Republic of Ireland’s 1-0 home defeat to football minnows Luxembourg was “embarrassing”, captain Seamus Coleman has said, on a night that saw the country’s hopes of qualifying for the 2022 World Cup dealt a huge blow.
The hosts’ shock defeat to the side ranked 98th in the world left Ireland bottom of Group A after losses in each of their opening two games.
“It’s a horrible night, an embarrassing night for us as international players,” Coleman told Sky Sports after the match.
“It is what it is. We got beaten 1-0 at home to Luxembourg. That’s no disrespect to Luxembourg. They improved obviously.
“Did we expect to win? I don’t know as players if that was their mindset. It certainly wasn’t my mindset and I would like to think it wasn’t any of our players’ mindset but we got turned over and as players we’ve got to weather the storm now.
Read more:
- West Ham’s Jarrod Bowen apologises for old tweet using ‘N-word’
- Lewis Hamilton returns amid uncertainty as Max Verstappen bids to end dynasty
- Should football boycott the Qatar World Cup?
- How Ollie Watkins epitomises England’s identity under Gareth Southgate
“It’s going to be tough. We’re going to get criticism. It’s going to be deserved criticism.”
The Everton right-back added that the Ireland players remain supportive of manager Stephen Kenny, who has now gone 10 games without a win since taking charge of the team in April 2020.
“I’ve never hidden behind the manager at club level and I never hide behind the manager at international level,” Coleman said.
Kenny insisted that he did not fear losing his job after Ireland lost their second match in four days, after opening their World Cup qualifying campaign with a 3-2 defeat to Serbia on Wednesday.
