Ireland's Arabian Night
14/06/02 | by Ade O'Connor

Although it was early afternoon for many European viewers watching back home in Ireland or wherever, Ireland had a night out in the World Cup Final venue of Yokohama. Resisting all temptation of clichés along the lines of "the Saudi's were a well oiled machine, but Ireland were just too slick for them", Ireland beat the Saudis by more then the required 2 goals to guarantee them participation in stage 2 of the competition.

When Ireland went 1-0 up after just 7 minutes of the game, I doubt I was alone in thinking that this match could end up being something of a whitewash for Ireland. As for the first 5 minutes of the match at least, the Saudis struggled to get out of their own half! Rather fortunately for the Arabian manager, who already had his head well and truly on the block before the match, it did not turn into a Germany style 8-0 drubbing.

Robbie Keane took his goal well, the move started with a long ball from Steve Staunton, making his 101st appearance for the country, which was kept in on the goal line brilliantly by the impressive Gary Kelly. The cross was slightly behind Keane, but he caught it sweetly on the volley and it beat the keeper on his left hand side. Perhaps a better class of keeper would have got to the shot, but there was no doubting that it was a world class strike by the Leeds forward, and this wouldn't be the goalkeepers worst moment of the game.

They say that many strikers perform according to their level of confidence; if there was ever a good example of this right now it is Robbie. The man brims with confidence; you can tell it by that spring he seems to have in his step and his continuing ability to chase apparent lost causes. His 2 goals so far in this campaign have been vital, grabbing the last minute draw against Germany and getting the ball rolling against Saudi Arabia. Only a striker that is on the top of his form dare attempt such a volley, let alone pull it off.

For the rest of the half though, it has to be said, Ireland were very poor, and looked vulnerable to a weakened Saudi attacking force. Ian Harte was being exposed severely down his flank by the right wing pack pushing forward for the Saudi's. They had a lot of joy there, and though the middle and looked like scoring a goal, which Ireland was lucky not to concede. It was a wake up call for Ireland that they could be put under pressure, even by much unfancied teams like the Saudis, and Mick McCarthy made this clear from the dugout. There was a great sense of relief as the team went in at half time.

Most fans felt that the Irish had taken their foot off the gas, and were now getting punished for sitting back and allowing the opposition to take the game to them, which they did. Against a better batch of strikers, Ireland may have found themselves losing at half time, rather then the winning position they found themselves in due to impressive opening pressure. You got the feeling that Ireland did not enjoy the opening half of games, for whatever reason, Cameroon and Germany both scored in this half, and Saudi almost followed suit. However, normally after the half time team talk, the Irish could regroup and be attacking once again.

That was the way that Ireland set their stall out in the second half, still needing one more goal to seal their place in round 2 of the World Cup, and possibly a third encase Saudi were able to nick a goal and spoil Irelands World Cup party. Ireland took off the unimpressive and seemingly weak link, Ian Harte, and replaced him with forward Niall Quinn. Kevin Kilbane was given an opportunity at left back and Damian Duff moved onto the left wing, the position he occupies for his club.

This new system appeared to work for Ireland; they were now more attacking and positive going forward. The presence of Duff on the left wing had made the attacking Arabian wing back defend more, and Duffer often looked like breaking through. Indeed it was rare that a Duff run didn't end with either a successful pass or a foul committed on him by the opposition. Damian seemed more at home on the left wing, and it was clear that this was his natural position, perhaps when it is felt that Clinton Morrison can make the step up to the first team line up, Duffer can move out wide.

Finally, Ireland got the second goal of the game from a set piece. Steve Staunton putting the ball into the area from the free kick, which seemed to go to far forward for any attack, yet centre back Gary Breen managed to nip between two markers and finish it superbly with the outside of the right boot - a strike any top forward would be proud of! No-one seemed more surprised at this uncharacteristic effort from the free agent, then manager Mick McCarthy, who seemed to utter the words "F***ing Hell, Breen!" Still, it made no difference that scored it; this goal meant that Ireland had achieved their aim of 2 goals.

