{"id":1097,"date":"2025-11-14T20:23:02","date_gmt":"2025-11-14T20:23:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/outdoorthrill.cfd\/?p=1097"},"modified":"2025-11-14T20:23:02","modified_gmt":"2025-11-14T20:23:02","slug":"republic-of-ireland-2-0-portugal-irish-ignite-world-cup-dream-as-cristiano-ronaldo-sent-off","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/outdoorthrill.cfd\/?p=1097","title":{"rendered":"Republic of Ireland 2-0 Portugal: Irish ignite World Cup dream as Cristiano Ronaldo sent off"},"content":{"rendered":"


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On the day Cristiano Ronaldo came to Dublin, it was the Republic of Ireland’s number seven who stole the show and reignited World Cup dreams.<\/b><\/p>\n

Ronaldo will still lead the headlines after the first international red card of his career, but, make no mistake, the night belonged to Troy Parrott as he fired the Irish to a famous 2-0 win.<\/p>\n

In a 90 minutes few saw coming, their respective departures from the pitch could not have been more stark.<\/p>\n

Ronaldo, subdued as ever after mocking tears, sarcastic applause for the fans and some choice words for Irish boss Heimir Hallgrimsson, was jeered and booed as he finally made his way off the field. The “good boy” tag, external<\/span><\/a> had only lasted an hour.<\/p>\n

The noise was just as loud for Parrott, but the Irish striker was given a standing ovation as he was substituted less than 10 minutes later. His work was done, and he had helped his country to one of the biggest and most important wins in recent history.<\/p>\n

Two months ago, the Republic of Ireland’s World Cup hopes were in tatters after a shock defeat in Armenia. In fact, defeat by Portugal would have ended any lingering ambitions on the spot.<\/p>\n

But now, their dreams of securing a play-off is in their own hands. <\/p>\n

If Hallgrimsson’s side win in Hungary on Sunday they will be two games away from the finals in North America next summer.<\/p>\n

A draw or defeat, however, and Thursday’s win over Portugal will just be a thrilling footnote in history.<\/p>\n

“We’ve given ourselves a chance. Sunday is massive for the country and these players,” said former Irish goalkeeper Shay Given on RTE.<\/p>\n

“This is one step in the right direction, now can they back it up on Sunday with a win, which they need.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n


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On the day Cristiano Ronaldo came to Dublin, it was the Republic of Ireland’s number seven who stole the show and reignited World Cup dreams. Ronaldo will still lead the headlines after the first international red card of his career, but, make no mistake, the night belonged to Troy Parrott as he fired the Irish<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1098,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1097","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-football"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/outdoorthrill.cfd\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1097","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/outdoorthrill.cfd\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/outdoorthrill.cfd\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/outdoorthrill.cfd\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/outdoorthrill.cfd\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1097"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/outdoorthrill.cfd\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1097\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/outdoorthrill.cfd\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1098"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/outdoorthrill.cfd\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1097"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/outdoorthrill.cfd\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1097"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/outdoorthrill.cfd\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1097"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}