Croatia beats Ireland 3-1 at Euro 2012

POZNAN, Poland — Playing in a difficult group with Spain and Italy, it’s Croatia at the top.

The Croats took advantage of a frail Ireland defense to win their opening match at the European Championship, getting two goals from Mario Mandzukic in a 3-1 victory Sunday night at rainy Municipal Stadium.

“I still can’t believe what we just did. It was a fantastic victory,” Mandzukic said. “We knew it would be a tough match, but we responded excellently and we achieved a great victory.”

Croatia leads Group C with three points, while Spain and Italy each have one point after their 1-1 draw in Gdansk. Ireland, which is playing at a major tournament for the first time in 10 years, is last. The Croats next face Italy on Thursday.

Lineups:

Ireland: Shay Given; John O’Shea, Richard Dunne, Sean St. Ledger, Stephen Ward; Damien Duff, Keith Andrews, Glenn Whelan, Aiden McGeady (Simon Cox, 54); Robbie Keane (Shane Long, 75), Kevin Doyle (Jon Walters, 53).

Croatia: Stipe Pletikosa; Darijo Srna, Vedran Corluka, Gordon Schildenfeld, Ivan Strinic; Ivan Rakitic (Tomislav Dujmovic, 92), Ognjen Vukojevic, Luka Modric, Ivan Perisic (Eduardo, 89); Nikica Jelavic (Niko Kranjcar, 72), Mario Mandzukic.

www.espn.go.com

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Posted by WoodlawnPost on Jun 11 2012. Filed under Football, Soccer, Sports. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. Both comments and pings are currently closed.