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The Republic of Ireland fell to a surprising 1-0 loss to the Luxembourg Minnows on Saturday in their 2022 World Cup qualifier in Dublin.
Dynamo Kiev midfielder Gerson Rodrigues condemned the Irish to their second loss in as many Group A games with a superb long-range effort with five minutes remaining.
“It was a horrible and shameful night,” Ireland’s captain Seamus Coleman told the BBC.
“We got what we deserved, which was nothing. I don’t think we demanded the ball enough and we looked to take them down as fast as we could.”
Ireland is last in the group with zero points, four behind leaders Serbia and Portugal, who drew 2-2 in Belgrade.
Meanwhile, Luxembourg is one point behind the two leading teams after a rare World Cup qualifying victory for the small country.
The victory at Aviva Stadium came thanks to the clever play of 25-year-old Rodrigues, who lunged into a knockdown to score his sixth international goal.
Luxembourg has never qualified for a major tournament and has little chance of exiting Group G of five teams and advancing to next year’s finals in Qatar.
However, despite coming from a country with a smaller population than many European provincial cities, Luc Holtz’s side inflicted a humiliating defeat on Ireland.
Stephen Kenny is still looking for his first win as Ireland’s boss, with his streak of games without a win since taking office last year now at 10.
Their next chance will come on Tuesday when Ireland take on World Cup hosts Qatar in a friendly in the Hungarian city of Debrecen.
Results:
Group A
In Belgrade
Serbia 2 (A. Mitrovic 46, Kostic 60) Portugal 2 (Diogo Jota 11, 36)
In dublin
Republic of Ireland 0 Luxembourg 1 (Rodrigues 85)
Group E
In prague
Czech Republic 1 (Provod 50) Belgium 1 (Lukaku 60)
In Minsk
Belarus 4 (Lisakovich 45-pen, 83, Kendysh 64, Savitski 81) Estonia 2 (Henri Anier 31, 55)
Group G
In Amsterdam
Netherlands 2 (Berghuis 32, L. de Jong 69) Latvia 0
In Malaga, Spain
Norway 0 Turkey 3 (Ozan Tufan 4, 59, Caglar Soyuncu 28)
In Podgorica
Montenegro 4 (Beciraj 25, Simic 43, Tomasevic 53, Jovetic 80) Gibraltar 1 (Styche 30-pen)
Group H
In Trnava, Slovakia
Slovakia 2 (Strelec 49, Skriniar 53) Malta 2 (Gambin 16, Satariano 20)
In Rijeka, Croatia
Croatia 1 (Pasalic 40) Cyprus 0
In Sochi, Russia
Russia 2 (Dzyuba 26, 35) Slovenia 1 (Ilicic 36)
