By Glenn Mason
Republic of Ireland captain Robbie Keane believes his side showed Brazil too much respect in the second half of their 2-0 defeat at the Emirates Stadium.
Keane was full of praise for the first half performance as Ireland held their illustrious opponents at bay for over 40 minutes until Keith Andrews deflected Robinho's cross into his own net for the opening goal.
The blow of conceding the goal on the stroke of half-time was compounded, as Robinho was offside in the build-up to the goal.
Brazil took advantage of Ireland's efforts to get an equaliser and attacked at will in the second half. Giovanni Trapattoni's team lost their shape and Robinho struck 15 minutes from time to seal the win, but the final margin could have been more than two.
Keane said: 'We dominated the game in the first half and were the better team. We passed the ball well and it was certainly a game of two halves.
'The second half they were the much better side. We can take a lot of positives from the first half.
'We are disappointed with the second half and the way we performed. The second half was no good to be honest. We dropped off too deep, gave them too much respect and let them pass the ball around.
'When you drop deep against these teams on a big pitch like that they are capable of doing that to you. They end up passing it through you and we can learn from that.'
Ireland must look on as other nations compete in South Africa this summer but Keane believes Ireland can learn lessons from their second half display as the European Championship qualifying campaign approaches.
He said: 'They [Brazil] are obviously world class players and every player they have is top class. Hopefully, we can use that experience for the next couple of games.
'You go into every game looking to win. It doesn’t matter whether you're playing world cup champions or anyone else.
'It is about getting confidence by winning games. It is nice to play against Brazil and players like that but it means nothing if you lose.'
The failure to spot Robinho's infringement is the second poor decision that Ireland have been on the end of in consecutive games following Thierry Henry's handball in the World Cup play-off game in Paris back in November.
However, Keane thinks Ireland's luck will change eventually.
'It was clearly offside', he said.
'It was one of those things just before half-time; it knocks the stuffing out of you.
'It is up to us to work hard and make sure that our luck changes.
'It is only in the last couple of games that it has been bad.'
