Ireland at Euro 2012 Finals
After ten years since their last appearance
at a major football championship finals the Irish senior team finally
qualified for the Euro 2012 finals in Poland and Ukraine. After the heartbreaking
disappointment of the 2010
World Cup play-off match in Paris Irish
manager, Giovanni
Trapattoni guided his charges to second place in the Euro
2012 qualification group. The Republic of Ireland drew Estonia in
the Euro
2012 play-off matches and following an outstanding 4-0 win in Tallin
the Irish closed out the deal with stress-free 1-1 draw at the Aviva
Stadium.
It had been generally accepted that Ireland
had been lucky in drawing Estonia in the play-offs but that luck deserted
the Irish when the draw for the Euro 2011 finals was made in Kiev on 2nd
December 2011. Ireland was in Pot 4 of four and was the lowest ranked
team amongst the 16 qualifiers.
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Euro 2012 Final Draw
The draw was made amid great fanfare
in the Ukrainian capital Kiev. The Irish were drawn in Group C by
French footballing legend Zinedine Zidane. Unfortunately for Ireland
the top seed in Group C was, Euro 2008 and 2010 Word Cup champions,
Spain. Zidane then drew Croatia from Pot 3 and as though the task
wasn't difficult enough Dutch master Marco Van Basten drew Italy
from Pot 2 to complete the group. The sequence of matches was also
determined by the draw process and Irelands group matches were as
follows:
|
Date
|
Opponent
|
Venue
|
|
10 June 12
|
Croatia
|
Poznan
|
|
14 June 12
|
Spain
|
Gdansk
|
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18 June 12
|
Italy
|
Poznan
|
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For many football
pundits and Irish fans the opening match against Croatia in Poznan
would determine whether Ireland could progress to the knockout stages
of Euro 2011. A win in this match would set the Irish up for a heroic
campaign but a loss would make it almost impossible to make it out of
the group. One possible positive omen was that Ireland's match against
Italy was scheduled for the 18th anniversary of the famous and well-deserved
victory over Italy at the 1994 World Cup finals at Giants Stadium in New
York.
While the draw was anything but favourable
to Ireland the fact the the team was based in Poland made travel arrangements
for the Irish fans was far easier than if the team had been drawn to play
in the Ukraine.
At the time of the Euro 2012 Finals draw
the following were the vital statistics of Ireland's (FIFA World Ranking
21) opponents in Group C:
SPAIN
FIFA World Ranking: 1
Manager: Vicente Del Bosque
Qualified: Group A winners -
P8 W8 D0 L0 Pts 24
Previous Euro Cup honours: Winners 1964, 2008
Runners-up 1984
Republic of Ireland record v Spain: P24 W4 D7 L13
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ITALY
FIFA World Ranking: 9
Manager: Cesare Prandelli
Qualified: Group C winners -
P10 W8 D0 L0 Pts 26
Previous Euro Cup honours: Winners 1968
Runners-up 2000
Republic of Ireland record v Italy: P11 W1 D2 L8 |
CROATIA
FIFA World Ranking: 8
Manager: Slaven Bilic
Qualified: Group F runner-up, beat Turkey 3-0 on agg in play-off
Republic of Ireland record v Croatia: P6 W3 D2 L1
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Euro 2012 Group C Table
|
Euro 2012 - Qualifying
Group c - Latest Standings
|
| |
Nation |
Played
|
Won
|
Drew
|
Lost
|
Goals F
|
Goals A
|
Points
|
|
|
Spain |
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
|
|
Italy |
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
|
|
Republic of Ireland
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
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Croatia |
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
Ireland
& 2002 World Cup Finals
- 2002 World Cup
Irish Squad - 2002 World
Cup Irish Group Matches
Ireland
V Cameroon 2002 - Ireland
V Germany 2002 - Ireland
V Saudi Arabia 2002 - Ireland
V Spain 2002
Ireland & 1990 World Cup
Finals - Irish
Squad World Cup 1990
Ireland V England 1990
- Ireland V Egypt 1990
- Ireland V Holland
1990
Ireland V Romania 1990
- Ireland V Italy 1990
Irish Squad
World Cup 1994
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