A familiar tale of World Cup playoff agony awaited the Republic of Ireland in Prague, but this was no hard luck story. Heimir Hallgrímsson’s team twice had the Czech Republic where they wanted them, in normal time and in a penalty shootout, and twice they let them off the hook. Dreams of a first World Cup in 24 years evaporated as a consequence.
Ireland led 2-0 after 23 minutes of a scrappy semi-final and 3-2 after the first six penalties of the shootout, but the momentum built on the back of outstanding qualifying wins over Portugal and Hungary could not be sustained. The misery of this latest playoff defeat – Ireland’s fifth loss in six World Cup playoff fixtures – will be heightened by the realisation it was so unnecessary.
Continue reading…A familiar tale of World Cup playoff agony awaited the Republic of Ireland in Prague, but this was no hard luck story. Heimir Hallgrímsson’s team twice had the Czech Republic where they wanted them, in normal time and in a penalty shootout, and twice they let them off the hook. Dreams of a first World Cup in 24 years evaporated as a consequence.Ireland led 2-0 after 23 minutes of a scrappy semi-final and 3-2 after the first six penalties of the shootout, but the momentum built on the back of outstanding qualifying wins over Portugal and Hungary could not be sustained. The misery of this latest playoff defeat – Ireland’s fifth loss in six World Cup playoff fixtures – will be heightened by the realisation it was so unnecessary. Continue reading…