Third place is about right. Over the course of this qualifying campaign, Ireland didn't do quite enough. Poland and Germany have advanced to the European Championships, propelled there by the goals of the Bayern Munich superstars, Lewandowski and Müller, the two top scorers in European qualifying.
In international football, even more so than in the club game, world class individuals make all the difference. It was no surprise in the end that this match was decided by Lewandowski, the only world-class player on the field.
Poland's left back Kuba Wawrzyniak had promised that Lewandowski would prove beyond doubt that he was the best striker in the world. He didn't quite achieve that, but he did demonstrate that he shares certain important qualities with Cristiano Ronaldo: a sense of timing, a certain haughty arrogance, and the neck muscles of a racehorse.
There wasn’t much pace on Krzysztof Maczynski’s clipped centre from the right, but Lewandowski crashed into it like a train, burying a header of astonishing power past Randolph from 13 yards. It was his 15th goal in six games, and his 13th of the qualifying campaign.
Moment of quality
It was a moment of quality to crown a chaotic first half in which Poland had taken the lead through Krychowiak’s deflected shot only to be pegged back within a couple of minutes when Pazdan booted
Shane Long
in the face.
It looked as though Long's face was the only part of his body that was outside the box but the referee awarded the penalty and Walters scored low to the goalkeeper's left.
The goal was remarkable for the anti-noise that greeted it – intense Polish whistling suddenly giving way to dead silence and a distant roar from the couple of thousand Irish fans. It sounded almost as though a goal had been scored in some other stadium nearby.
Poland were the team with everything to lose, and Ireland took confidence from knowing they were halfway towards the minimum objective of a 2-2 draw. Were we about to see the slayers of the world champions turn the screw on the Poles?
Sadly not. Against Germany, Ireland had stumbled on a midfield combination that actually worked. Against Poland, Glenn Whelan and James McClean came back in for Wes Hoolahan and Robbie Brady, with Brady moving to left back in place of Stephen Ward.
The return of those familiar faces meant a return to a more familiar sort of Ireland performance. There was little cohesion in attack, while Poland were showing much more urgency in attack than Germany had on Thursday night.
Setback
Lewandowski’s goal on 42 minutes meant the first half finished 2-1, which was still a pretty good situation for Ireland: one goal to reach the Euros. But early in the second half, O’Neill’s team suffered a significant setback.
Poland's two centre halves Glik and Pazdan had been beating up on Long all game and on 52 minutes Glik finally got the result he was looking for. He crunched into Long from behind as the Irish centre forward tried to lay it off on the half way line. Long was carried off and replaced by Robbie Keane.
Glenn Whelan, who had been spun a bit too easily by Krychowiak, made way for Aiden McGeady, with James McCarthy returning to the deep central position in which he had excelled against Germany.
Struggling to combine
Poland were letting Brady have a lot of the ball, but he was struggling to combine effectively with McClean down the left side. With 20 minutes to go O’Neill replaced McClean with Hoolahan, and all the midfield players who had beaten Germany were back together on the field. In the stands the Polish fans were getting a bit edgy. Their team had lost their rhythm. An Irish corner flashed across the six-yard box, narrowly missing Keane. The ball was whipped back in by McGeady but Keogh’s header was too close to Fabianski. That was to be Ireland’s best chance.
Lewandowski tried to rally his team, getting involved in an argument with McCarthy, who had earlier kneed him in the buttock. But Poland, who had looked dangerous whenever they attacked in the first half, had given up on scoring another. They were in that defensive mindset that so often invites disaster.
Even with Hoolahan on the field, Ireland failed to apply coherent pressure. The attacking strategy revolved around pelting long balls into Poland’s penalty area. But Poland are a much taller team than Ireland. There might have been a chance of success with Long, but Keane was helpless against Glik and Pazdan.
The announcement that there would be five minutes of injury time gave Ireland hope – they'd scored late against Germany, Poland and Georgia, but this time it was a red card, O'Shea pulling down Lewandowski as the Poland captain was about to break away. Ireland will miss O'Shea and Walters in the first leg of the playoff. The Poles celebrated, and who among the Irish could begrudge them their moment.
