Everything conspires to hand Ireland a rare defeat
China Daily | Updated: 2012-06-12 08:30
Coach Giovanni Trapattoni rued some poor defending and what he regarded as a refereeing error after his Republic of Ireland side lost for the first time in 15 games, going down 3-1 to Croatia in their Euro 2012 Group C opener on Sunday.
A Mario Mandzukic brace and one from Nikica Jelavic handed the Croatians a winning start, with Sean St Ledger scoring for Ireland.
Trapattoni felt the Irish had been hard done by as he believed that the Jelavic goal was "clearly offside" and changed the course of the game coming as it did just moments before the break - however TV images clearly showed the ball came off Stephen Ward, which played Jelavic onside.
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