Wednesday June 5th, 2002
 Germany vs  Republic of Ireland in Ibaraki
(1:1)
Germany and Ireland were the first teams to play their second game
in the tournament.
A win for Germany would have guaranteed them a place in the Second Round, but Ireland didn't follow the script.
The game started with the Irish fans singing a rendition of "Come
on You Boys in Green," as Ireland pushed forward to test the confidence of the
Germans - who smashed eight goals past Saudi Arabia.
Steve Staunton had the job of keeping an eye on the tournament's
leading goalscorer, Miroslav Klose. Klose didn't seem daunted at all and made a couple of
early runs to the Irish goal-line, even coming close to a penalty appeal - much to
Staunton's displeasure.
1:0
Klose soon had his fourth goal of the tournament, getting another clean header on to a
long ball from Ballack, and performed his trademark somersault - 19 mins.
As much as Ireland tried to break down Germany in the first-half, they
found their opponents too resilient.
The boys in green seemed to run out of ideas and played the ball
around the back as if they were the team in front.
Ireland's most promising player of the half was probably Damien Duff
but the clear winners so far are once again the deadly duo of Ballack and Klose.
Half-time: Germany 1 - Ireland 0
Rudi V�ller didn't look too impressed with his team's second-half
performance. The Irish fans sensed they might be getting back into the game and let the
boys in green know it.
One hour gone and the Irish were still in with a chance of a draw -
if, in the words of Mick McCarthey: "Germany are not better than Cameroon or
Holland."
A collection of substitutions from both sides, late in the
second-half, failed to eat up the minutes for Germany as Ireland struck late to keep their
World Cup dreams alive.
1:1
Germany paid the price for thinking the game was already won and suffering a lack of
concentration at the back, as Robbie Keane slipped through Linke and Ramelow to smash a
drive past Ollie Kahn's left ear.
Final Score:
Germany 1 -
Ireland 1
Man of the Match:
Robbie Keane - For the equaliser, just before the final whistle, that kept Ireland's goal
of at least a Second Round place on track.
 Yellow Cards:
No yellow cards.
The Teams
Germany:
1 Oliver Kahn; 2 Thomas Linke, 21 Christoph Metzelder, 6 Christian Ziege; 13 Michael
Ballack, 22 Torsten Frings, 8 Dietmar Hamann, 5 Carsten Ramelow, 19 Bernd Schneider (16
Jens Jeremies - 90 mins); 9 Carsten Jancker (20 Oliver Bierhoff - 75 mins), 11 Miroslav
Klose (17 Marco Bode - 85 mins).
Rep. of Ireland:
1 Shay Given; 14 Gary Breen, 2 Steve Finnan, 3 Ian Harte (21 Stephen Reid - 74 mins), 18
Gary Kelly (17 Niall Quinn - 73 mins), 5 Steve Staunton (4 Kenny Cunningham - 88 mins); 8
Matt Holland, 11 Kevin Kilbane, 12 Mark Kinsella; 9 Damien Duff, 10. Robbie Keane.
Referee: Kim Milton Nielsen 
In Korea
Group A
Denmark,  France,  Senegal,  Uruguay.
Group B
 Paraguay,  Slovenia,  Spain, 
South Africa.
Group C
 Brazil,  China,  Costa Rica,  Turkey.
Group D
 Poland,  Portugal, 
South Korea,  United States.
Korea First Round Matches.
In Japan
Group E
 Cameroon, Germany, Republic of Ireland, 
Saudi Arabia.
Group F
 Argentina,  England,  Nigeria,  Sweden.
Group G
 Croatia,  Ecuador,  Italy,  Mexico.
Group H
 Belgium,  Japan,  Russia,  Tunisia.
Japan First Round Matches.
2002 World Cup Finals - Knockout Stage.
Group Tables - Leading Goalscorers.
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