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Ireland lose in Germany

Saturday 2nd September 2006, 9:46 pm

Ireland fell to a disappointing 1-0 defeat at the hands of Germany in the opening European Championship qualifier in Stuttgart tonight. Lukas Podolski's low driven free kick took a massive deflection off Robbie Keane's ankle to beat the brilliant Shay Given just over ten minutes into the second period.

Irish boss Steve Staunton marked his first competitive game in charge with a sending off and the manager watched the closing 15 minutes away from the technical area after finally testing the patience of the Spanish officials.

It started well enough for Ireland and Keane headed narrowly off target from Steve Finnan's ball into the box after less than three minutes. However, it turned out to be one of Ireland's few sights of goal all night.

The Irish goal survived a scare on 12 minutes as Andy O'Brien headed the ball against Steven Carr and the ball just about cleared Given's goal. It was also an escape as O'Brien's header had struck the hand of Carr and in a difficult away game it could easily have been awarded as a penalty.

Keane fluffed another chance from Damien Duff's corner and although Duff showed some early creativity he was largely ineffective and it wasn't that surprising to see him withdrawn before the end.

Keane almost got in on a long through ball but goalkeeper Jens Lehmann got out to claim the ball. It was the beginning of the end for Ireland in the attacking third and Germany came into the game more.

Michael Ballack hit a low shot although John O'Shea muffled it wide for a corner kick. It was one of the few things O'Shea did right all night and his continued inclusion in the Irish squad alongside Kevin Kilbane's still baffles.

Shay Given pulled off an amazing top drawer save to deny Miroslav Klose on 28 minutes. The man who top scored in the 2002 World Cup looked to have headed the ball past the Irish keeper but somehow the big Donegal man was agile enough to pull the ball back from almost behind him and turn it away and back out into play.

Podolski prompted another fine save from Given with a driven shot to the near post with Given turning the ball over. Ballack missed the target by some distance with a free header from inside the area at the resulting corner.

Podolski again missed the target on the half hour as Ireland were getting edged further out of proceedings and the performance deteriorated with few Irish players even retaining possession.

Duff had a deflected shot squirm across the box but it didn't even force a corner as half time arrived.

Kevin Doyle marked his first competitive Irish game with one of probably only two acceptable performances in the game (alongside Given) and at times he looked like Ireland's only striker on the pitch as Keane went missing for all but one incident in the second half.

O'Shea again showed why so many doubt his ability as he came close to playing Given into trouble with a dreadful back-pass in the first minute of the second period. Podoloski headed just over from a corner kick as Germany applied the pressure.

Stephen Reid fired in a dangerous free kick after Duff had been hacked down and after Lehmann flapped at the kick straight at him, Ireland claimed a corner.

Andy O'Brien gave away a very soft free kick on 56 minutes after clearly holding back Klose. Podolski hit the shot from the worked free kick and Keane got the vital touch off his right ankle to turn the ball past the stranded Given.

Ireland were well out of the game at this stage and Klose clipped the top of the Irish bar with a long range header on 70 minutes. Staunton had been warned by the Spanish officials earlier in the game and referee Luis Medina Cantalejo ordered him from the bench with 15 minutes left after a ridiculous show of indiscipline from the national coach as he lashed out a water bottle.

Duff was withdrawn just after for Aiden McGeady but Doyle was also surprisingly taken off for Stephen Elliott and the very inexperienced Alan O'Brien got a late run in place of Kilbane. They weren't exactly the substitutions to spark a comeback and it was no surprise Ireland barely saw sight of Lehmann in the second period.

Schweinsteiger just missed the Irish goal with a 91st minute free kick that powered against the outside of Given's near post. Ireland did have a late chance when Dunne headed over from a good position after a corner kick and it was a golden opportunity to clinch an undeserved point.

The result was better than many had expected but the level of performance from some of the team was appalling. Duff and Keane were particularly disappointing and the manager didn't cover himself in any glory and it remains to be seen if he suffers any additional punishment from UEFA.

Germany : Lehmann, Lahm, A Friedrich, M Friedrich, Jansen, Schneider (Borowski 83), Frings, Ballack, Schweinsteiger, Klose, Podolski (Neuville 76).
Ireland : Given, Carr, Finnan, Andy O'Brien, Dunne, Kilbane (Alan O'Brien 82), S Reid, Duff (McGeady 76), O'Shea, Keane, Doyle (Elliott 78).

In the day's other group games, Czech Republic won 2-1 against Wales and Slovakia beat Cyprus 6-1.