Thursday 14th June 2012
UEFA Euro 2012 Group C
Spain 4-0 Republic of Ireland
Attendance: 39,150*
After a brief overnight stop in Osieczna, on Wednesday we made our way north to our Gniezo base. As there was no match for us that evening we wandered into town and found a bar to watch the Germany v Holland game on TV. Mein Host "entertained" the crowd with his impressions (in a sort of Basil Fawlty way) when Germany scored. He also handed out free vodka which made for an interesting, err, walk, back to the hotel!
It was with bleary eyes that we set off to the next game of our journey, 3 hours north to the Baltic coast and the city of Gdańsk. We missed our train by an hour or so but were lucky that by the time we arrived at the station it still hadn't arrived!
Gdańsk will be familiar to people of a certain age, who watched the news in the 1980's, as it was the location of the Shipyards where Lech Wałęsa co-founded the trade union Solidarity, and was roundly persecuted by the then Communist government. This ultimately though led to free elections by the end of the decade and Wałęsa becoming President of Poland from 1990 to 1995.
Gdańsk is where we joined up with the Irish fans as the Republic took on current champions Spain in a Group B game. The scene that greeted us upon arrival had to been seen to be believed, as the town was taken over by an estimated 35,000 Irish fans, mostly wearing green. Most of them drinking. Most of them singing, the songs cracking me up...We all dream of a team of Gary Breens (to the tune of Yellow Submarine) and The twelve days of Christmas Paul McGrath.
The PGE Arena Gdańsk, previously called the Baltic Arena, is the home stadium of Lechia Gdańsk. The “White-green” relocated there from their former MOSiR Stadium.
The Stadium is located in the northern part of the city and it has a capacity of 43,615. The trains that run to the ground were absolutely rammed.
Construction of the stadium started in 2008 and was completed mid 2011. The opening match was between Lechia Gdańsk and Cracovia and ended with a 1-1 draw. The first international match, between Poland and Germany, took place on 6 September 2011 and ended 2-2.
The Stadium is located in the northern part of the city and it has a capacity of 43,615. The trains that run to the ground were absolutely rammed.
Construction of the stadium started in 2008 and was completed mid 2011. The opening match was between Lechia Gdańsk and Cracovia and ended with a 1-1 draw. The first international match, between Poland and Germany, took place on 6 September 2011 and ended 2-2.
 |
| Oh Giovanni! |
Unlikely as at seemed, the Irish needed some sort of result.
When the starting line ups were announced I just couldn't see this happening. In fact I did pose the question "How on earth did Ireland qualify?"
Fernando Torres scored twice as Spain knocked Republic of Ireland out of Euro 2012 with a very comfortable victory. Torres' powerful drive from inside the box opened the scoring after four minutes then a David Silva effort just after the restart doubled the advantage.
Torres poked in a third after a quick break and substitute Cesc Fabregas drove in a fourth. That emphasised the difference in resources. Spain's substitute was Fabregas, Ireland's was Paul Green.
To their credit the Irish still back their team and during the last 10 minutes of the game gave a fantastic rendition of 'The Fields of Athenry' even as a non-Irishman it made the hairs on your neck stand up.
We managed to catch the midnight train to Poznan (cue Gladys Knight) where a long journey back was made longer by some drunken gobshite sat next to me. At least it ensured we didn't miss our stop at 3.30am!!
* This was the attendance that was 'flashed' on the screens at the ground. Media are reporting the attendance as 35,572. Again there was, apart from the VIP area, not an empty seat in the ground.
