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Sports
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Written by Dennis Mbidde
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Sunday, 22 November 2009 17:34 |
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With all the 32 teams for next year’s World Cup confirmed, what’s left is to review the ‘what ifs’ of the marathon qualification campaign.
What if Tunisia didn’t underestimate Mozambique? What if Russians hadn’t lost their cool against paperweight Slovenia? What if Egypt had taken its chances against Algeria? However, the biggest question – mainly in the xenophobic British media is what if Thierry Henry hadn’t handled the ball that led to France’s winner in the playoff against Ireland?
A scroll through all the leading British online sports sites revealed a unanimous witch-hunt against Henry and the Les Bleus, the Daily Mail going as far as attracting readers to insult him.
Truth is France was pathetic and has been so ever since the departure of all but one of the golden era nurtured from 1996-2006. That lone figure is of course Henry and it’s no surprise leading French sports daily L’equipe declared him the ‘last French hope.’
I’m a huge French fan but for a moment in that match, I was praying Ireland win so that the French go back to the drawing board the same way they did after missing out at the 1994 World Cup.
But such is football these days that it is all about winning at all costs – that’s why however unfairly Henry’s effort robbed the Irish, I’m not party to the notion that the game should be replayed. Neither is Henry a cheat. Put yourself in his shoes to understand the magnitude of the moment.
In all, the trend of gamesmanship is on the rise the world over since the turn of the millennium. Stars such as Cristiano Ronaldo get away with dives on a regular basis under the vague pretext of protection. Lionel Messi too is a culprit but one group of players you will hardly read about are the English players – Wayne Rooney in particular. When they cheat they are clever but when a foreigner like Eduardo does the same, he’s a cheat.
Just put England in France’s position and imagine Rooney doing the same thing; I’m sure the British press would have hailed him, the same way they did when he dived for Man United to end Arsenal’s 49-game unbeaten run. The undertones in the aftermath were that Rooney had helped bring back sanity to the Premier League which had been under the rule of Arsenal’s French mercenaries.
In fact, save for the Arsenal ‘Invincibles’ of 2004 and the all-conquering Chelsea of 2005, recent Premier League title are won by the team that’s gets away with robberies most.
When I analyze all this, it’s easy to realize that little separates the British press and their national team – they both put their hearts before their brains when dealing with matters of tension.
Roy Keane said it best that Ireland themselves didn’t deserve to qualify because were also gifted a non-existent penalty against Georgia in the group stages.
At the end of the day, who will remember after five years that Ireland were robbed? How many of you remember that Italy robbed Australia at 2006 World Cup Second round when they scored a dubious penalty with the last kick of the game?
In all, I somehow foresaw such an anticlimax and it’s no surprise the biggest winner will be FIFA.
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