Ireland 0 - 2 Benin (286195881)

Clear skies welcomed the 15806 spectators who had made their way to El Olivar Arena. Gjallim Puka was the appointed referee with assistance provided by Gaetano Gaetano and Dougie Ormeroyd. U-20 Ireland decided to use a 3-5-2 set up. The following players had been chosen: O'Neill - Dolan, Murray, Glen - Macken, Flynn, Noone, Barr, Lenehan - Bermingham, Murphy.

U-20 Benin had chosen a strategic 4-4-2 formation. Starters: Amoussou - Moussoro, Ogunbiyi, Agnidé, D'Jaffo - Osho, Wassiou, Tchomogo, Kabirou - Gaspoz, Amoussou.

U-20 Benin tried to focus their attacks down the middle. U-20 Ireland's defence sent a ball soaring up the middle on a beautiful counterattack with 10 minutes gone, but L. Murphy's finish was met by the reaching hands of the keeper. U-20 Benin took the lead after 27 minutes making the score 0 - 1. N. D'Jaffo placed the ball out of reach for the home side's keeper after a fine move, coming in from the left. C. Lenehan of U-20 Ireland was booked for kicking the ball away after the whistle. After 36 minutes, there was a bit of a mixup on the field as U-20 Benin found themselves out of position and their organisation level dropped to solid. After 37 minutes, an incisive pass through the middle gave C. Amoussou a chance to increase the lead for U-20 Benin, and he did not disappoint. The score was then 0 - 2. 42 minutes in, U-20 Benin's U. Moussoro received a yellow card for going into a challenge studs first. The teams went for the halftime break at 0 - 2. U-20 Benin claimed to have seen most of the ball, and the statistics agreed with them - possession being 90 percent.

The U-20 Benin players spent the break getting a rerun of the team's tactical organisation and regained a solid organisation when the game started again. After 46 minutes, U-20 Ireland switched J. Barr with C. Cox, hoping for a quick impact on the pitch. The bench was restless, and with 46 minutes passed U-20 Ireland's coach gave A. Rooney the opportunity the player had been hoping for. L. Murphy reluctantly left the field. Although the whole team were struggling to impress, U-20 Ireland's A. Macken was singled out as being the problem as he was called off the pitch after 46 minutes. S. Kildare was given a chance to change things around. 76 minutes into the match U-20 Benin's M. Tchomogo head butted an opponent nastily, and so the referee sent him off immediately. Due to a severely mistimed tackle, C. Lenehan of U-20 Ireland spent some time on the grass writhing in agony before he could get up and continue the game. After several obvious shirt pulling incidents, O. Agnidé got himself booked. The manager of U-20 Benin was not happy. The opposing supporters gave the referee an earful when he only gave L. Flynn from U-20 Ireland a yellow card after a mistimed challenge from behind 83 minutes into the game. That was far too lenient! 87 minutes into the game, U-20 Benin seemed a little tentative in their play as their organization fell to solid. 88 minutes into the game, U-20 Benin worked the left side industriously creating several opportunities to add to their lead, but just couldn't apply the finishing touch. U-20 Benin had most of the ball, with 88 percent of possession.

U-20 Ireland's top performer was clearly L. Bermingham. On the other hand, J. O'Neill's play was disheartening. Most important U-20 Benin player was C. Amoussou. C. Gaspoz turned in a dismal performance, however. The match ends 0 - 2.