Ireland’s World Cup fate was written in blood on the floor of a hotel bathroom in Jerez, Spain, four weeks before the tournament began.
It was then that Santiago Canizares accidentally dropped a bottle of after shave in his hotel room, then recoiled in horror as a shard of glass severed a tendon in his right foot.
The freak accident not only knocked Spain’s starting goalkeeper out of the World Cup, but resulted in Iker Casillas taking over in the nets and thus spelled doom for the Irish.
On Sunday night, Casillas came up with two huge saves during the penalty-kick shootout as Spain ruined Ireland’s hopes of reaching the quarterfinals. The teams had played to a 1-1 tie after 90 minutes of regulation and 30 minutes of sudden-death overtime.
After midfielder Matt Holland had blasted his attempt onto and over the crossbar, Casillas turned back shots by forwards David Connolly and Kevin Kilbane and Spain prevailed 3-2 in the shootout in Suwon, South Korea. Spain will play Italy or South Korea in the quarterfinals Saturday.
“This game was all about luck,” Casillas said. “We had some bad luck during the game but some good luck at the end. After all, penalties are a lottery, and luck was on our side.”
Spain had the better of the play for much of the match, but all it had to show for its effort was an eighth-minute headed goal by Fernando Morientes, his 17th in 23 games for Spain.
In the final minute, referee Anders Frisk of Sweden spotted defender Fernando Hierro almost ripping the shirt off Irish striker Niall Quinn to prevent him from getting to a cross. Robbie Keane scored from the resulting penalty kick to send the thousands of green-clad Irish fans in the stadium into a frenzy.
Neither team could manage another goal in overtime, although Ireland’s Damien Duff came close with a raking shot that slipped just wide of the right post.
Senegal 2, Sweden 1: A sudden-death goal by Henri Camara in Oita, Japan, gave Senegal something to put on its calling cards: World Cup quarterfinalist.
The Lions became the first African team since Cameroon in 1990 to qualify for the final eight in a World Cup.
They remain unbeaten in Cup play with a 2-0-2 record in this its first World Cup.
“We are seeing the birth of a great team,” Senegal coach Bruno Metsu said after watching his squad advance on the first sudden death or “golden” goal of the tournament, Camara’s 104th-minute strike past Swedish goalkeeper Magnus Hedman.
Sweden’s Henrik Larsson scored his third goal of the tournament, a header, in the 11th minute. But Senegal’s speed and attacking style kept the pressure on the Swedish defense until Camara, in the 37th minute, beat Hedman on a low attempt.
Sweden spent the rest of the game squandering chances–and was unlucky not to win in overtime when Anders Svensson’s shot hit the post minutes before Camara’s second goal.
