L’Equipe are generally difficult to please.
The French sports’ newspaper have a reputation for not getting carried away when it comes to player ratings, and did little to disprove that notion with their ratings for the Republic of Ireland’s 3-0 loss to Belgium on Saturday.
Player ratings as an uninspiring Ireland are seriously humbled by Belgium https://t.co/dhsQ1YLY3a
— SportsJOE (@SportsJOEdotie) June 18, 2016
Yes, Martin O’Neill’s side were comfortably beaten by a vastly superior side, and can have no complaints over the result – although Irish fans can feel aggrieved that the team weren’t awarded a penalty for Toby Alderweireld’s kung-fu kick on Shane Long.
L’Equipe evidently didn’t see anything wrong with the challenge, awarding referee Cuneyt Cakir a seven out of 10 rating – the same as Belgium’s Romelu Lukaku, who scored twice.
No Irish player scored more than four, and the newspaper gave Stephen Ward a two out of 10 rating.
A pretty brutal assessment and akin to the ratings from Ireland’s horror show at Euro 2012.
George Caulkin
