Germany 3 - 0 Republic of Ireland

Germany are off to Rio after goals from Sami Khedira, Andre Schurrle and Mesut Ozil gave them a comfortable win over Noel King’s Ireland in Cologne on Friday night.

Ireland produced a spirit performance, played some good football and managed to give the hosts a few scares but were ultimately outclassed by one of the best teams in world football.

King made seven changes to the team that started Giovanni Trapattoni’s last game in charge against Austria and handed the captain’s armband to Seamus Coleman on his 25th birthday in the enforced absence of Robbie Keane.

Recalled Anthony Stokes started as lone frontman, the returning Kevin Doyle played on the left and Glenn Whelan as a right-sided midfielder with Darron Gibson and Marc Wilson playing as holding midfielders and James McCarthy further forward.

Damien Delaney made his competitive debut alongside Ciaran Clark at the heart of the defence that was flanked by Coleman and Stephen Kelly.  

Ireland started brightly but it was the Germans who took the lead on 12 minutes when Anthony Stokes gave away possession in a dangerous area and Sami Khedira was allowed too much time and space at the edge of the box to shoot home via a deflection from an Irish boot.

Khedira and Bastian Schweinsteiger anchored the German midfield impeccably allowing both full-backs and pretty much every other player in a white shirt the freedom to push forward.

The Irish were pinned back and their only respite, apart from a few outbreaks, came from David Forde who, sensibly, kept the ball at his feet for as long as he could on more than one occasion in the first half just to give his team mates a rest.

The German attack was relentless and the deluge of shots kept raining down on Forde’s goal with Schweinsteiger, Schurrle, Muller and even centre-half Jerome Boateng trying their luck but a combination of solid goalkeeping and wayward shooting kept Ireland in the game.

The only possible weak link for Germany was the towering figure of Per Mertesacker and the centre-half was nearly exposed by Stokes early on when he twisted past the Arsenal defender but instead of shooting he attempted to play in McCarthy but the pass was intercepted and the chance was gone.

Moments later Kevin Doyle had a sight of goal on the left hand side but his shot was deflected wide for a corner that came to nothing.

In stoppage time at the end of the half Ireland nearly drew level when Glenn Whelan’s cross from the left was headed off the bar by Ciaran Clark with Stokes only hitting fresh air with his attempted volley that he should have scored.  

Ireland came out for the scond half determined not to sit back and were nearly back on level terms with Stokes shooting narrowly wide less than a minute into the second period.

The same player then forced Neuer to tip a cross out for a corner before James McCarthy blasted a half volley over the bar.

Stokes had another opportunity on 52 minutes when Neuer made a complete mess of Whelan’s through ball after rushing from his goal but his effort from wide on the left went well over with the goal gaping.

Just before the hour Germany made it 2-0 through Chelsea’s Andre Schurrle who shot home after being played in behind the Irish defence by a beautiful dinked ball by Toni Kroos.

With Irish legs tiring, King strangely opted against making any substitutions with German boss Joachim Loew emphasising the embarrassment of riches at his disposal by springing the likes of Borussia Dortmund’s Mario Gotze from the bench.

The Germans were in the ascendancy for the remainder of the match with Forde producing some outstanding saves to keep the Irish in it and, when he was beaten, Jerome Boateng’s thunderous strike smacked the bar.

With minutes remaining Irish skipper Coleman made a lung bursting run down the right and crossed for Stokes but the striker was once again thwarted by Neuer.

The German keeper then made the save of the night to deny Ciaran Clark’s glancing header as he dived to his left and tipped the ball over the bar.

This neatly summed up both sides, Forde had made a number of good saves in the Irish goal but Neuer was capable of that little bit of extra quality.

German quality was on show again in the final minute as Kroos slid a ball through for Ozil and he dinked over the onrushing Forde to make it 3-0.

Germany: Manuel Neuer; Philipp Lahm, Per Mertesacker, Jerone Boateng, Marcell Jansen; Thomas Muller (Sidney Sam 88), Sami Khedira (Max Kruse 82), Bastian Schweinsteiger, Mesut Ozil; André Schurrle (Mario Gotze 85).
Unused subs: Rene Adler, Ron-Robert Zieler, Benedikt Howedes, Mats Hummels, Heiko Westermann, , Julian Draxler.

Booked: Sami Khedira (57)

Republic of Ireland: David Forde; Seamus Coleman, Damien Delaney, Ciaran Clark, Marc Wilson; Stephen Kelly, Darron Gibson, James McCarthy, Glenn Whelan, Kevin Doyle; Anthony Stokes.
Unused subs: Rob Elliot, Stephen Henderson, Sean St. Ledger, Joey O’Brien, Paul Green, Anthony Pilkington, Andy Reid, Wes Hoolahan, James McClean, Shane Long, Robbie Keane.

Booked: Stokes (62)

Referee: Serge Gumienny

Attendance: 46,237

Extratime.ie Man of the Match: David Forde (Republic of Ireland)