It was stonewall, wasn’t it?
If kicking someone in the head is a foul outside the penalty area then it should be a foul inside the penalty area and, therefore, a spot kick should have been awarded to Ireland at the very start of the second half of their defeat to Belgium on Saturday.
Shane Long’a yapılan bu harekette İrlanda penaltı bekledi, Cüneyt Çakır devam ettirdi. #IRL #EURO2016 pic.twitter.com/6vj0lpGsvD
— Fanatik Video (@VideoFanatik) June 18, 2016
Exacerbating the fact that Ireland weren’t given the chance to open the scoring from 12 yards is the fact that, literally seconds later, Belgium did so from 18 as they broke at speed before Romelu Lukaku found the back of the net.
Obviously if Ireland had converted the penalty that never was, the game could well have turned out differently as Belgium’s backs would have been up against the wall given their defeat to Italy earlier in the week.
Manager Martin O’Neill claimed he hadn’t seen a replay of the incident but added that his players were convinced that the referee should have pointed to the spot and, to be fair to him, O’Neill conceded that the better team won on the day.
“It’s been mentioned to me and the players are pretty adamant about it,” said O’Neill. “They thought it was a penalty, so that is doubly disappointing if they have broken against us and scored straight after it wasn’t given.
“Naturally it would have changed the course of the game if we had been given a penalty and scored, but we have been beaten by the better team.”
Ireland remain in a position where, to be in with a chance of qualifying for the knockout stages, they must get a win over Italy who are likely to finish as group winners.
The final Group E fixtures take place on Wednesday and O’Neill is in no doubt about what his side needs to accomplish.
“I’m not responsible for anything that Italy might think or do. I don’t know,” he said. “They are going to finish top regardless now, I believe. We have to win the game. That can be our only thought.
“We must go and win it. There was talk before the tournament that if you went unbeaten and had three points then it would be enough. That is gone now. We have to win a game and we will throw absolutely everything in to it.”
