Spain vs Ireland - 2002 World Cup

Home: World Cup 2002: Korea-Japan Finals: Knockout Stage: Match Report

Sunday, June 16th

Spain vs Ireland in Suwon (1:1 aet)
Spain win 3:2 on penalties.

Casillas Saves Spain

Robbie Keane's first chance for Ireland flew wide of the Spanish goal, as both teams searched for an early advantage.

Cheered on by their vociferous supporters, The Boys in Green continued to push forward.... with Damien Duff looking good down the Irish right, before laying the ball off.

1:0
Carles Puyol received a knock-back from his throw-in, on the right, and crossed into Fernando Morientes, who beat Gary Breen to the ball and headed past Shay Given; with only eight minutes gone.

Spain sat back a little, as Ireland tried everything in their repertoire to get back on level terms, then countered with long balls up to Raul and Morientes.

In the 20th minute, one such counter had Raul getting the better of Steve Staunton on a dash through the middle.... but the ball was too far from the Spaniard and Shay Given booted clear.

Five minutes later, Spain put together another elegant combination as Raul flicked the ball up for Morientes, in the Irish area, who headed back across to Luis Enrique to put in the net...... but the flag for offside was already up.

Ireland continued to play the offside trap well; giving the linesman, with his eye on the Spanish forwards, plenty of work to do. Just before the break, Matt Holland chipped the Spanish defence for Robbie Keane to sprint behind them and try an acrobatic juggle over Iker Casillas.

Half-time: Spain 1 - Ireland 0

Ireland have pegged back similar half-time scorelines against Cameroon and Germany; their fans will hope that the Boys in Green can pull it off again.

Steve Staunton struggled to shake off an injury he sustained in the first-half and was replaced by Kenny Cunningham, five minutes after the restart as Ireland had another clear chance to level the score.

Iker Casillas dropped the ball but Kevin Kilbane's shot was cleared away by Hierro - who also had Helguera behind him as a double cover.

With six or seven Spaniards filling the penalty area, Ireland were finding it difficult to get through them so Niall Quinn was brought on for Gary Kelly; to add some more height to the Irish attack.

Damien Duff earned Ireland a penalty in the 62nd minute. Ian Harte stepped forward to take it..... Casillas saved and Kilbane skewed the follow-up.

The luck of the Irish was running out and Damien Duff was starting to look tired.... although he pulled himself together to shoot narrowly wide with a little over ten minutes to go.

Iker Casillas flew into Robbie Keane shortly before the end as they both went up for a 50-50 challenge.

1:1
Second penalty for Ireland as Hierro is booked for holding Niall Quinn's shirt, with both hands, and trying to lift him off the ground. Robbie Keane brought Ireland level with 20 seconds of normal time remaining.

Into Extra Time:

Spain moved slowly in the first period of extra-time, as if they would be happy with penalties.

Ireland, meanwhile, continued to show tremendous fighting spirit and huge lungs as they battled for everything - huffed, puffed and even produced flashes of brilliance through Damien Duff.

In the second period, Shay Given parried away Baraja's drive and at the other end Cunningham's grass cutter was narrowly wide, although Casillas had it covered.

Penalties

Ireland - 2	Spain - 3
Robbie Keane - Scored	Fernando Hierro - Scored
Matt Holland - Bar	Ruben Baraja - Scored
David Connolly - Saved	Juanfran - Wide
Kevin Kilbane - Saved	Juan Carlos Valer�n - Wide
Steve Finnan - Scored	Gaizka Mendieta - Scored

Final Score:
Spain 1 - Ireland 1
After Extra Time

Spain won the penalty shoot-out (3:2) to face South Korea or Italy in the quarter-final.

Man of the Match:
Iker Casillas - Saved three penalties; one of them in normal time.

Yellow Cards:
Juanfran (62 mins)
Ruben Baraja (87 mins)
Hierro (89 mins)

The Teams

Spain:
1 Iker Casillas; 3 Juanfran, 6 Fernando Hierro, 5 Carles Puyol; 8 Ruben Baraja, 11 Francisco De Pedro (16 Gaizka Mendieta - 66 mins), 4 Ivan Helguera, 21 Luis Enrique, 17 Juan Carlos Valer�n, 7 Ra�l (12 Alberto Luque - 81 mins), 9 Fernando Morientes (14 David Albelda - 72 mins).

Ireland:
1 Shay Given; 14 Gary Breen, 2 Steve Finnan, 3 Ian Harte (13 David Connolly - 82 mins), 18 Gary Kelly (17 Niall Quinn - 54 mins), 5 Steve Staunton (4 Kenny Cunningham - 50 mins); 8 Matt Holland, 11 Kevin Kilbane, 12 Mark Kinsella; 9 Damien Duff, 10 Robbie Keane.

Referee: Anders Frisk