| Competition: UEFA Euro 2012 Group C Venue: Municipal Stadium, Poznan Attendance: Referee: Bjorn Kuipers (Netherlands) | ||
 Republic of Ireland Sean St Ledger - Goal (19') Keith Andrews - Yellow Card (45' + 1') |
Sun 10 Jun 20121 - 3(Full Time) |
 Croatia Mario Mandzukic - Goal (3') Nikica Jelavic - Goal (43') Mario Mandzukic - Goal (49') Luka Modric - Yellow Card (53') Niko Kranjcar - Yellow Card (84') |
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Game Matchtracker
Republic of Ireland 1 - 3 Croatia
90' + 5' - No joy for the boys in Green as Croatia hold out pretty comfortably to their lead.......Andrews has another shot but it spins away to the right......ITS ALL OVER. IRELAND 1-3 CROATIA 
Republic of Ireland 1 - 3 Croatia 90' + 2' - Substitution - Dujmovic for Rakitic......Croats getting nervy in their own box.
Republic of Ireland 1 - 3 Croatia
90' + 1' - SO CLOSE.....Andrews, who else, gets on the end of the corner and guides a header just wide of the far post. Unlucky but given the time he had to size it up he could have done better.
Republic of Ireland 1 - 3 Croatia
90' - Five minutes of injury time to play.....could be 45 minutes and wouldnt scored......wait a minute....WE HAVE A CORNER!!!!
Republic of Ireland 1 - 3 Croatia 89' - Substitution - Ivan Perisic is withdrawn and former Arsenal striker Eduardo is on for the final moments.
Republic of Ireland 1 - 3 Croatia
88' - Fair play to the fans for keeping the noise levels up.....the team has not done much to give them anything to cheer about. since the goal.
Republic of Ireland 1 - 3 Croatia 86' - Substitution - Players dropping like flies on the Croatian side....Bilic was always a fan of the dark arts, remember Laurent Blanc, so this is no surprise. 
Republic of Ireland 1 - 3 Croatia 84' - Yellow Card - Niko Kranjcar is booked for Croatia.
Republic of Ireland 1 - 3 Croatia
80' - Andrews header is easily saved, and then the midfielder flashes a shot across the face of goal.....a telling stat though is that Ireland haven't forced a corner. No pressure periods of note since the opening quarter.
Republic of Ireland 1 - 3 Croatia
79' - The margins are so small in International football.....the ref blows for the foul on Ward, the ball hits Givens head and bounces clear, we get a penalty for the foul on Keane...........things could have been very different. But the Croats have looked a good side, when they got into a winning position.
Republic of Ireland 1 - 3 Croatia
77' - Rakitic goes very close to inflicting further hurt on Ireland, curling a lovely shot just wide of the post.
Republic of Ireland 1 - 3 Croatia 74' - Substitution - Shane Long on for Robbie Keane. Could have been made 20 minutes ago.
Republic of Ireland 1 - 3 Croatia
73' - Duff in a decent position but the cross is poor. Ward does better on the other side but O'Shea's poor ball brings the move to a halt.
Republic of Ireland 1 - 3 Croatia 72' - Substitution - Nikica Jelavic goes off to be replaced by Niko Krancjar. Croats will defend their lead with five in midfield from now on.
Republic of Ireland 1 - 3 Croatia
71' - Timing running out for Ireland to get on the comeback trail. Inspiration is in short supply, must be time for something a bit different like James McClean.
Republic of Ireland 1 - 3 Croatia
68' - Richard Dunne's header from a free is weak and easily saved....I make it the.first effort on goal since we scored. Poor.
Republic of Ireland 1 - 3 Croatia
67' - Slaven Bilic prowling the sideline with a suit, and a navy beanie hat....I know its raining but the style police would not be impressed.
Republic of Ireland 1 - 3 Croatia
66' - Every second counts now and Croatia are stroking the ball around, growing in confidence and swagger as the minutes pass.
Republic of Ireland 1 - 3 Croatia
65' - Mandzukic has miraculously recovered, by the way. What a surprise.