Further developments in the Germany v Cameroon game meant that the 10 men German team had taken the lead, which made it doubly hard for Ireland to find themselves on a flight home just yet. It looked as though Cameroon would be the team from the group to miss out on the second round, despite being backed to win the group by many experts.

By now, Kevin Kilbane, who was more used to playing on the left wing, seemed not out of place at all at left back. The Sunderland man, was now covering for the centre back pairing, putting in the odd interception and even managing to cope with playing offside. Perhaps it would be beneficial for Kevin to work on this in training, as fans belief in the ability of Ian Harte seems to have waned after a series of errors and poor technique.

Earlier, I mentioned that the Arab goalkeeper had a more embarrassing moment later in the game; well I sincerely hope this wasn't shown in his hometown otherwise he might be in for a bit of stick. Duff, cutting in from the left wing, burst into the area and let fly with a shot straight at the keeper, routine save you would think, oh no my friend. The keeper seemed to flap at the ball and palm it into his own net, where it would have been much easier to catch or punch it. Duffer could hardly believe his luck and celebrated his first World Cup goal.

It was then a case of surviving the four minutes remaining in the match and the following couple of minutes of injury time, before victory was finally ours! Once again, Ireland had defied many of the critics, and the traitor that is Roy Keane and reached the next stage of the competition, ahead of the African Cup of Nations Champions, Cameroon. This was a real positive for Ireland, whilst much of their campaign had been shrouded in misery and slurs; this was a chance for the team to enjoy their success.

All of the team partied on the pitch, with the Irish fans that had made the trip to the Far East going bananas in the stands. You could almost see the weight lift off the team's shoulders, as if they had achieved their aim and now anything else will be a bonus for the team and the nation. Which is when Ireland plays their best football, they were favourites for the match against the Arabians, not a favoured position by members of the team, but now they would once again be written off as no hopers.

I mentioned that all of the team partied on the pitch, all of them except Robbie Keane, who for a second consecutive game was whisked away immediately to the FIFA doping panel. Later in the press, Robbie would complain of the system, as it was grossly unfair that his name be pulled out twice, and to be denied of the celebrations. It took Robbie until 3 in the morning to provide a sample after the dehydrations of the match, and 8 pints of water. Keane explained that it would be more beneficial to take a blood test in favour of the urine sample, or even take the sample before the match commenced.

Back in the RTÉ studio, there was one noticeable absentee on the pundit bench, there was no longer the outspoken and controversial Eamonn Dunphy, and Denis Irwin had filled his seat. Dunphy was dismissed after 30,000 telephone calls, letters and e-mails were received demanding his forced exit, after he publicly criticised the Irish manager and backed the claims of Roy Keane.

Now Ireland could look forward to the second round, after Cameroon has suffered a 2-0 defeat at the hands of the group winners, Germany. Ireland would play the winner of the Spain vs. South Africa match to be played the following day. It would be Spain's victory by 3-2, but the Spaniards were not clear-cut winners, despite possessing the huge talent of Raul and the like.

There is no doubt that on paper, Spain have the better team and will deservedly be clear favourites at the bookies. But who can deny Ireland a shout of victory, after all, I put Spain in the same category of class as Portugal, Holland and Germany, all who which Ireland were able to live with and occasionally beat. It will be a tough match for the Irish, but they may take heart from the flat footedness of the ageing Spanish centre backs, who I predict to struggle against the sprightly Robbie Keane and Damian Duff.

Oh, and if history is anything to go by, and the match comes down to a penalty shoot out, would anyone be brave enough to take the penalty that David O'Leary did, in the same fashion? Is fate upon the Ireland team to make progress to the quarterfinals, or will it be the expected exit for the underdogs. Hold on tight on Sunday at 12.30pm BST, as it could well be a real roller coaster ride.