Ireland Vs. Croatia: Irish Overrun By Croats In Euro Return

It had been 24 years since Ireland last qualified for Euros and 10 years since they had played in any international tournament, but they were back in the spotlight for Euro 2012. Unfortunately for them, Croatia had no plans of rolling out the red carpet for them and instead welcomed them back to major competition with a 3-1 beating on Sunday in their Group C opener.

The problem for the Irish is that they ended the half as badly as they started it. A simple clearance by Ward went awry and instead of booting it away from goal, he mishit it in behind the defense and right into the path of Nikica Jelavic. The Irish complained that he was offside, but because Ward played him in, the flag correctly stayed down and Jelavic finished to put the Croats in front.

Ireland played well for most of the first half, but the beginning and end of their first 45 minutes back in a major tournament didn’t go as planned. They conceded within three minutes and then again just before halftime as Croatia grabbed a 2-1 lead in this Group C clash.

After giving up the early goal, Ireland put in a competent performance. Croatia had their chances, but Ireland also knocked the ball around a bit and it looked like they would get into halftime level, but then Ward gifted Croatia the go-ahead goal.

The reason that Croatia are doing this is because they need three points from this match to advance, as Bilić has openly admitted. Ireland are the clear underdogs in this match and in the entire tournament, left almost no chance to make it out of the group. They will come out in a deep-lying 4-4-2 and defend, defend and defend some more. This is just their second Euro ever and their first major tournament since the 2002 World Cup and their fans are ready for it, so at the very least they will put in a good showing in the stands.

Croatia (4-1-3-2): Stipe Pletikosa; Darijo Srna, Vedran Čorluka, Gordon Schildenfeld, Ivan Strinić; Ognjen Vukojević; Ivan Rakitić Luka Modrić, Ivan Perišić; Nikica Jelavić, Mario Mandžukić.

Lines: Croatia, -1/2 (+125). Ireland, +1/2 (-145).

Odds: Croatia, +125. Ireland, +235. Draw, +210.

Usually in major tournaments there is an obvious big-ticket game that is scheduled and a game that isn’t going to draw eyeballs on the same day. Usually, the less significant game is played earlier and the more significant game is played later. Everyone from the teams themselves, to the event holders, to the television networks wants this to be the case. They all want the big game in primetime. Someone in Poland didn’t get the memo.

Ireland managed to get a pretty fantastic draw in qualifying. They finished second in a qualifying group with Russia, edging out mighty Armenia to get to the playoffs. In the playoffs, they drew Estonia, who had no business making a Euro 2012 qualifying playoff. Ireland were bad in a friendly against Hungary before this tournament. There’s no reason that Ireland should be able to beat Croatia.