PLAYING AT EURO 2016 has been a memorable experience for Shane Duffy, even if it did end in disappointment ultimately.
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France will now face either England or Iceland at the Stade de France on Sunday, and Griezmann said his side had learned from a poor first half against Ireland.
For nearly an hour, they looked incapable of finding an equaliser to Robbie Brady’s early penalty.
“But we have no time to calculate [our decisions]”.
But after Griezmann’s double strike in the second-half, Ireland’s problems were compounded when defender Shane Duffy was sent off on 66 minutes. The first time (half) was not very good, but this second time (half) was very very good!
And the team’s spirited performances – notably against Italy who they beat to get through to the play-offs – inspired hope in their followers of better things to come in the months and years ahead.
“I’m not going to get involved in that now”, he said.
“I’m not putting too much pressure on myself and we all know we need everybody here”, Payet said. The players played their part as well. This team is really bringing a lot of emotion to the crowd and making everybody fall in love with them.
The travelling support remained in their section behind the goal where Brady slotted home the penalty in the second minute, and O’Shea expressed just how special a moment it was for everyone in the squad to show their appreciation. But right before the break and ten minutes in the second half, the Germans finished the Slovakians who did not have solutions against such a world class armada. With all due respect to Slovakia, this is no pointer that we are going to dominate this tournament. “We needed to improve. I feel the players extracted the maximum, but while reaching the last 16 is an achievement it is not something to rest on”.
“The players couldn’t have put anything more into the game, not an ounce left”. “Today, it was Grizou who scored two goals and we’re all pleased with that”. We freed ourselves up but there were lots of fouls. Indeed Belgium opened the score after just 9 minutes but failed after to add on to the lead which gave plenty of confidence to the Hungarians. I think if them lads do move on, then it’s been an absolute privilege and an honour to play with them and share the field with them because they’re Irish legends. He hadn’t been getting close enough to the goal and he needs to have fun when he’s out on the pitch. It doesn’t always go as you think it will go.
“We screamed at each other at halftime”, Griezmann said.
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“We put heart and soul into the game, as has become nearly a pre-requisite for us, but more importantly than that, we played, we played in the tournament and some of the younger players, as I have mentioned here, have come out great”.
