Heimir Hallgr\u00edmsson was left feeling only pain as Ireland\u2019s World Cup dream was shattered in a heartbreaking penalty shoot-out.<\/p>\n
Ireland saw a 2-0 lead evaporate on a dramatic night at Prague\u2019s Fortuna Arena as the Czech Republic fought their way to extra time and after a 2-2 draw, edged through 4-3 on penalties to set up a winner-takes-all clash with Denmark on Tuesday evening.<\/p>\n
For head coach Hallgr\u00edmsson and his players, who were bidding for a first trip to the finals since 2002, it proved an agonising conclusion to a campaign which had blossomed late in the day.<\/p>\n
Asked to sum up his emotions, the Icelander said: \u201cOne word, just pain. I feel pain, I feel pride for the performance of the players. They gave it all. I feel gratitude towards the supporters who showed up and supported us the whole game, even after the loss.<\/p>\n
\u201cI feel pride being a part of that group, but personally \u2013 and I know the players will feel pain now, only pain, I would say.\u201d<\/p>\n
Twenty-three minutes into a pulsating contest, Ireland led 2-0 through Troy Parrott\u2019s penalty and an own goal from keeper Matej Kovar and looked to have one foot in Tuesday\u2019s final.<\/p>\n
Patrik Schick\u2019s spot-kick reduced the deficit almost immediately, but Hallgr\u00edmsson\u2019s side were within four minutes of victory when Czech skipper Ladislav Krejci \u2013 currently playing his club football in the Premier League with Wolves \u2013 headed his side level to force extra time and ultimately penalties.<\/p>\n
Caoimh\u00edn Kelleher saved Mojmir Chytil\u2019s attempt to hand Finn Azaz the chance to make it 4-2, but Kovar saved his and Alan Browne\u2019s attempts to set up Jan Kliment to complete the comeback.<\/p>\n
For Hallgr\u00edmsson, who signed a contract extension last week, the back-to-back victories over Armenia, Portugal and Hungary which booked their trip to Prague will provide a source of optimism for what lies ahead.<\/p>\n
He said: \u201cFirst of all, we take that with us, that we can play teams higher than us in the FIFA ranking, punch above our weight whether it\u2019s Portugal, Hungary or here, and compete with these teams.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe came here with three wins in a row \u2013 it\u2019s a long time since that happened for this national team, so I think there\u2019s growth in the squad, I think it\u2019s maturing.<\/p>\n
\u201cThese have been the biggest games most of these players have played, so that\u2019s encouraging, to know that we are growing.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hallgr\u00edmsson and his players headed home without Derby striker Sammie Szmodics, who was carried off on a stretcher after being knocked unconscious within minutes of his introduction, but is expected to fly back to Ireland on Friday.<\/p>\n
Czech boss Miroslav Koubek was delighted with the outcome of his first game in charge, but admitted there was room for improvement.<\/p>\n
He said: \u201cI said it would be a war and it was a war.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was a battle indeed, but we proved that we have the right mindset.<\/p>\n
\u201cObviously it was not without mistakes. It was a very raw match. It was an epic battle.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Heimir Hallgr\u00edmsson was left feeling only pain as Ireland\u2019s World Cup dream was shattered in a heartbreaking penalty…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":367827,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[61,60,43],"class_list":{"0":"post-367826","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ireland","8":"tag-ie","9":"tag-ireland","10":"tag-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/367826","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=367826"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/367826\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/367827"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=367826"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=367826"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=367826"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}