Republic of Ireland 0 - 1 Argentina

Argentina came to spoil the Aviva party on Wednesday evening as Angel Di Maria’s 20th minute goal saw the Irish falter in a 1-0 defeat at their new home.

A lot of work will need to be done on the field before the real business of Euro 2012 qualifying gets underway later in the Autumn, though the notable absentees – including the manager – was certainly a valid excuse in this narrow defeat.

This was supposed to have been a night to savour, a new era for Irish football in a 5 star rated UEFA stadium – a place where future dreams will be fulfilled and many memorable night’s will be staged.

The relatively small attendance at the pricy premium level will leave a bitter taste at Abbotstown though, with 45,200 present to witness the first international game to be played at Irish football’s new HQ.

Disappointingly, the Irish challenge to the world’s 5th best team was a feeble one and they were dealt a masterclass in patient, yet precision built, attacking football.

It was clear that the absence of Glenn Whelan and Kevin Doyle affected Ireland quite a bit and they failed to get any healthy share of the ball for much of the game. Instead, Argentina carefully passed the ball across the middle, incisively picking out pass after pass, frustrating the home team.

Lionel Messi was obviously the main man to watch, despite lasting just under an hour on the field, and with eight minutes on the clock he latched onto a tame Richard Dunne clearance before audaciously attempting to chip the ball over Shay Given’s head.

Kevin Kilbane was always going to endure a torrid time at left back and from the get-go the country’s joint most capped player would need to be on his best behaviour to stem the flow of the Barcelona star.

In all honesty, he did well as this was far from a golden Messi performance.

Tonight was equally about new centurion Robbie Keane as much as the new stadium or the world’s best player and he started his 100th appearance in the green shirt with a tepid strike to the left of Sergio Romero’s goal.

As it turned out, that half-chance was the closest the Irish came over the course of the opening 45 minutes.

Argentina may have spent most of their time playing short and quick passes but the deciding goal on 20 minutes was pure route-one stuff. It was perhaps a dubious effort however, as Angel Di Maria struck his second international goal to a chorus of strong protests and loud boos towards the referee and his linesman.

The move had originally started off with Romero’s goal-kick to Gonzalo Higuain– who was also way ahead of the play even though you can’t be offside from a goal-kick – and in the end his slight flick to the narrowly offside Di Maria ended with the Real Madrid player poking the ball off the post and into the net.

Ireland did seem to get more time on the ball for a five minute period after the goal but Argentina’s precision and guile always meant they were a step ahead of the home team.

It was a lesson of possession football for most of the opening period as the Argies refused to give Keane and Cillian Sheridan a sniff of the ball.

The second half did see a bit more life in the home team as Argentina sat back a little more. Richard Dunne almost got on the end of a long ball forward at the backpost, while Paul McShane, of all people, raised a big cheer when he clattered into Walter Samuel on the sideline.

When Andy Keogh was introduced for Sheridan on 57 minutes, instantly there was another extra bit of life in the Irish attack and with the crowd’s volume moving up a notch, there was some hope of an equaliser.

That hope soon turned into misguided dreaming and a clutter of substitutions slowed the pace of the game down yet again, with the away side enjoying further periods of possession.

Damien Duff did curl a left-foot effort straight at Argie ‘keeper Romero with just under 20 minutes to go after Keane’s lay-off but the clear chances were still few and far between.

Argentina, too, rarely had a clearcut chance in the second period, although Shay Given needed to be aware in smothering Fernando Gago’s strike in the 74th minute.

Then a moment of hope for the by now subdued Irish support, as Keogh almost equalised on 79 when he almost got to debutant Keith Treacy’s cross but Romero made himself look big as the ball went out for a goal-kick.

There were some goalmouth scrambles in the dying stages as Robbie Keane’s attempt at a spectacular bicycle kick failed but it was simply not to be on an historic night.

Ireland: Shay Given; Paul McShane, John O’Shea, Richard Dunne, Kevin Kilbane (Greg Cunningham, 57mins); Keith Fahey (Keith Tracey, 77mins), Keith Andrews (Darron Gibson, 67mins), Paul Green, Damien Duff; Robbie Keane, Cillian Sheridan (Andy Keogh, 57mins).
Subs not used: Keiren Westwood, Kevin Foley, Stephen Kelly, Darren O’Dea, Anthony Stokes, Joe Murphy.

Argentina: Sergio Romero; Nicolas Burdisso (Pablo Zabaleta,ht), Martin Demichelis, Walter Samuel (Fabrico Coloccini, 83mins), Gabriel Heinze (Emiliano Insua, 72mins); Angel Di Maria (Jonas Guttierrez, 75mins), Javier Mascherano, Ever Banega, Fernando Gago; Gonzalo Higuain (Diego Milito, ht), Lionel Messi (Ezequeil Lavezzi, 58mins).
Subs not used: Mariano Andujar, Mario Bolatti, Carlos Tevez, Sergio Aguero, Maxi Rodriquez, Javier Pastore.

Referee: Peter Rasmussen (Denmark)
Attendance: 45,200