A familiar tale of World Cup playoff agony awaited the Republic of Ireland in Prague, but this was no hard luck story. Heimir Hallgrímsson’s team twice had the Czech Republic where they wanted them, in normal time and in a penalty shootout, and twice they let them off the hook. Dreams of a first World Cup in 24 years evaporated as a consequence.
Ireland led 2-0 after 23 minutes of a scrappy semi-final and 3-2 after the first six penalties of the shootout, but the momentum built on the back of outstanding qualifying wins over Portugal and Hungary could not be sustained. The misery of this latest playoff defeat – Ireland’s fifth loss in six World Cup playoff fixtures – will be heightened by the realisation it was so unnecessary.
A needless penalty conceded by Ryan Manning allowed the Czech Republic back into the contest moments after a calamitous own goal by the Czech goalkeeper Matej Kovar had doubled the visitors lead, delivered by Troy Parrott’s sixth goal of the campaign. The pattern of the contest turned on the Czech penalty. The Republic, dominant initially, tried to defend a slender advantage throughout the remainder of normal time and were doing so comfortably until the Wolves defender Ladislav Krejci headed in an 86th minute equaliser. Extra time saw the hosts control the first half, with Tomas Soucek missing a fine opportunity, and Ireland the second.
And so to penalties. Caoimhín Kelleher handed the visitors the advantage when making the first save from Mojmir Chytil only for Finn Azaz and Alan Browne to fail to beat Kovar with Ireland’s next two attempts. Jan Kliment converted the fifth and final spot-kick to send the Czech Republic into a home final against Denmark on Tuesday.
“Just pain, we all feel pain,” was Hallgrímsson’s reaction. “When you go this far it’s a flip of a coin. Just pain we feel being that close.” He added: “All goals come at a bad time. I thought we were having control when the penalty came. It felt good. It always affects you psychologically when you concede so quickly after.”
The contest had started so well from an Irish perspective and in keeping with how the teams’ respective group campaigns had ended: Ireland full of confidence and on the front foot, the Czech Republic subdued and vulnerable. The latter was to be expected given the turmoil in Czech football. Miroslav Koubek was taking charge of the national team for the first time at the age of 74 after the sacking of Ivan Hasek. Soucek had been stripped of the captaincy for not acknowledging supporters after the final qualifier against Gibraltar. He also lost his place in the starting lineup. To top it all, 47 people were charged this week by the Czech FA as part of an investigation into match-fixing.
All of the early threat came from the visitors with Jake O’Brien’s long throw-ins causing mayhem. Parrott turned one O’Brien throw onto Nathan Collins who struck Kovar’s crossbar from the edge of the area. Ireland were awarded the softest of penalties after the Swedish referee Glenn Nyberg was sent to the pitchside monitor to check a Vladimir Darida touch on Collins as the pair challenged for a loose ball from another O’Brien throw. Parrott’s spot kick was delayed by Kovar’s antics but, undeterred, the prolific striker swept a powerful penalty beyond the goalkeeper’s right hand. The sight of Ireland fans celebrating in the home end behind the goal confirmed the away contingent inside the stadium had swelled beyond the official 1,024 ticket allocation.
The visitors were in dreamland moments later when the former West Ham defender Vladimir Coufal, attempting to clear Dara O’Shea’s header at a corner, headed against the inside of his own bar and post. The ball dropped on to the shoulder of Kovar and over the line before Patrik Schick could intervene. Settle, protect the lead, do nothing stupid: unfortunately Manning did not get the memo.
The Czech Republic had offered nothing in attack but won a corner seconds after the restart that Pavel Sulc headed on to Krejci. The captain’s first touch took him away from goal and the ball was heading out of play when Manning pulled the back of Krejci’s jersey. It was a clear foul by the Southampton player. Schick struck a cool penalty into the top corner and, from out of nowhere, the home side were back in a contest that had been slipping away from them.
Jayson Molumby hit a post early in the second half but Ireland were on the back foot for the majority of the second half, without giving up too many chances. But when Krejci headed home the substitute Michal Sadilek’s free-kick with four minutes of normal time remaining, a familiar sense of foreboding arrived for Ireland. It proved well-founded.