Post by Taxigirl on Nov 19, 2003 9:29:39 GMT
REPUBLIC OF IRELAND 3 - 0 CANADA
Despite the poor quality of opposition, Brian Kerr’s Republic of Ireland outclassed their Canadian opponents on Tuesday evening with a moment of brilliance by Damien Duff and a brace by Robbie Keane.
Ireland could have, and should have won by a higher margin, but there were positives on the night with debutant Andy Reid earning the man of the match accolade for having his part to play in Duff’s goal and Keanes first of two.
Ireland outclassed Canada – ranked 83rd in the World - playing a much improved level of Football all over the pitch.
The sad news was that of Graham Kavanagh who lasted just ten minutes because of a twisted ankle while the defence for the majority of the play rarely looked troubled.
Kavanagh was tackled by Marc Bircham and was unable to continue. And the referee had enough of Birchams’ antics’ in the second half booking the player for his foul play.
Duffs goal arrived from Andy Reid’s pass, then the Chelsea man turned and raced straight at the heart of Canada’s defence beating Kevin McKenna and Jason de Vos before nutmegging Paul Stalteri and firing the ball low into the corner of the net past the despairing dive of Hirschfeld.
And the second goal duly arrived on the hour mark through Robbie Keane which was again provided by Andy Reid who lobbed across the face of goal for Keane to head home despite the best efforts of Hirschfeld.
Keane completed his Brace with six minutes remaining after controlling Delap’s long throw on his chest before turning de Vos and firing a left-foot drive into the roof of the net for what was his 18th international goal.
Teams:
Republic of Ireland: Given (Newcastle United) Carr (Tottenham Hotspur), Cunningham (Birmingham City), Dunne (Manchester City), O’Shea (Manchester United); S Reid (Blackburn Rovers), Kavanagh (Cardiff City), A Reid (Nottingham Forest), Duff (Chelsea); Keane (Tottenham Hotspur), Doherty (Tottenham Hotspur).
Subs: Holland (Charlton Athletic) for Kavanagh (10 mins), Harte (Leeds United) for Carr (45 mins), Morrison (Birmingham City) for Doherty (45 mins), Delap (Southampton) for S Reid (62 mins), McPhail (Nottingham Forest) for A Reid (73 mins), Colgan (Stockport County) for Given (83 mins), Kilbane (Sunderland) for Duff (86 mins), Thompson (Nottingham Forest) for O’Shea (86 mins).
Canada: Hirschfeld (Tottenham Hotspur); Stalteri (Werder Bremen), De Vos (Wigan Athletic), McKenna (Hearts), Jazic (Rapid Vienna); Bent (Plymount), Bircham (QPR), Imhof (St Gallen), Hastings (MV Maastricht); Radzinski (Everton), Peschisolido (Sheffield United).
Subs: Bernier (Moss FK) for Peschisolido (74 mins), Nash (Dallas Sidekicks) for Bircham (79 mins), Fennick (Hibernian) for Hastings (86 mins).
Referee: M Whitby (Wales).