Republic of Ireland 1 - 3 Croatia
64' - Unwanted Stat of the Day - First time Ireland have ever conceded three goals at a major championship.
Republic of Ireland 1 - 3 Croatia
63' - Croatia livid as Ireland play on while their goalscorer Mandzukic lies stricken at the other end....Keane goes down under pressure, but no penalty is forthcoming. Seen them given.
Republic of Ireland 1 - 3 Croatia
60' - This could be a very long half hour for the Irish lads as Croatia look to strike on the break. Our only route to joy would seem to be a decent cross for Walters or Keane to get on the end of.
Republic of Ireland 1 - 3 Croatia
59' - Nice passing there from Ireland but there was a big switch on to the far side to Duff, who had his hands out in exasperation. More heads up play required.
Republic of Ireland 1 - 3 Croatia
58' - From the replay it looked as if the ball may have been goal bound anyway without Given's touch as it arced across the goalline.
Republic of Ireland 1 - 3 Croatia
57' - Such a pity we haven't got into better crossing positions in open play....keeper looks lost as they float in. No joy from that free kick though.
Republic of Ireland 1 - 3 Croatia
56' - Duff does his falling over trick to win another free kick out wide.
Republic of Ireland 1 - 3 Croatia
55' - Scratch your head time at those changes but we'll have to wait and see if the Italian knows something we don't.
Republic of Ireland 1 - 3 Croatia 53' - Substitution - Jonathan Walters for Kevin Doyle and Simon Cox on for Aiden McGeady. A strange double substitution.
Republic of Ireland 1 - 3 Croatia 53' - Yellow Card - Luka Modric is booked for Croatia.
Republic of Ireland 1 - 3 Croatia
50' - Pressure now firmly on Ireland to create something...and fast...substitutions imminent we feel. 
Republic of Ireland 2 - 3 Croatia 49' - Goal - DISASTER STRIKES.......a real nightmare goal as Mandzukic gets across to head a cross off the post, which looks to be coming back out but smacks Shay Given as he dives to his left and nestles in the bottom corner.
Republic of Ireland 1 - 3 Croatia 49' - Goal - Mario Mandzukic scores for Croatia.
Republic of Ireland 1 - 2 Croatia
47' - Perisic first player to go down for an age after a routine foul from Glenn Whelan.....expect plenty of that in the second half if it stays like this.
Republic of Ireland 1 - 2 Croatia
46' - Robbie Keane and Trappatoni seen arguing with the ref at half time, presumably over the sneaky foul that stopped Ward from clearing properly for the second goal. Frustrating but we were drawing them onto us and the second goal looked inevitable the way things were going. 
Republic of Ireland 1 - 2 Croatia 45' - Second Half - 
Republic of Ireland 1 - 2 Croatia 45' + 3' - Half Time - It's half time and Ireland trail 2-1
Republic of Ireland 1 - 2 Croatia
45' + 3' - Ireland on the rack now and Rakitic heads over after good approach play.
Republic of Ireland 1 - 2 Croatia 45' + 1' - Yellow Card - Keith Andrews is booked for Republic of Ireland.
Republic of Ireland 1 - 2 Croatia
43' - One-touch Jelavic does it again.....Modric's weak shot bobbles around on the edge of the box, Ward's clearance is scuffed and lands at the feet of the Everton striker, who was offside when the original shot was taken......again another soft goal......as usual we are not making this easy for ourselves.
Republic of Ireland 1 - 2 Croatia 43' - Goal - Nikica Jelavic scores for Croatia
Republic of Ireland 1 - 1 Croatia
41' - Doyle dropping deep to try and get close to Modric....half time break will be a relief now. Ireland dropping deeper by the minute.
Republic of Ireland 1 - 1 Croatia
38' - Third corner for Croatia....we shouldnt really be over tense from set pieces....and this time its a relatively less stressful event.
Republic of Ireland 1 - 1 Croatia
37' - Less attacking intent from the Irish in the last few minutes....but here comes McGeady again.
