Keane’s late strike rocks ten-man Azzurri

April 11, 2009

The race for top-spot of group eight continued as Robbie Keane’s late goal salvaged a point for Ireland, and stole two from Italy during the clash in Bari.

Pazzini was shown a red card inside 3 minutes by referee Wolfgang Stark following an ‘elbowing’ incident with O’Shea. Despite the vast amount of blood seeping from the Irishman’s forehead, the replay suggested no foul-play on the Italian’s part. Italy failed to threaten the Irish goal at all within the first ten minutes. However, McShane was left standing as Lyon’s Fabio Grosso waltzed past him, delivering a clever ball across the face of the goal, and Juventus striker Iaquinta got in between O’Shea and Dunne to effortlessly tap the ball into the net.

Crisp, impeccable Italian passing dominated the Irish half with attacking midfielder Simone Pepe and AC Milan’s Andrea Pirlo playing nifty balls across the outside of the box, but to no avail. McShane and Folan looked sharp and very threatening at the other end, bombarding the azzurri with deadly crosses. But trademark defending from Cannavaro and Chiellini thwarted Ireland’s effort. On-form striker Robbie Keane was also rapidly shut-down.

On the 70-minute mark, a series of Irish corners forced Italy to keep everyone back, leaving just Iaquinta lurking on the half-way line. An Italian counter-attack was imminent, but only to be halted by a foul on Kilbane by Cannavaro. As both sides quickly re-shaped, Shay Given lofted the free-kick into the Italian box. Chiellini and Cannavaro attempted to scramble the ball away but both lost concentration at that vital moment in the game. The defence was destabilized, and Buffon was left standing as Robbie Keane finished beautifully in the bottom corner. But Ireland were far from finished…

Whelan and Hunt both pushed forward, and both came inches from helping the bouncing ball into the Italian net. Their efforts were close to poaching a winner. Another series of Irish corners were fired in, again bombarding the Italian defence. When Italy finally got some breathing time, Fabio Quagliarella was fielded to provide another option in attack. In the third minute of stoppage another long ball was pitched into the box by Folan, and Keane pounced on the chance with a vicious volley. The fierce shot floated inches over the bar, finally drawing the game to a close.

The world champions lead group eight by just two points with four games left. The sides meet again on Saturday 10th of October.

Giovanni Sipiano

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