Belgium choked the fight out of Ireland on Saturday afternoon and the likelihood of Martin O’Neill’s men seeing the knockout stages is dropping faster than a Kevin de Bruyne-led counter attack.
Marc Wilmots’ side claimed a 3-0 victory in Bordeaux following a merciless second half display and, in truth, Ireland couldn’t get into the game from the get-go.
Shane Long looked isolated throughout and Ireland’s midfield was dominated by the superior Mousa Dembele, Axel Witsel and Kevin de Bruyne.
So tight was the Belgian stranglehold that a number of Irish outfielders actually enjoyed less touches of the football than goalkeeper Darren Randolph.
Long and James McCarthy both touched the ball just 27 times while Randolph got 40 touches in, according to statistics from WhoScored.com.
Stephen Ward was the most involved defender with 50 touches compared to the remainder of the starting back four of Seamus Coleman (41), Ciaran Clark (40) and John O’Shea (36).
There is no prizes for guessing that Jeff Hendrick was our overall leader in terms of touches with 61 while Robbie Keane’s three touches in his 12-minute cameo speak volumes.
Still, Hendrick was far behind the Belgian leader as Axel Witsel, the scorer of their second goal, came up with 75 touches on the Matmut Atlantique pitch.
Check out the lists below.
