Ireland secured a place at Euro 2016 in France next summer with a convincing 2-0 victory against Bosnia Herzegovina at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin. The Irish go through 3-1 on aggregate following their 1-1 draw last Thursday in foggy Zenica (1 hour north west of the capital Sarajevo).
There was a minute of silence at the start of the match to remember those who lost their lives or were injured in Paris on Friday, in the terrible terrorist attacks, which included 3 suicide bombers detonating their devices outside the Stade de France during the France v Germany friendly match.
A small number of Bosnian fans started shouting things during the minute’s silence. This was followed by some booing from the Irish fans to show their disgust at the lack of respect shown, which then rather spontaneously transformed into applause aimed at drowning out the insensitive behavior of some of the visiting fans. Once the referee signaled the end of the remembrance, the Irish fans all reverted back to booing the Bosnian fans.
I spoke to some Irish fans after the match and none of them were put off from travelling to France next June to cheer on their team by last Friday’s tragedy. One fan commented, “you can’t let these terrorists win by preventing you from doing ordinary things like watching your team play a football match.” Ireland and LA Galaxy star striker Robbie Keane said after the match that he was very proud to be Irish on the night, and that the tournament in France next year wouldn’t have been the same without the Irish fans being there.
Ireland’s victory, in front of 50,500 fans, means they join England, Wales and Northern Ireland in qualifying for next year’s expanded European Championships. This will be the first time that 24 teams will compete, with the tournament having been increased from the 16 teams that have taken part in the competition every four years since 1996.
Mark Szczuka covers European soccer for Prost Amerika