Republic of Ireland 1 - 1 Croatia
34' - Long range shot well held by Given...
Republic of Ireland 1 - 1 Croatia
32' - Surprising given the slippery conditions that there has been no yellows as of yet.....as I said earlier this Dutch ref seems to be giving the players a chance before dishing out the cards.
Republic of Ireland 1 - 1 Croatia
31' - First bit of composed passing and movement from Croatia and Ireland have to be on their guard to keep them at bay.....
Republic of Ireland 1 - 1 Croatia
29' - Kevin Doyle, who is having a super first half, wins a free in an identical position to the one which lead to the equaliser but this McGeady floats it wide....Croatian 'keeper is not confident at all under crosses.
Republic of Ireland 1 - 1 Croatia
26' - Jelavic tidy in the box but Glenn Whelan mops it up and Given clears.
Republic of Ireland 1 - 1 Croatia
25' - The Croats are obviously dangerous going forward but look as leaky as an old rusty bucket at the back......There are plenty more goals in this one...either way.
Republic of Ireland 1 - 1 Croatia
22' - Top save from Shay Given to keep out Perisic's rasping drive from 25 yards...
Republic of Ireland 1 - 1 Croatia
21' - First bit of heroic defending from Richard Dunne to deny Jelavic.
Republic of Ireland 1 - 1 Croatia
19' - What a wonderful ball in by Aiden McGeady and Sean St.Ledger does well to drift in and nod in from four yards out........GET IN THERE. Ireland's first goal in the European Championships since Ronnie Whelan's volley in 88....not as spectacular but jsut as effective.
Republic of Ireland 1 - 1 Croatia 19' - Goal - Sean St Ledger scores for Republic of Ireland.
Republic of Ireland 0 - 1 Croatia
19' - AND WE HAVE SCORED...........
Republic of Ireland 0 - 1 Croatia
18' - Free kick for Ireland in a good position on the left....
Republic of Ireland 0 - 1 Croatia
17' - Second corner for the Croats........cleared this time.
Republic of Ireland 0 - 1 Croatia
15' - The Fields of Athenry gets a rousing rendition.....as Ronnie Whelan has just alluded to they have just emerged from the shock of theat early goal.....which may have sobered a lot of people up very quickly.
Republic of Ireland 0 - 1 Croatia
14' - The ligering suspicion is that Andrews thought the header for the goal was going wide and left it, just judging by the way he had his hands out. A proper jump and I feel he would have cleared it. No more regrets please.
Republic of Ireland 0 - 1 Croatia
13' - The Irish crowd needs to raise their voices again.....game is far from over on this evidence.
Republic of Ireland 0 - 1 Croatia
11' - Andrews low effort blocked and the same player slices the rebound well wide...wasted opportunity.
Republic of Ireland 0 - 1 Croatia
11' - CHANCE.....Free kick on the edge of the Croatian box. Who will hit it?
Republic of Ireland 0 - 1 Croatia
10' - Lovely floated ball sent in by Duff and Andrews is a whisker away from getting a vital nick on it. Ireland's response is encouraging. Croats dropping off in midfield.
Republic of Ireland 0 - 1 Croatia
9' - Irish pressure in the right corner, but Doyle loses possesion and Croatia clear efectively.
Republic of Ireland 0 - 1 Croatia
7' - Duff lets off a shot from outside the area that rolls harmlessly wide.
Republic of Ireland 0 - 1 Croatia
5' - Trappatoni must be having fits on the touchline after his side lets in such a sloppy goal. You could just feel the Irish fans' bubble burst as the net rippled and now it is the lusty chnats of the Croats that can be heard in the Poznan air.
Republic of Ireland 0 - 1 Croatia
3' - Terrible defending and a nightmare for the Irish.....corner wasnt cleared properly and when the ball came back in, Mandzukic headed from a long way out, Keith Andrews seemed to let it go as if he thought it was going wide and the ball looped agonisingly into the bottom corner past Shay Given.
Republic of Ireland 0 - 1 Croatia 3' - Goal - Mario Mandzukic scores for Croatia.
