Stade de France, Saint-Denis. Group E
Republic of Ireland 1 – 1 Sweden.
A dominant performance from the Republic of Ireland ended in a drawn match against a Swedish team that was lucky not to have gone to half-time a couple of goals down.
Rep. Ireland did all the goal scoring in this match. Unfortunately, they scored half of their goals for Sweden.
Wes Hoolahan opens scoring 3 minutes after kick-off in the second half with a beautiful volley at the end of a cross from Seamus Coleman. It was a well-deserved start to their second half.
Sweden had Zlatan Ibrahimovic. And that is all they really had in this match. After going down a goal, Sweden started making some offensive push for an equalizer. And they almost did soon after conceding. In the 71st minute, quick passing from Sweden in Rep.Ireland penalty area allowed Ibrahimovic to make his presence felt.
Ibrahimovic’s long legs reached a ball that would have gone out of play, and crossed it into a dangerous area in the penalty box, between the defender and the goalkeeper, forcing Ciaran Clark to head the ball into his own net.
The match finished 1-1, but Rep. of Ireland would be proud of their performance. Sweden will look back at this match and will have to realize that they won’t be getting out of Group E with such performance against Belgium and Italy.
Rep. Ireland faces Belgium in their next match, while Sweden will take on Italy. The result of Italy v Belgium match will tell us more about what these teams will need to do to secure safety.
As it stands.
| Group E | |||||||
| Team | Played | Win | Loss | Draw | GF | GA | Points |
| Rep. Ireland | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Sweden | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Belgium | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Italy | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
