Spain vs Republic of Ireland. International Match.
Santiago BernabeuAttendance39,368.
Wednesday 12 June 2013 07:46, UK
Sean St Ledger had hero status snatched from his grasp as the Republic of Ireland very nearly held Spain to a draw in New York before losing 2-0.
Full-back Alvaro Arbeloa turned up inside the box and prodded the ball towards Soldado, whose crisp volley flew beyond Forde and into the bottom corner. Pedro might have double his side's advantage seconds later, but stabbed wastefully wide, and Soldado poked wide after being played in by fellow substitute Mata. However, Ireland would have been back in it with 10 minutes remaining had Casillas not produced a fine save to keep out McClean's shot, and they thought they had levelled from the resulting corner. Casillas pulled off another notable stop to turn Stephen Kelly's near-post header on to the bar, and when the ball came back off the post, St Ledger controlled and fired home only to have his big moment ruined by the officials. Worse was to follow when Mata, who had replaced Pedro in the immediate aftermath of the first Spanish goal, rubbed salt into the wound with a coolly-taken second two minutes from time to cement victory.
