- Dave Donnelly
- Sat, Jun 18 2016
Report from Dave Donnelly live at Nouveau Stade de Bordeaux.
The Republic of Ireland's Euro 2016 bubble was well and truly popped at Nouveau Stade de Bordeaux thanks to a second-half double from striker Romelu Lukaku and a pin-point header from Axel Witsel.
The 3-0 defeat was a little harsh on a compact and well-drilled Irish side who breezed through the first half against a nervous-looking Belgium, but Lukaku's strike four minutes after the break opened the floodgates and Ireland never looked like they had the firepower to trade blows.
The defeat leaves Ireland's chances of progressing in the tournament precariously resting on the performance of already-qualified Italy, over whom Martin O'Neill's team will need to need to engineer an unlikely victory if they are to reach the knock-out stages.
While the vision of Irish fans chanting 'Stand Up for the Boys in Green' as their team endured a heavy beating invites obvious parallels with the scenes four years when Spain eviscerated Giovanni Trapattoni's side four years ago, the similarities end there.
While the 3-0 scoreline accurately reflects the number of chances created by the Belgians, particularly in the second half, this was far from the dispiriting hammering dished out by the eventual Euro 2012 champions then.
Indeed, it's hard to imagine such a limited side as Belgium living up to their pre-tournament billing as one of the favourites and winning the competition, though whether that makes Ireland's performance in defeat more or less underwhelming is debatable.
Pre-match talk of discord within the Belgian camp, with goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois allegedly clashing with coach Marc Wilmots over tactical decisions, hadn't filtered through to their fans, who were a picture of confidence on the day of the game.
As it had in Paris when Ireland (nominally the home team) welcomed Sweden to Stade de France, the green side of the stadium was slow to fill up, while the red side packed in early.
At least there was a valid excuse this time above tardiness – as the already-deathly slow tram service out to the suburbs was halted for the second time in two days and many fans poured in throughout the first half.
And, as with the Sweden game, those who filed in late didn't miss an awful lot, as Belgium monopolised the football in the first half and Ireland were content to sit off and invite them to create something.
To the credit of O'Neill's side, they ensured the invitation wasn't readily taken, as widemen Yannick Carrasco and Eden Hazard declined to take advantage of the space outside, leaving Romelu Lukaku visibly frustrated in the box.
Lukaku, for his part, was causing a multitude of problems for the Irish centre-halves, who had a very different task from the one they faced with the wandering Zlatan Ibrahimovic last week.
The Everton man won the majority of headers against Ciaran Clark and John O'Shea and ensured there were plenty of second balls for support man Kevin De Bruyne to run onto behind the Irish midfield.
The Belgians' first real opening came with just five minutes on the board as Robbie Brady's pass to Stephen Ward fell short, and Carrasco had a chance to cross from the left but, as would become a theme, he couldn't find a man despite time and space to do so.
Another short backpass, this time from Thomas Meunier to Belgium goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois, almost provided an opportunity for Shane Long, and it was typical of the scraps the Tipperary man had to feed on in the opening period.
Without the support of Jonathan Walters alongside him, Long struggled to deal with the physicality meted out to him by the Belgian defenders, and he cut a frustrated figure as he absorbed a litany of heavy challenges with seemingly no redress from referee Cuneyt Cakir.
Nervous defending from Ireland should have led to an opening goal for Belgium around the halfway mark in the first half, as they failed to deal with a misdirected cross and Hazard fluffed his opportunity with the goal gaping.
An interception from Brady led to a shoting chance for Hoolahan, but he dwelled too long on the ball and was well tackled by Toby Alderweireld, as Ireland continued to lack precision on the rare occasions they did attack.
Belgium did have the ball in the net as Carrasco nodded home following a wonderful full-stretch save from Darren Randolph to deny Lukaku, but it was correctly chalked off for offside from the Atletico Madrid man.
Wes Hoolahan cleared Vertonghen's header off the line, before the Tottenham defender hooked another poorly-dealt with corner over the bar, but Ireland went into the break with a comfortable look about them while Belgium showed signs of frustration.
The one area where Belgium did always look to hurt Ireland was with the pace of their counter-attacks, and it was little surprise that the opening goal came from one such example moments after the break, though it was shrouded in controversy.
Shane Long – not for the first time in the game – was caught with a reckless boot from Belgian defender Alderweireld from an Irish corner, and Belgium broke powerfully upfield before Lukaku drove past Randolph from the edge of the box.
The goal forced Ireland to abandon their attacking shape and take more chances in attack, and Stephen Ward found himself free in the box on a rare excursion forward, however he took too long to set himself for Hoolahan's cross and his shot was blocked.
Ireland were then undone for a second time as a now tension-free Belgium worked the ball wide and Hazard found Axel Witsel – whose run from midfield hadn't been tracked by Hendrick – to power his header past Randolph from close range.
James McClean took the field for James McCarthy in an attempt to provide some attacking edge to Ireland's play, and he forced the Belgian defence to back off with a surging run forward, but with only Long making a run to the box he had too few options to make it count.
Another counter-attack saw Belgium add their third of the game as a three-on-one at the back allowed Hazard to pick out Lukaku 10 yards out, and the Everton man coolly slotted the ball past a despairing Randolph to put Belgium's campaign firmly back on track.
Republic of Ireland: Darren Randolph; Seamus Coleman, John O'Shea, Ciaran Clark, Stephen Ward; Glenn Whelan, James McCarthy (James McClean 63), Jeff Hendrick, Robbie Brady, Wes Hoolahan (Aiden McGeady 72); Shane Long (Robbie Keane 79).
Subs not used: Keiren Westwood (gk), Shay Given (gk), Richard Keogh, Cyrus Christie, Shane Duffy, David Meyler, Stephen Quinn, Jon Walters, Daryl Murphy.
Booked: Jeff Hendrick (42).
Belgium: Thibaut Courtois; Thomas Meunier, Toby Alderweirel, Thomas Vermaelen, Jan Vertonghen; Axel Witsel, Mousa Dembélé (Radja Nainggolan 57), Yannick Carrasco (Dries Mertens 64), Eden Hazard, Kevin De Bruyne; Romelu Lukaku (Divock Origi 82).
Subs not used: Simon Mignolet (gk), Jean-Francois Gillet (gk), Marouane Fellaini, Dries Mertens, Jason Denayer, Christian Kabasele, Christian Benteke, Jordan Lukaku, Michy Batshuayi, Laurent Ciman.
Booked: Toby Alderweireld (43).
Referee: Cuneyt Cakir (Turkey).
Attendance: TBA.
Extratime.ie Player of the Match: Romelu Lukaku (Belgium).
You can read Shane Long's reaction to the defeat here.
