How Spain forced the Irish to give up

Ten years ago Shay Given, Robbie Keane, Damien Duff and Richard Dunne walked out of Suwon World Cup Stadium wondering what might have been. Their Ireland team had just been eliminated from the tournament on penalties, a young Iker Casillas saving another one for Spain in normal time. So marginal, so proud, had been the exit, some defiantly talked of how they could have gone all the way to the final.

A decade later those four survivors walked from Arena Gdansk attempting to come to terms with what had just happened to them. They'd fought and scrapped and defended their nation back to a major finals for the first time since 2002 only to be soundly beaten by Croatia then utterly outplayed by Spain. There was no hiding from the hiding. Four-nil might have been twice as bad.

Given and co had kept 16 on-target shots out of Ireland's net; Casillas had been asked to save just two. A possession statistic that said Ireland had 34% of the ball merely emphasised the flaws in a method that gives the time from conceding a goal to kicking off again to the defending team. The Irish never came close to retaining it so long in open play.

With Spain pressing furiously as soon as the Irish placed a foot to the ball, not one player in green managed to complete even three-quarters of his passes. In the heart of Ireland's midfield, Keith Andrews watched 58% of his head astray. "They're the best team I've ever faced," he said. "At times, well for the vast majority, we were chasing shadows and never got near them."

In their decade's separation, Ireland's brand of whole-hearted endeavour had headed in one direction, Spain's technician's game in quite another. If the result was simple and unsurprising, it was still devastating to observe.

"It's what they've been doing," said Dunne. "They do it all the time. It's all right knowing what they are going to do but being able to cope with it is different. We couldn't tonight, they were just far better than us.

"There's nothing that surprised us, we knew how tough it was going to be. It's just heartbreaking because we've come with these dreams and hopes of doing well and tonight we've just been overrun by the best team in the world. We've just got to hold our hands up and say: 'We are what we are, and Spain are what they are so there's nothing we can do.'"

Chasing an unprecedented treble of major titles, the holders can add another achievement to their list. They've forced the Irish to give up.