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To The Irish On Saint Patrick’s Day
By: Gianni Truvianni
Today is Saint Patrick’s day and as I drink a Guinness, I also think of Ireland which has given us greats the likes of George Best and Oscar Wilde yet it also comes to mind how theirs was to be cheated out of their chance to qualify to the 2010 World Cup in South Africa. It taking place last November in Paris’s “Stade De France” where Ireland after having won 1-0 in regulation time to draw level with France, who had defeated them by the same score in Dublin; were forced to go in to overtime. It being then that they were cheated by a goal which gave the French a 2-1 victory and unjustly eliminated the Irish from what would have been their first world cup since 2002.
France’s winning goal literally coming at the hand of Henry, whose hand ball could not have been any clearer to all except the referee; who missed it along with the offside which preceded it on the same play. Of course as is often the case with incompetence in this world, it is this very referee who was awarded a chance to continue his lack of quality referring in the 2010 World Cup. This being the case since FIFA has seen fit to continue allowing this referee to practice his ineptitude.
As for Henry, it was once that I heard him say that he did not believe in cheating by diving in the penalty box in order to draw a penalty even when he had been slightly pushed though he apparently believes in another kind of deception. This making me think of Maradona’s hand of God yet at least that play did not include a clear offside like Henry’s game winning pass. All of which making it clear that FIFA would be wise to use video to settle such disputes and forget senseless arguments against it, such as tradition and that mistakes are made and always will be; for at the end of it all when a player is at fault that is an error yet when a referee does likewise it is not such but a miscarriage of justice. This being the case with Ireland, who out played the French in their regulation victory only to be robbed of what should have been their place in this year’s world cup in South Africa.
As for myself, I wish to pass on my best wishes to Ireland and their football team on this Saint Patrick’s day and may theirs be to return to the world cup; where they always provide their enthusiasm and quality play that in 94 saw them (much to my disappointment) defeat Italy by 1-0.
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