Le tricheur a gagné – mais, qu’il l’est a gagné?

Le tricheur a gagné – mais, qu’il l’est a gagné?

Tonight, I have witnessed an event which may be perceived as life-changing. I’ve watched my country and team, Ireland lose the World Cup 2010 playoff qualifier against France in the Stade de France. The two teams on show contrast each other in many ways. Ireland was the unseeded team for these playoffs, while France was seeded. Ireland was regarded as the underdogs while France was the fancied favourite. Ireland had a squad made up of players who are not the most technically gifted players, whereas the French team had an abundance of skilful, technically gifted players.

However, one team came out tonight to win the game, to play for themselves and for each other as a team, to play for their fans and for their country, to play for pride and to do so with passion. Ireland was that team. Against all the odds, Ireland went out and assembled a performance which was first class. From front to back, the players worked out of their skins throughout the 90 minutes of normal time. The shape system that Trapattoni has invested so much time into, with sheer resilience and confidence in its effectiveness, was proven tonight to have produced the best performances out of each player and to produce an industrious, yet excellently varied fluid passing team. For all the limits each player in the team possesses, the strengths of each player blossomed and bloomed tonight. The link between each key component of the 11 man team combined to produce the brilliant performance tonight. Don’t get me wrong – there were still mistakes, as is to be expected from humans. But regardless, this system, this approach to the game which has received so much criticism and against all the odds tonight, provided Irish minds and hearts with the pleasure that ‘we were the better team’.

For all the money the French players receive, for all the arrogance and swagger to their way of life, for all their reputations, careers, skilfulness – they were outplayed tonight and were made to look like the weaker of the two sets of players – players who were playing individually and not as a team. Their gameplay was full of mistakes. They kept over-hitting passes, under-hitting passes, mis-controlling the ball, taking one touch too many, being out-tackled and out-strengthened to many balls. In simple terms, the Irish players were on the whole first to the majority of 50-50 balls and when not in possession, worked in small pockets of two and three players to ensure the French players couldn’t make space.

All of these efforts were futile however. Granted, the Irish players were tiring by the minute, especially in extra time, yet they still played with heart and courage and passion. Their efforts were destroyed by a moment which will never be forgotten. A free-kick from around 40 yards out, hoisted into the box, where Henry was on hand (pun intended) to control the ball with his arm and then use his palm to guide the ball into the path of the on-rushing French striker who finished with ease. 1-1, in the 103rd minute of the game. Irish players protested in vain, that Thierry Henry had handled the ball in the box and that the goal should not be allowed. The match officials – the referee and his assistant, hadn’t seen this however. The goal stood. The game petered out, although Ireland kept plugging away for the rest of the game, while stretching themselves in the process in search of a winner. Game over. France qualifies for the World Cup. Ireland yet again are almost achievers.

However, what should any true believer in the game of football take away from the events tonight? The better team on paper have qualified and perhaps for viewing purposes the World Cup will be a much better sporting event because the big French stars will be playing at next year’s tournament. Most people will accept this to be the message and also accept this to be the correct result of the playoff fixture. But what matters to me is how the event was settled – through cheating. The goal that France scored tonight should not have stood. Thierry Henry cheated by handling the ball. What makes the issue worse is the fact he celebrated the goal, and celebrated after the game too.

In my opinion, money has, is and will continue to ruin the game of football, and for that matter will continue to ruin professional sports. The game tonight was not simply a battle to see which nation would qualify for next year’s World Cup; it was also a test to see whether or not the maximum revenue could be attained for next year’s World Cup. There is no doubt that FIFA and UEFA were hopeful of France qualifying. France will bring a lot more revenue to the World Cup than Ireland will, because they have the bigger stars, and they are perceived to play the better and prettier football – which is what spectators and viewers expect to see at the World Cup. FIFA and UEFA will accept the result tonight, because it is the result they wanted. They will not listen to public opinion on how the other team on the night has been severely cheated by allowing a goal that should never have been given. Whether or not the referee or his assistant did actually see the handball(s) or not is irrelevant. It happened. Furthermore those on the sideline, including the 4th match official saw what happened. Yes, there aren’t sufficient rules in football to deal with the fact that it shouldn’t have been a goal and that technology proves so, but this is not an acceptable argument. France cheated and have gotten away with it too and will go to the World Cup next year and that is that. FIFA and UEFA will make a statement no doubt, Blatter and Platini will accept that it was a mistake and should not have happened and efforts will be made to try and improve the rules of the game for future games.

But cheating will persist, because if cheating is successful, it simply breathes more cheating. I am not simply referring to the handball, but also time-wasting and diving, and all other forms of cheating. Money rules the sport and adds pressures to the game which makes people act in such a way in order to achieve and be successful. Money corrupts and has corrupted the football I watch, and the officials which are in charge of governing the game and overseeing the game. It will continue to do so.

