Ireland’s O’Shea stuns wasteful Germany with late equaliser

Thursday, 16 October 2014 01:27 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

GELSENKIRCHEN Germany (Reuters): Ireland stunned World Cup winners Germany with a stoppage time equaliser by John O’Shea on his 100th appearance to draw 1-1 in their Euro 2016 qualifier on Tuesday. The Germans were in complete command, as they had been in their 2-0 defeat to Poland in Warsaw on Saturday, and had a bagful of chances against the Irish, but were again missing the finishing touch.

Ireland’s John O’Shea, Stephen Ward and Marc Wilson (R-L) celebrate after their Euro 2016 Group D qualification soccer match against Germany in Gelsenkirchen on 14 October. REUTERS Toni Kroos seemed to have rescued the three points for the injury-hit Germans and settled the nerves of 50,000 fans in Gelsenkirchen with a powerful low drive that went in off the post after 71 minutes. But O’Shea silenced the home crowd with his stoppage-time goal to punish lacklustre Germany, who have now failed to keep a clean sheet in their four internationals since winning the World Cup in July and have conceded eight goals in the process. “We are all very disappointed,” said Germany coach Joachim Loew. “To lead until the final minute and then they score with their first chance, it’s disappointing.” “In the final minutes we were naive. We did not hold the ball but kept playing it away. I have no clear explanation for this.” The result left the Germans on four points in Group D with Ireland on seven, the same as leaders Poland. “It was an absolute fairytale ending, it was incredible to get the 100th cap and get the goal to equalise against Germany and hopefully keep the momentum going to qualify for France,” O’Shea told Irish television RTE. “The manager spoke to us before the game that spirit will only get you so far but it was very evident there tonight and a little bit of quality at the end helped us.” The world champions were desperate to make amends for Saturday’s shock defeat and did not take long to show their intentions with Erik Durm’s superb 32-metre strike bouncing off the crossbar after five minutes. Germany were missing half a dozen players including Bastian Schweinsteiger, Marco Reus and Mesut Ozil, with Andre Schuerrle and Christoph Kramer also ruled out in the last two days. But they were in charge from the start, pinning the Irish back as Kroos and Antonio Ruediger also went close early on.

Late Ronaldo header poaches all three points for Portugal

Portugal's Cristiano Ronaldo reacts during their EURO 2016 qualifying soccer match against Denmark at Parken Stadium – REUTERS Reuters: A headed goal in second-half injury time by Cristiano Ronaldo gave Portugal a much-needed 1-0 win over Denmark in their Group I Euro 2016 qualifier on Tuesday. Ronaldo rose to meet Ricardo Quaresma’s cross and bury his header past Kasper Schmeichel to claim all three points after referee Felix Byrch played five minutes stoppage time at the end of the game. Denmark’s best chance of the match came when Pierre Hojbjerg muscled his way through and fed Christian Eriksen, who teed up Michael Krohn-Dehli to fire in a shot that came back off the far post. Ronaldo’s goal lifts Portugal off the bottom of the table and into third in the five-team group on three points. Denmark remain second, level on four points with leaders Albania.

Northern Ireland stun Greece as history bid gathers momentum

Northern Ireland's players celebrate after their Euro 2016 Group F qualifying soccer match against Greece at Karaiskaki stadium in Piraeus, near Athens – REUTERS Reuters: Northern Ireland’s fairytale start to Euro 2016 qualifying continued in sensational style on Tuesday as Michael O’Neill’s side stunned former champions Greece 2-0 at the Georgios Karaiskakis stadium in Athens. The visitors were left celebrating their third straight victory thanks to goals from Jamie Ward and Kyle Lafferty and, sitting top of Group F, are starting to dream of reaching their first major championship finals since the Mexico World Cup of 1986. The Irish took a deserved early lead in the ninth minute through Ward’s strike with Lafferty adding the decider in superb fashion on the counter-attack six minutes after halftime. The victory piles the pressure on Claudio Ranieri’s side, who are second bottom of the group as Northern Ireland move two points clear of Romania at the top. For Greece, who were favourites to win the group when the draw was made, it is the worst start to a qualifying campaign since Euro 2004, when they lost their opening two games before eventually qualifying and going on to win the tournament.