February 17, 2011
By Staff Reporter
The opposition were at their very best, and even with Ireland on the back foot throughout the opening stages the crowd were satisfied to revel in what was on offer. Andrea Pirlo dominated midfield; Alesandro Del Piero marked his return to the cauldron of international soccer with a sublime 45 minutes whilst Christian Vieri tortured Richard Dunne and Kenny Cunningham for long spells.
In fairness to Brian Kerr, his tactics were experimental, and ones he won’t be keen to replicate. Clinton Morrison was left to battle haplessly up front by himself well the centre of midfield was filled with just three bodies. That was never enough to halt a wave of Italian attacks and it was no great surprise when the deadlock was broken just shy of 11 minutes. Shay Given did brilliantly to turn away Alberto Gilardino’s close-range effort but Pirlo buried the rebound.
Vieri found time to hit a crossbar before the advantage was doubled and this time Gilardino got his name on the score sheet.
After a sublime turn he cleverly beat the stranded Given. But credit Ireland for their response. As they looked to be overrun they somehow pulled one back before digging their heels deep. The goal came about from a Cristian Zaccardo error. His attempted clearance fell to Andy Reid who shot low into the corner. 2-1.
The second-half suffered the consequences of a whirlwind opening period. Substitutions broke any pattern and rhythm. Ireland twice came close to squaring things towards the end as Stephen Elliot, who had left the Irish bench along with four others, went close on a couple of occasions. A defeat, but an entertaining one.
“It was a decent performance from us,” remarked Kerr afterwards. “It was a tough match technically; I thought they were superior to us and physically they were stronger.” His counterpart Marcello Lippi didn’t disagree nor was he disposing of any excess honesty when saying, “We deserved to win.”
Lippi went on to talk about the French game, listing off heroes of the European stage. Zidane, Thuram, Makelele. All made their return for the French that evening in a 3-0 win over the Ivory Coast (Zidane in particular was masterful, getting amongst the scorers and pulling the strings in midfield). “They are now a French side with more skill,” he said. “A better France. Never say never though. Ireland have a chance.”
Always good to know.