Penalty travesty deals a blow to Northern Ireland
THIS was the moment that seriously damaged Northern Ireland’s chances of reaching a first World Cup finals since 1986. Switzerland won the first leg of their play-off with a 58th-minute penalty after Corry Evans was controversially ruled to have handled Xherdan Shaqiri’s volley, even though he had turned away from it. Furious manager Michael O’Neill called referee Ovidiu Hategan’s decision ‘staggering’.
Look, on a scale of one to Thierry Henry it wasn’t the worst injustice we have ever seen in a World Cup qualifier. The best team won and there is still 90 minutes of football to go. Northern Ireland at least live to fight another day. But the penalty that leaves them with a small Matterhorn to climb in Switzerland was still a travesty.
Michael o’Neill’s team might not have deserved victory, but they did not deserve this: an impulsive call by referee ovidiu Hategan from Romania that penalised Corry Evans for flinching in the face of a powerful shot by Xherdan Shaqiri, turning his back on the ball which hit him high and from close range.
Evans did not move his arm towards it, indeed it is doubtful he even saw it coming. It struck him on his upper arm at best, although mainly his back and shoulder, and with little chance to get entirely out of the way.
We cannot even argue with any great conviction that we have seen them given, because most referees are smarter than that. They know when a man is trying to gain advantage and when he is a victim of pure accident.
Players know, too. There were no appeals from the Swiss players, meaning Northern Ireland’s were astonished when Hategan pointed to the spot.
That he booked Evans, who will miss the return leg in Basle, merely added insult to injury. If only it was his first blunder of the night. If anything, what happened after five minutes had as much effect on Northern Ireland’s fortunes and the game. Fabian Schar, Switzerland’s centre half, should have gone, simple as that. His tackle on Stuart Dallas was not just cynically brutal, it was reckless and may well have contributed to the injury that forced him from the game.
Schar knew exactly what he was doing as he sent Dallas flying. He knew the space the Leeds man would be attacking had he not made that challenge, he knew the danger he presented and he knew he would not just trip him but administer a ferocious hit. It was a calculated assault.
Dallas soldiered on to the 52nd minute before succumbing to his injuries and was replaced by Jamie Ward. As he was Northern Ireland’s best counter-attacking outlet it was a significant loss.
Reshoot the 90 minutes with Switzerland down to 10 men for 85 of them and who knows how this would have ended up?
Instead, Hategan allowed Dallas to as good as be kicked out of the game and then gave a horribly cheap penalty to the visitors. And Switzerland are too good to need a helping hand.
So Ricardo Rodriguez stepped up, stuttered his run in the modern style, sent Northern Ireland goalkeeper Michael McGovern the wrong way and finished expertly into the corner.
No one can argue that Switzerland were not worth their win overall, but it was a pity to see it achieved through injustice.
Seeing the difference between the teams here, it will be desperately difficult to overturn even such a slender disadvantage on Sunday.
Switzerland have a class that Northern Ireland lack; they are the sum of some very well- oiled parts, rather than a team that surpass expectations almost every time they play, like o’Neill’s men.
Having absorbed Switzerland’s pressure for most of the game, once stung by the penalty after 58 minutes, Northern Ireland enjoyed their best spell. They are a spirited bunch, have no doubt of that, and Switzerland would be foolish to think them entirely incapable of springing a surprise.
But it will be mightily hard. Even with their tails up, Northern Ireland found Switzerland very hard to break down. In the 71st minute, a Chris Brunt free-kick found Josh Magennis, but he steered his header wide of goal.
That aside, they were largely kept at arm’s length. They did not muster a shot on target for the first time since playing Poland at the 2016 European Championship.
There were a couple of fanciful appeals for penalties, but Hategan was in no mood to balance out his poor judgements and if Northern Ireland are to reach Russia, they will have to do it the hard way. No team has ever made it through the World Cup qualifiers having lost the first leg at home. It was the biggest match in Belfast in 36 years — since Northern Ireland qualified for the World Cup at Windsor Park in 1981 — and the fear on such occasions is always that players will freeze.
If o’Neill had any concerns, they were unnecessary. Switzerland may have been superior technically, but this is a team that has consistently punched above its weight for close on four years.
Switzerland were the better team, but most heartening was Northern Ireland’s resistance. Not just at the back, where Jonny Evans was outstanding, but through the counter-attacking impetus of Dallas on the left. He took a fearful battering from Stephan Lichtsteiner, too, but came back for more as many times as his body would allow.
once the game settled down, Switzerland’s class started to show. This team won all bar one of their group qualifying games — away to European champions Portugal — and were only eliminated from the last World Cup by Argentina, in a very close match.
Where Northern Ireland have players from Millwall and Blackburn Rovers, Switzerland take from Juventus, AC Milan, Arsenal and Benfica. Yet the home side reduced the Swiss, mainly, to efforts from range.
In the 10th minute, a shot from Blerim Dzemaili was blocked bravely by Jonny Evans, his nose taking the impact and leaking blood as a result. The ball fell to Granit Xhaka whose shot from outside the area flew over the bar. Two minutes later, a rerun. Xhaka tried again, with the same result.
Switzerland’s best chance of the first half was made by their most
dangerous player, Shaqiri. His lovely pass found Haris Seferovic, who was thwarted by McGovern at full stretch. The second half started with Shaqiri offering a curling shot after 46 seconds.
If he hits form once more on Sunday, Switzerland should not require the assistance of any outside agencies.