So close but so far. Republic of Ireland finished empty handed an autumn of so much hope and promise, during which time displayed spirited performances against both the current world champion and world cup finalist France. But for all Ireland’s highs in the games facing the Italians and Domenech‘s side, the sense of failure is even more acute and frustrating for Trapattoni’s men. In football and in life there is a very fine line between succeeding and not. And the devil is in the detail.
[ It happened in just 12 seconds, on the 17th of November '93... It was 1-1 in Paris, in the last minute of the qualifiers for US World Cup, with France needing just that draw. But from Ginola's boot to Kostadinov's shot the history was rewriten: 2-1 for Bulgaria, who ended up playing a World Cup semifinal against Italy in United States. Please notice that the visitors wore white shirts and green shorts, as was Ireland's choice on wednesday. So what stopped than Ireland from making it 2-1 even in the 120th minute? ]
Against Italy, on Croke Park, Ireland was so close to a famous victory yet Gilardino cancelled in the dying moments Sean St. Ledger’s 87th minute strike. The sense of a lost opportunity beamed in the otherwise smiling Irish eyes. A few days later, in what Ireland imagined to be a final push for the first place and automatic qualification if that St. Ledger goal would have been the last in the top of the table game in Dublin, Montenegro frustrated the Croke Park faithful even further: 0-0. It was Ireland’s third consecutive home draw in World Cup qualifiers and another build up to that sense of near miss. In other words, even if Italy would have failed to beat Cyprus in the peninsula, Ireland wouldn’t have made it to South Africa due to its draw against the ex-Yugoslav minnows…
What not many envisaged at the start of the campaign, was though achieved. Ireland was still in it, with a chance to make it to the FIFA 2010 World Cup. A performance in itself, judging by the poor results in the previous qualifiers, miserably wasted on the desired way to Austria and Switzerland.
Between Ireland and a winter trip to Africa came across the hand of destiny. France, 1998 Coupe du Monde winner and 2006 World Cup finalist, was drawn in the play-offs as a seeded team versus the Irish. And Croke Park was once again the venue of a spirited but once again short changed Irish display. St. Ledger’s body and the post have deflected Anelka’s shot into Given’s net: 0-1.
The Saturday first leg was another Irish missed opportunity to impose its authority, to take a shaky Goliath of the game by the scruff of the neck. The frustration spilled over in the media, about alleged loose words sneaked by Lassana Diarra towards Keith Andrews at the final whistle. The game was over, the talk was done in the grass with a 1-0 for the favourites and the scrumage at the end of 90 minutes just poised the return leg even further.
In Paris, it was captain’s Robbie Keane honour to put the record straight: the French were superior in Dublin but the tie wasn’t over yet… 1-1 on aggregate. Without Abidal and Escude, his substitute who was unfortunately injured by fellow defender Evra in the opening minutes, the World Cup finalist was more vulnerable by the minute.
Yet Ireland didn’t capitalize on this advantage. Ireland didn’t sent the tie to sleep with a second goal and it’s an unwritten football law that missed chances are coming back to haunt you. O’Shea, Duff and Keane, who have passed even the brave goalkeeper Lloris but apparently wanted to majestically enter with the ball in the net, couldn’t find the target after nicely crafted attacks and the boumerang mercilessly stroke in extra-time.
It was all about an offside. As it happened many times in football, in more or less poised encounters, with a lot or less at stake, the offside rule and its interpretation complicated the affair and sparked controversy. It’s what happened on wednesday evening in Paris, after 11 o’clock. Two French players were offside in a deadball situation but the Swedish assistant referee failed to signal the irregularity and the rest became big time history.
It’s the assistant linesman and his glued flag that failed the Swedish referee in charge of the affairs. Once the offside promptly signaled, the following motion would have became irrelevant. In this light has to be perceived the human error that let Henry’s handballs and Gallas equalizer stand. Without this goal, France and Ireland would have probably gone neck in neck to the purgatory of penalty shoot outs, having to eradicate their demons and worst nightmares.
The French have lost a World Cup final on penalty shootouts, in Berlin, in 2006, while the Irish came off the stage at their last World Cup presence by being beaten from the spot by Spain, in Asia, in 2002. Who would have won? Guess what… There is a 50% chance for France to have won it from the penalty spot.
Fact of the matter is that with or without assistant referee’s error to fail to spot the offside that lead to Henry’s infamous two handball and the undeserved French equaliser, Ireland was always only one goal away from qualifying to South Africa. Let’s remember that a 1-0 for Ireland just cancelled the fine French win in Dublin and only a second goal would have insured the islanders’ passage.
And from Robbie Keane’s leisurely miss in an one on one with the goalkeeper stems all the real frustration of the night that should have been but never unfolded. Created opportunities are to be converted. Narrow misses end in bitter failure. A 2-0 for Ireland in the 76th minute would have been fully deserved for the visitors and appropriate to the balance of forces in Paris yet the captain delayed the outcome and let the qualification at the hand of destiny.
It was one Swedish’s inert hand and one Frenchman’s cheeky opportunism which decided it. The Irish were too dejected to react with a second goal which was earlier in many’s boots. But from one of many unspotted offsides which altered results to a character assasination of a well passed captain and a public outcry on the supposed injustice of the game, there’s a long way. Life is unfair and football remains just a game, at times cruel in the extreme but predicating the very essence of human imperfection.
Do we really want video evidence? Can’t we wait for the pilot scheme tested in UEFA Europa League involving penalty area assistant referees, the brain child of a… Frenchman, to see its worth, benefits and real merits? The push for some rule changes seems near yet until then there are times when graciously and dignifyingly accepting any kind of defeat will draw more plaudits than any seemingly righteous but frustrated outcry. The goal that should have not stand was for all to see and the very implacability of referee’s refusal to ask his assistant was more than enough evidence.
There’s always another morning… France was announced today as top seed for UEFA 2012 European Championship qualifiers, while Ireland is in the third tier of nine nations, with the draw to be made on the 7th of February 2010 in Warsaw. With a bit of change of fortune, the Irish luck might send back Trapattoni to Paris and the French to Lansdowne Road. That wished replay can wait for a potential proper plotted revenge…
