Ireland's Robbie Keane cartwheels after scoring a goal against Germany during their Group E match at the World Cup Finals in Ibaraki yesterday. The match ended 1-1. - ReutersIBARAKI, Japan (AP):
INSTEAD OF becoming the first team to make it to the Round of 16, Germany now have to worry about advancing at all.
A goal in injury time by Robbie Keane gave never-die Ireland a 1-1 draw yesterday against the three-time champions.
The Germans went ahead after 19 minutes through striker Miroslav Klose, who had a hat-trick in Germany's 8-0 rout of Saudi Arabia in their opener, and looked set to advance until Keane's strike kept Ireland in the running as well.
Germany still top Group E with four points. Ireland, who also rallied to draw with Cameroon 1-1, have two. Cameroon play Saudi Arabia this morning and then face Germany in the final round of group matches. Ireland will next play Saudi Arabia.
After their easy first-match victory, a win over Ireland would have put the Germans through. But the gritty men in green fought for 90 minutes and then some and went away with a well-deserved draw.
"We've given ourselves a chance, haven't we? We're in with a shout now," Ireland coach Mick McCarthy said.
"Center forwards score goals, that's their job, to score goals, and he's scored a very vital one," McCarthy said of Keane's strike from close range that blasted past German goalkeeper Oliver Kahn, who had prevented the Irish from equalising earlier.
"We threw men forward and it paid off. I think we were the better side. The stats will back it up. We were the better team," McCarthy said.
"I thought we deserved something out of it. We battered the Germans. I thought we gave them a good doing to be honest and if we'd come off losing 1-0 I'd have been gutted.
"I said to them at halftime, 'don't come off here beating them at football and lose - come off having got a result'. We had to take our chance. What's the point in coming out here and going out without a fight?"
For many minutes after the match, the Irish team celebrated in front of the team's enthralled supporters filling the section on the side where Keane scored the equaliser. And nearly half an hour after the final whistle, a couple of dozen die-hard Irish supporters were still singing in the stadium as Japanese ushers politely tried to move them out.
The Germans looked devastated as they left the field and coach Rudi Voeller confirmed their state of mind.
"The anger and the disappointment are great," Voeller said. "When you lead 1-0 and then you concede a 1-1, everything breaks down inside you.
"The players are devastated. They gave everything. We had many chances, but after 1-0 our passes to our forwards were not accurate.
"We are still leading the group and one point against Cameroon should be enough. We have to think positive and keep up our tension. Perhaps if we had won we would have relaxed too much. We have a six-day break and then we'll get the three points," Voeller said.
Klose had given the three-time champions the lead on a play set up by a long cross from midfielder Michael Ballack. The Kaiserslautern standout met the pass with a header in the centre of the area that went in just to the right of Shay Given, Ireland's goalkeeper.
"I am a bit disappointed," said Klose, who has the tournament's only hat-trick so far and now has 12 goals in 14 matches for Germany.
"We pulled back too much in the second half, we lost our lines. I didn't run as well in the second half either. I am happy with my goal but I wish we'd gotten three points," Klose said.
Ireland had threatened the German goal throughout the night and it was a lot more well-balanced match than the one between Germany and Saudi Arabia.
In the 24th minute, Irish midfielder Matt Holland's low strike went just wide of Germany's goal. In the 56th, forward Damien Duff looked like he had the equaliser, but Kahn made a brilliant deflection. And in the 82nd, Kahn broke up another chance, after Keane came in ahead of the defence.
Germany nearly made it 2-0 in the 68th when Carsten Jancker's delicate attempt over the charging Given missed the mark.
"1-0 is always a dangerous result," said German defender Carsten Ramelow. "The Irish threw everything into the attack and equalised. But we shouldn't have let it happen."
