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FT: Man City 3-2 Sporting (3-3 agg) – Sporting advance on away goals
Right, that’s it from me. Thanks, as always, for your comments, and for reading.
Here’s one more chance to see that dramatic last-minute Joe Hart chance:
Mancini calls the game “strange,” and says they “didn’t play as a team in the second half”. He says he was “disappointed” with Balotelli for conceding the free kick that led to the first goal, but says it’s “not Mario’s fault”.
All in all, it has been a spirited but error-strewn display from City. Individual errors have ultimately cost them dearly.
Sporting, meanwhile, will breathe a sigh of relief, after their plan to park the bus in the second half backfired somewhat.
Joe Hart admits to ESPN that he thought his chance at the end was in, and blames City’s loss on their below-par first half performance.
Asked whether he should’ve kept the first goal out, he evades the question somewhat, saying: “I wanted to keep it out.”
Incredible stuff at the end – Joe Hart was up from a corner and headed it a mere inch or two wide.
Sergio Aguero has been given the man-of-the-match award. But it looks like it’ll only be a consolation for City.
The number of Sporting players who have gone down ‘injured’ in the last few minutes is quite alarming.
Aguero scores from close range, after a City corner is headed on by Savic. Game on!
Pereirinha falls to the ground dramatically after being fouled, and Nigel De Jong tries to pick him up off his feet. “Pathetic,” is the verdict of Craig Burley, who considers him to be play acting.
Balotelli confidently slots it into the corner, after Neto tripped Aguero. It was definitely a foul, but whether it was inside or outside the area is debatable.
Sporting invariably have every player in their own half whenever City are attacking. And with less than 20 minutes remaining, City now need a miracle to advance.
City substitution: Nasri has replaced Silva, who has been carrying an injury lately.
Here’s another look at that Fernandez goal from earlier:
Kolarov’s free kick fails to trouble Patricio.
I wouldn’t write City off entirely just yet.
Great through ball from Toure to find an unmarked Aguero, who confidently smashes it into the corner of the net. One down, three to go.
A last-ditch tackle from Savic prevents Capel from bursting through on goal. City are still looking vulnerable on the counter-attack.
As I said…
Nigel De Jong has replaced Adam Johnson for this second half. Hardly the most positive substitution from Mancini.
“City are going to go out against a team in a Mickey Mouse league,” according to ESPN’s Robbie Savage. A bit harsh, surely.
This is quite a bizarre result, considering how comfortably Man City beat Porto, but Mancini’s side have played relatively poorly over the course of this game, perhaps suffering from a lack of confidence in light of their loss to Swansea at the weekend. They have failed to really catch fire in attack, in addition to committing some sloppy errors at the back, which have been punished by Sporting’s highly effective counter-attack.
Van Wolfswinkel taps into the empty net after a cross from a conspicuously unmarked Izmailov. City now need to score four in order to advance to the next round.
Following the goal, Mancini pointed his finger accusingly at Balotelli, after the Italian gave away a cheap free kick in the lead up. I’d like to imagine he replied: “Why always me?”.
Joe Hart can only parry a stunning Fernandez free kick into the net. 1-0 to Sporting.
Controversial. Fernandez is booked for diving inside the City box, but replays show there was contact, even if the Chilean did exaggerate his fall.
Chance for Balotelli, courtesy of a great through ball from Aguero, but he takes too much time to shoot, consequently allowing the defender to make a recovery tackle. The Italian then petulantly boots the ball away in frustration after it has gone out of play.
City have started brightly, playing the majority of the game in the opposition’s half, without really testing their goalkeeper yet.
Here’s at least partially what caused the problem with those fans earlier (Dave Thompson/PA Wire/Press Association Images):
There seems to be a bit of trouble in the area of the stadium where the 1,000 or so Sporting supporters are congregated. City stewards have moved in seemingly to keep an eye on things. Watch this space…
Here are the line-ups for this evening’s game:
Man City: Hart, Richards, Toure, Savic, Kolarov, Pizarro, Toure Yaya, Johnson, Silva, Balotelli, Aguero. Subs: Pantilimon, Milner, Dzeko, Nasri, Clichy, De Jong, Roman.
Sporting: Rui Patricio, Daniel Carrico, Xandao, Anderson Polga, Insua, Bruno Pereirinha, Fernandez, Schaars, Diego Capel, Izmailov, van Wolfswinkel. Subs: Marcelo, Evaldo, Jeffren, Carrillo, Andre Santos, Neto, Rubio.
Not a bad weekend for Irish sport!
Not a bad w/e !! Been a fantastic Ireland 6 Nations champions, Liverpool beating Man U. And then cricketers winning whoooooHoooo
Liverpool and Man Utd are Irish?
And Dublin lost and Meath won in the football.
Ireland never lost a game on St.Patrick day.. What a win !!
Zimbabwe were still the seeded team in the group so it’s a great start to the tournament. Should put Holland and UAE away now to get through to the next stage!
Should never have come down to tje final ball but what a great start. Thrilling cricket
We love winning Cricket matches on Patrick’s Day. Always drama vs Zimbabwe. Remember last ball game in 2007 for a tie.
Ger , I backed them in Cheltenham that year.Corals said I was the only one to have a bet on them so they gave me the 6/4 for the tie
Those previous performances were in the 50-over version of the game. It’s quite different from T20, which is just all-out attack.
And then the article changes and my comment made no sense…
I won snakes and ladders this morning
I won a game of tidlywinks
…and we’re proud of both of you too.
Matt, that means so much to me!
Cricket … Rugby …… We have finally become the Europeans we were meant to be!!!!!!!
Not so much of a “surprise”. After all, Ireland are ranked ahead of Zimbabwe in T20 cricket.
It was a surprise to the 4 million of us who didn’t know until now!
This is certainly Ireland’s Sporting Weekend…well done…
The bandwagon will be departing shortly from platform 5. Could anyone with minimal knowledge of cricket, a large leprechaun hat, and a confused sense of patriotism please make their way immediately to platform 5. Thank you.
Did u enjoy the rugby?
Last bus to Bah-humbug leaves BusAras at 3pm – be on it.
Jesus,I hope I’m not sitting beside you. Anyone want to swap seats?
Silent,did Ireland score many touchdowns in the cricket today versus the African Tigers?
Does the journal have access to a murray kinsella of the cricket world who can do some explainer pieces on the different formats of cricket and what everything means? Would love to get excited about what the lads are doing but the vasy majority of the article went completely over my head! !!
Hi Barry,
An explainer of sorts went up on the site this morning. Here’s a link to it: http://jrnl.ie/1366631
Well done, Ireland. Great way to celebrate Saint Patrick’s Day!
There was a few minutes there where I thought we were once again going to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory, hope we learn from this and make it more difficult to lose wickets.
Great result can push on and take the UAE and the Dutch. The dutch would usually quite strong. But I wonder how the controversy is effecting their squad. If we get to the super 10s I think we are in the tougher group, Aussies, Indies, India, Pakistan. I think we will struggle to get a win there, but the indies are there for the taking with a bit of luck.
If we can get the two more wins and top the group we will go through to the Super 10′s in Group 1 with the following teams and the following fixtures
Group 1
March 24th v Sri Lanka – Chittagong 1.30pm Irish Time
March 27th v South Africa – Chittagong 9.30am Irish Time
March 29th v New Zealand – Chittagong 9.30am Irish Time
March 31st v England – Chittagong 9.30am Irish Time
http://www.cricketireland.ie/news/article/icc-world-twenty20-preview-by-ger-siggins
#COYBIG