Republic of Ireland 0 - 0 Croatia
3' - Corner for Croatia...
Republic of Ireland 0 - 0 Croatia
2' - Nice attack from the Irish...Ward getting forward into an advanced position but nothing comes from the cross....
Republic of Ireland 0 - 0 Croatia
1' - Great roars from the Irish making it sound like a home game in the first few seconds.....players slipping but no costly errors.
Republic of Ireland 0 - 0 Croatia 1' - Kick-off -
Republic of Ireland 0 - 0 Croatia
0' - The Anthem has never sounded better...........
Republic of Ireland 0 - 0 Croatia
0' - A bit of rain as the teams come out to make us feel right at home as well...wonderful...and the fans are making some racket.
Republic of Ireland 0 - 0 Croatia
0' - COME ON IRELAND....hairs standing up on back of my neck watching the teams line up in the tunnel......Cool, calm, and composed, let's hope the players are because I am not.....PREDICTION - 1-0 WIN.....
Republic of Ireland 0 - 0 Croatia
0' - I hope you are all in position and have ample refreshments at hand. The second half of these updates, or sooner if things go pear-shaped, will be brought to you be the good people at Carlsberg.
Republic of Ireland 0 - 0 Croatia
0' - Elsewhere on Twitter, Martin Cawley feels it in his bones, which is a deep and trustworthy way of predicting any sporting event.
Republic of Ireland 0 - 0 Croatia
0' - Glen Hansard, Robbie Savage, and Stan Collymore are all backing Ireland to do the business on the Twitter machine.....
Republic of Ireland 0 - 0 Croatia
0' - 20 minutes to kick off and my two year old daughter, kitted out in her official Ireland kit, is blissfully unaware of the torment her father will go through in the following two hours. She should be in bed now, but its a special night, plus her father wants to wait till half time to go through the whole routine....hopefully she may even have conked by then.
Republic of Ireland 0 - 0 Croatia
0' - We have a Dutch referee tonight....while not knowing Bjorn Kuipers' previous, it will be interesting to see if he lets the more "physical" stuff go that a Mediterranean style ref would happily blow the whistle for all night....we can only hope.
Republic of Ireland 0 - 0 Croatia
0' - "It's time to get down to business!!!!....It's IRELAND time...." followed by a long cringe-inducing pause is Bill O'Herlihy's introduction to proceedings....please God it gets better than this and I don't have to turn over or mute it.
Republic of Ireland 0 - 0 Croatia
0' - Fair play to the 87% who voted on RTE's poll and predict a win for Trap's boys. That's the spirit, nothing like unbridled optimism to cloud the rational judgement of grown men and women.
Republic of Ireland 0 - 0 Croatia
0' - 45 minutes to go until kick off. The excitement is growing now. A win will put us top of the group and that should be the aim if we have any relaistic notions of progression.
Republic of Ireland 0 - 0 Croatia
0' - I've spent what feels like the last day and a half painting the fence out the back of my house......unfortunately my pleas for a green, white and gold effort fell on deaf ears and my wife insisted on Red Cedar. So be it, but the flag is billowing in the gentle breeze at the front and some bunting has adorned the doorway.....Let the fun commence.
Republic of Ireland 0 - 0 Croatia
0' - Get in touch with us at any point via Twitter @ExtratimeNews or at our immensely popular Facebook page. We want score predictions, photos of decorated houses, match parties, anything with a bit of sunshine in it really. We'd love to hear from Irish people all around the world, tell us the lengths you are going to to watch The Boys in Green.
Republic of Ireland 0 - 0 Croatia
0' - Good afternoon from our Live Update Centre...I'm Alan Dooley and I will be providing all the essential, and loads of non-essential, info on tonight's encounter between the Republic of Ireland and Croatia. |
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90' + 5' - Full Time - Joy for BIlic's side as they move into a strong position at the top of the group, and Ireland have no easy task ahead of them as they face the World Champions next up.........we have learned the hard way that mistakes will be punished.