Let the spin begin.
We have taken the smooth from leading French newspaper L’Equipe so we must accept some of the rough.
The same outlet that has trumpeted the fun-loving actions of our supporters, and gave Robbie Brady 7/10 for his performance against Italy, has been looking back on some of our recent games to purge themselves of guilt.
In October 2009, Thierry Henry handled a bouncing ball twice before setting up a William Gallas goal that eventually knocked us out of the running for World Cup 2010.
We complained bitterly, there was talk of a replay, Sepp Blatter mocked our 33rd team suggestion and sorted a €5m pay-off to (temporarily) buy our acceptance.
Ahead of Ireland’s second round encounter with France, at Euro 2016, the local media have dipped back into that controversial story. There is a mix of revisited shame, defiance and worry that Ireland may use the handball to fire themselves up.
L’Equipe have pored through footage from previous Ireland games and found two moments of controversy, within the space of five seconds, that they are happy to share with the world.
25 minutes into Ireland’s Euro 2012 Qualifier with Armenia, Simon Cox controlled a long ball with his arm before attempting to lob goalkeeper Roman Berezovsky. His effort was stopped but Berezovsky was sent off after Ireland claimed he had handled outside the box.
The incident happened with the game tied at 0-0 after 25 minutes. Armenia held until the 42nd minute until Kevin Doyle opened the scoring for Ireland. Richard Dunne got a second but a 60th minute Armenia strike led to a nervy finish.
The 2-1 result secured Ireland a playoff spot and they destroyed Estonia over two legs to reach their first European Championship since 1988.
The paper runs two comments from Cox that it holds up against the complaints of the Irish players, and coach Giovanni Trapattoni, in 2009:
- “The ball came over my shoulder, I tried to control it.”
- “I don’ think the goalkeeper touched the ball with his hand.”
There you have it; conscience cleared.
In fairness to Cox, he did try to control the ball with his chest before it shot forward off his harm, and Berezovsky did have both arms fully outstretched and over his head as Cox attempted the lob. Cox got lucky but he hardly could be accused of cheating.
Wonder what they think in Armenia.
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