Tuesday, November 17, 2009

Belgian blitz downs Ireland

World Cup Qualifers
Ireland 0 Belgium 3 (J Truyens, J Dekeyser, B van Hove)
Ireland crashed to a 3-0 loss to world number nine side Belgium in Quilmes, Argentina last night to deal a severe blow to their hopes of taking the last remaining place in the 2010 Wold Cup.

The Irish fell behind to a Belgian blitz in the opening ten minutes as Jerome Truyens capitalised on a defensive mishap to open the deadlock in the 4th minute before Jerome Dekeyser made it 2-0 with barely ten minutes played when he latched onto Xavier Reckinger assist.

A couple of penalty corner efforts were the best the Irish could muster before half-time but the Belgians killed the game off when Benjamin van Hove shot past David Harte, on his 50th cap, to make it 3-0. It also proved a disappointing milestone day for Eugene Magee on the occasion of his 100th cap, becoming the youngest Irish player to reach that mark at 23 years and 231 days.

Ireland had a few half chances late on through Magee, Mikey Watt and Johnny Jackson but scarcely threatened an upset. Belgium had a 50th minute Tom Boon strike disallowed while the disappointing day was complete when Conor Harte was sin-binned in the 66th minute.

Pedro Ibarra struck five times for the Argentines as they beat Chile 7-3 to move level with Belgium at the top of the table on nine points while the Czechs got their first win of the campaign, beating the USA comfortably 3-1.

Ireland  must now win their last two group games against the Czech Republic (Thursday) and Argentina (Saturday) to have any chance of progressing.

Manager Peter Jackson said after the game: "Whilst we are disappointed with the result today, this tournament is only half way through. We have two more matches before finals day on Sunday and we have everything to play for against Czech Republic and Argentina. That is our focus."

Ireland: David Harte, John Jackson, Ronan Gormley (capt), Mikey Watt, Stephen Butler, John Jermyn, Eugene Magee, Graham Shaw, Timmy Cockram, Conor Harte, Timmy Lewis
Subs: Mitch Darling, Alan Sothern, Geoff McCabe, David Ames, Paul Gleghorne

Results: Ireland 0 Belgium 3 (Jerome Truyens, Jerome Dekeyser, Benjamin van Hove); Chile 3 Argentina 7; USA 1 Czech Republic 3
Standings: 1. Belgium 9pts (+15) 2. Argentina 9pts (+10) 3. Ireland 6pt (+5) 4. Czech Republic (-8) 5. Chile 0pts (-10) 6. USA 0pts (-12)



* Photos courtesy of hockey.be; video courtesy of WorldHockey

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

ah fair play Findo, that is just ridiculous - translating that stuff, pit about the score

Anonymous said...

use Google Translator - it can translate an entire page for you!

Anonymous said...

I don't think the people should be surprised at this result & it looks as if the final will be between Argentina & Belgium who happen to be the 2 highest ranked sides at the tournament. While in recent times Ireland do produce some very good performances/results they tend to be in friendly games & not at tournaments.

Anonymous said...

This team has achieved 2 golds and 1 silver in 3 tournaments this year. I don't think we could say they tend to perform mainly "in friendly games and not at tournaments". I think it is these good tournament results that have given all of us the belief that this team could win the WCQ against the odds. Keep going - we're behind you all the way!

Anonymous said...

it also looks like it will be a beautiful day tomorrow but things aren't always as they should be.great to see the Irish people getting behind their team again when things aren't always positive.The Irish lads will do it,I have 100% belief in that,a lot more to that result than the scoreline reads

Anonymous said...

8.30 A very Positive comment for an Irish supporter good thinking the lads would love you for that. The final could be between Ireland and Belgium. Think along those lines dont give up now ranking or not. Still possible and they have the beating of Belgium in a final

BE POSITIVE

Anonymous said...

Stephen, any word on getting clips of the match or is it only when we win!!

Anonymous said...

handball ref! AND offside. robbed we were!

Anonymous said...

Come on Lads!
Lets make sure one Irish team qualifies for the World Cup this week!

Anonymous said...

EHL KO 16 Draw has taken place.

http://www.ehlhockey.tv/#/news/NDI5OA==

Pembroke have drawn Rot-Weiss Koln. They're the German team Christoper "10 goals in 2 pool matches" Zeller plays for...

Anonymous said...

Just watched the Belgium match hate to be negative but our defending was something you would see at schoolboy level