The veteran defender saw his squad sink to a new low, with its hopes of reaching Qatar disintegrated in 90 minutes
Republic of Ireland captain Seamus Coleman said his side’s shock 1-0 home loss to Luxembourg on Saturday was “embarrassing”.
Gerson Rodrigues scored an 85th-minute winner for Luxembourg in Dublin, consigning the home side to one of the darkest days in their footballing history.
Luxembourg’s win in was only their fourth away victory in Euro and World Cup qualifiers in 125 tries since 2008, and it dropped Ireland to back-to-back losses to begin a World Cup qualifying campaign for the first time since 1970.
What has been said?
“Listen, there’s anger and embarrassment, a bit of everything. It’s not good enough,” Coleman said to RTE.
“There are no words that I can say to you, or to people at home, to make it better, or anything like that.
“As players, we need to have a good hard look at ourselves. You need people demanding the ball out there. I don’t think we’ve done that enough. Maybe if we’re building up one side, you need people to want it out the other side and I don’t think we heard enough voices.
“I got to come out here and do an interview, but there are no words for that there. That’s embarrassing. On behalf of everyone at home watching … As players, we take that on the chin, but it’s nowhere near what we wanted.
“As senior players, you take it on the chin, take the deserved criticism and keep going forward. It’s a tough start for the World Cup campaign, but you’ve got to show some pride in the shirt, and I didn’t think we did that tonight.”
Ireland’s sinking World Cup hopes
Having previously lost to Serbia, Ireland sit bottom of Group A through two games without playing favourites Portugal yet.
Most indicators point to continued struggles for the squad as it tries to turn things around and make the 2022 World Cup. Ireland remain winless in seven matches in Euro and World Cup qualifiers since beating Gibraltar in June 2019, and they’re also winless under current manager Stephen Kenny.
Further reading
