Woe unto the Irish but the conventional wisdom- wisdom honed through years of bonehead mistakes or missed calls that have melded us all together through the shared experience of gut wrenching pain- would say they had their chances, and yes, even officiating mistakes are something you expose yourself to if you do not convert your chances. And the Irish, after Robbie Keane’s opener in the 33rd minute, failed to do just that in the second half, with several glorious opportunities wasted; before bowing out in the 55th minute, John O’Shea lashed one well over the bar that he should have tucked under within a wide stretch of open net; there was Doyle’s inability to convert a brilliant ball from Keane; amidst Keane’s own failures in the 2nd, none stand out more than when he beat the diving French keeper only to run the ball over the touchline to the left of the post. Why no shot before or after?! Bah, too bad Ireland, you had your shot. This is football after all.
And hey that officiating was pretty stellar for 103 minutes, so why complain? Anelka’s clear dive in the area hardly drew any concern- or a card- by Swedish official Martin Hansson, the cards were evenly distributed, and Diarra was finally- after fouling Keane continuously through two matches- booked in the 79th minute.
Of course, rather than keep quiet, the soccer world is right to voice its collective angst, since who can stomach a mistress at a wedding? And this is the world’s biggest sporting event we’re talking about, so why let it be marred? France simply doesn’t deserve to be there. Do we continue the sad course of accepting titantic blunders simply because they were let go in the past? Will the pantheon rise up and strike us down if we do otherwise?! Certainly, there’s Article 5, but FIFA also has the discretion to consider a replay for a match whose conclusion has drawn the ire of the entire world. Could FIFA be so sagacious as to weigh the match officials’ ineptitude in the same manner as they did an erroneous call in ’06 World Cup qualification that allowed a match between Uzbekistan and Bahrain to be replayed? Why not, since Hansson failed to consult his linesmen after-if we should believe the villain- Henry admitted his foul.
Certainly, Article 5 of FIFA’s rules governing the game flatly states, in a manner as terse as their denial today to the Irish FA’s request for a replay, that the referee has all authority in match decisions and such decisions are final. But on top of the obvious use of cheating to produce a result, there’s also the backdrop of FIFA’s insidious use of seeding for the European qualifying playoffs- a decision made at the last minute only when it was clear several big name teams were threatened- which, taken with the double hand ball, calls into question all the blattering about fair play and the integrity of the game by FIFA’s top officials. But hey, smile on you crazy diamond, because this is football. Instant replay, technology- that’s crazy talk! Don’t worry about Ronaldo reproducing his antics from World Cup ’06 or someone doing an even better job of emulating Maradona, since that’s football too. That is unless the game’s governing body saves it and The World Cup from disgrace.
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