Melanie Leupolz (R) of Germany fights for the ball with Fiona O'Sullivan (L) of Ireland during the FIFA Women's World Cup 2015 qualifier between Germany and Ireland
IRELAND were defeated 2-0 by Germany in Heidenheim to end their 2015 Women's World Cup qualifying campaign third placed in Group One.
Current European Champions Germany, who are ranked second in the world, enjoyed an unbeaten 10-game run throughout qualifying, and they head to Canada for the World Cup next summer.
Sue Ronan’s Ireland side were beaten to second place in the group by Russia, ending their hopes of progressing to the play-offs in order to secure a spot in the upcoming tournament.
Ireland conceded two goals in six-minutes in the first half, but the visitors regrouped after half-time to keep the Germans scoreless for the rest of the game.
The opening German goal came from Ireland’s best chance of the first half, following a Megan Campbell free-kick on the edge of the Germany penalty which failed to beat the wall and the hosts caught Ireland on the counter-attack.
Melanie Behringer netted the ball passed Emma Byrne. Six minutes later Celia Sasic held her composure as she struck a volley into the roof of the goal, doubling the score line for the Germans.
Ireland’s closest effort came from Louise Quinn soon after the restart, when she narrowly headed a Campbell free-kick wide.
After the game, Ronan said: “It is a strange feeling to be disappointed after losing 2-0 to Germany in Germany but that’s how we feel. We were poor in the first half and conceded what we would feel were two sloppy goals.
“But we regrouped at half-time and got on the ball in the second half and posed them a lot of questions. We defended much better and it would have been interesting if we had managed to pull a goal back.
“It’s been a good campaign. We are disappointed we didn’t get second place because that was our objective but we have ended up with a record number of points, six clean-sheets and a group of players that have the potential to have a real go at trying to qualify for Euro 2017.”
See More: Germany, Ireland, Women's World Cup 2015