But, I can walk away from the stadium tonight with a lump in my throat and a tear in my eye, knowing Ireland will not play at next year’s World Cup. I can sulk and moan all I want – nothing will happen. However, I can put my hand on my heart and hold my head up high, knowing that the Irish players and manager tonight have instilled faith and pride into the hearts of Irish people once again, and even though they have ultimately failed to succeed, they were the victors tonight in a football sense and in a humane sense. They were the ones to show the true values that we expect of professional sports people and athletes. They wore the shirt with pride, they worked their bollocks off for that shirt and they died for the shirt tonight. They may be down and out tonight, but they’ll do it again the next time, and they’ll continue to do it for the right reasons – for the game of football.

Right here goes....

Firstly I didnt see the game, but I have an opinion and watched the highlights.

Barcelona after 40 mins of the game had passed the ball to another of their players FOUR times as many times Chelsea had done so, and had 70% of the possession (or so my dad told me from the stats he saw).

Over the two legs, Barcelona showed why they are the best footballing team in the world at the moment, but failed to produce any clear cut chances, mainly due to the tactical acumen displayed by both players and manager of Chelsea. This is testament to the sheer strength and quality of the Chelsea team as a whole, and how extremely brilliant they are in defending.

However, Chelsea are the worst top 4 English team, when it comes to watching for a bit of entertainment. They play the most direct football out of the top 4 teams, and it isn't anything to admire.

I saw the highlights tonight.

The first shout for a penalty - Malouda -v- Alves, would probably have been given as a foul outside the box. Inside the box it is a different story and Malouda made the most of the incident, diving as if he was auditioning for the screenplay of Platoon. Whats that you say? How can there be different rules inside and outside the box? Well, if you watch football and understand football, you will understand that the ref will not blow up for stupid silly fouls as much when inside the box as he would anywhere on the pitch - that's just how the game goes my friends. If the ref was to blow up on every decision in the box, then the game (of football in general) would be awful.

The second shout for a penalty (Drogblack acting like the asshat he is) was never a penalty. He didnt have control of the ball, his last touch was too heavy, and as soon as he realised that the keeper was going to get the ball he went down. Go back to Cote d'Ivoire you absolute c*nt.

The third shout, was a penalty. Hard luck Chelsea - but hey Abidal's red card was NEVER a red card, and that was by far the worst refereeing decision of the game.

The fourth shout, Eto'o's 'handball' was not a handball. The ball struck him between the inside of his armpit, arm and chest, and that does not constitute as handball.

If Chelsea were any good, they'd have scored a second goal tonight against a Barcelona team that had ten men. But what's that? They couldn't get the ball and create any meaningful attack, and if they did, their strikers were not clinical enough?

If you control possession, you generally are more likely to win. In the case of both legs, Barcelona controlled the possession and tried to play football, the beautiful game, the beautiful way.

They took their ONE chance and they deserve to go through.

As for those who are talking crap about how Barcelona will struggle against United... well I'm afraid that it will be a completely different game to tonight. Man United are better than Chelsea everywhere on the pitch, but Man United's game style is different to Chelsea's and it will suit Barcelona to play against Man United. The battle in midfield will be electric, as both Man United and Barcelona thrive on possession.

How much will the absence of Abidal and Alves effect Barcelona (Marquez missing is not much of an issue, but only made so because both these players are missing)? I honestly don't know. Sylvinho is good enough at left back, but right back is a huge question mark. Of course this is where Manchester United will target as the weakness in the Barcelona team, and with Ronaldo on form it could be extremely difficult, but hey....

¡Força Barça!

Ireland -v- San Marino, 7th February 2007

Deep into stoppage time, a shock was looking likely at the Serravalle Stadium, as San Marino were on course towards a famous draw against Ireland. San Marino, a team made up of amateur footballers had only ever achieved two draws in competitive matches before and have only once been able to win a match, a friendly back in 2004 against fellow minnows Liechtenstein. Here they were drawing against Ireland, performing way above their depths and perhaps some of the players were already thinking about the story they would be telling their grandchildren.

Alas, that wasn't to be! Danish referee, Peter Rasmussen who among many others, must not have been satisfied by the Irish performance, allowed the game continue into the 5th minute of added on time, even though 4 minutes had been signalled by the fourth official. This was too much time for the brave San Marino defence, who had worked so hard to concede only one goal. A throw-in from the left, caused panic in the box as Robbie Keane latched onto the ball and sent a shot goalwards, only for it to be blocked and eventually fall to Stephen Ireland who bundled it over the line from close range. The clock read 94.30. The players (those that could bare to) celebrated. Steve Staunton's tenure as manager was prolonged.

The fallout from this match was not going to be pretty. To say the least, the reaction was timely and justfied. This was almost worse than the 5-2 loss to Cyprus. Nobody could argue about the performance or the nature of the result tonight. Right?...