, James McCarthy not having the happiest of nights as a couple of passes went astray. And Forde had to be quick off his line as the languid Ibrahimovic, a growing influence on proceedings, opened up the Irish defence with almost imperious ease.

And, almost inevitably, it was Ibrahimovic who plotted what turned out to be the game’s decisive goal, via another perfectly weighted pass which allowed Anders Svensson to comfortably beat Forde at his near post and turn the whole game on its head.

It was now, with the action nearing the hour mark and a massive job of work to be done by the home side, that the need for Wes Hoolahan to come on and bring some composure and well as fresh imagination to Ireland’s play never seemed more urgent.

Instead, in keeping with stubborn habit, it was to Simon Cox that Trapattoni turned in the 67th minute, the Nottingham Forest man replacing Jon Walters, as Ireland, with an increasing air of desperation, sought a way of salvaging not only the match but their threadbare World Cup dream.

Unfortunately, when Shane Long — not for the first time on what was a bad night for him — fatally hesitated when in a great position to put Keane in on goal, the sense of all hope draining away was palpable.

Norwich City’s Anthony Pilkington was finally given his Ireland debut as a replacement for McClean in the 73rd minute before a pitch invader added his 15 seconds of farce to an increasingly depressing occasion for the home fans.

As you might expect, the green shirts pressed to the end but, in truth, Sweden never looked in serious danger of giving up the three points, as time finally ran out on Ireland and Trapattoni.

Subs for Republic of Ireland: Simon Cox for Jon Walters (67) Simon Pilkingto for James McClean (73).

Subs for Sweden: Adam Johansson for Mikael Lustig (64) Pontus Wernblom for Anders Svensson (67) Jonas Olsson for Johan Elmander (91).