Ladies and Gentleman, BELIEVE it or not (get it?) we have our first elimination. Republic of Ireland, the world’s best drinkers and fans (No offence anyone else obviously) you don’t have Europe’s best players as well I’m afraid, as the Irish were demolished by the cruel cruel Spaniards who will probably end up winning the tournament with their on fire striker Fernando Torres. Torres gave the Spanish the lead after a mistake from Richard Dunne. David Silva of Manchester City gave Spain a two goal advantage with a slick finish to embarrass the Irish defence, and Torres finished off the game with a slick finish before Cesc Fabregas exploded a shot past Shay Given to put the Irish to bed, with a spirited yet slack performance against a team on another planet to them.
Meanwhile away from the corker in the Irish drink, Italy drew 1-1 with Croatia to set up a tense finale between the three teams. Andrea Pirlo gave the Italians the lead with a superb free-kick before Croatian striker Mario Mandzukic fired into the roof of the net to give Croatia the share of the points. Mandzukic is the tournaments joint top scorer and at this rate, he could carry on his scoring form into the latter stages with a shock defeat of favourites Spain.
So goodbye Ireland, and hopefully we won’t be saying the same thing for the English on Friday evening!
By Jason Barr
