O’NEILL’S BRAVE FEEL SHAFTED
Last-gasp goalline clearance ends Northern Ireland dream
JUST for a moment, time seemed to stand still. Swiss goalkeeper Yann Sommer rushed into a scrum of bodies to catch Chris Brunt’s cross but missed it and Jonny Evans headed towards an open goal.
We were in stoppage time at St Jakob-Park and the last throes of an absorbing play-off when Ricardo Rodriguez staggered backwards in the mud and just managed to hack the ball off his own line.
The moment was gone, the chance lost. Seconds later, German referee Felix Brych signalled the end of Northern Ireland’s World Cup dream. Manager Michael O’Neill stared dejectedly into empty space before stepping on to the pitch to embrace his captain Steven Davis.
The Southampton midfielder buried his face in a mud-spattered white shirt and let it all out. Some of his team-mates wept, too. They had given everything here, gone toe to toe with a team ranked 11th in the world
What hurt most was the knowledge that a penalty incorrectly given against Evans’s brother Corry in the first leg at Windsor Park on Thursday night and converted by Rodriguez proved the difference. While O’Neill labelled it cruel, midfielder Oliver Norwood was more blunt. ‘Shafted is the only word,’ he said. ‘I will think about the penalty decision for years to come, as it’s the only goal between the sides and it’s knocked us out. It’s disappointing that decision cost us a place in the World Cup. We are angered, upset and disappointed.’
O’Neill said: ‘There would be disappointment if we’d just lost, but there’s devastation because of the way we lost and the goal that decided it.
‘The cruelty is in the poorness of the penalty decision. We should still be playing extra time out there now. For some of these players it’s unlikely the World Cup will come around again.
‘Their performance was phenomenal. We continued to push and dream. As a manager, you can’t ask for more than what we got.’
O’Neill acknowledged that his team did not perform as well as they should have done in the first leg and that cannot be ignored when assessing the tie.
But their performance in rainswept Basle last night really couldn’t be faulted. They harried Switzerland and knocked them out of their stride on an awful pitch after a day of heavy rain.
Stuart Dallas played magnificently despite being on crutches 48 hours before kick- off after what O’Neill described as a ‘scandalous’ challenge by Fabian Schar in Belfast.
So, too, young George Saville on his full international debut. Gareth McAuley made the tackle of the night to block Steven Zuber’s shot at close range and goalkeeper Michael McGovern was outstanding again.
Aaron Hughes was brought back at the age of 38, passing Bobby Moore as the most capped defender in the history of the Home Nations with 109 appearances. O’Neill has never been afraid of making big calls in big games.
But cancelling out that controversial goal was always going to be the difficult part and Northern Ireland just couldn’t quite create enough clear chances to trouble Sommer.
The keeper produced a magnificent save within the first five minutes to tip over Brunt’s shot.
The West Bromwich defender also blasted a free kick high into the stands just before half time while Conor Washington headed just wide of an upright when Northern Ireland broke away in the 54th minute. You always felt as though that one big chance would still arrive and Sommer’s misjudgment presented it to Evans right at the death.
By then, Switzerland might argue that the tie should have been over anyway. But for the woeful finishing of Haris Seferovic, it would have been.
He glanced a header wide from the edge of the six-yard box early on and then wasted the chance of the game by spooning over the bar from 10 yards when unmarked.
McGovern also made smart saves from Switzerland danger man Xherdan Shaqiri and the excellent Zubar, but none of this was enough to take Northern Ireland to their first World Cup finals since 1986.
‘I haven’t even considered my future,’ said O’Neill. ‘Emotions are very high and I’ve told the players there is no need to make any rash decisions.
‘After five and a half years, this is a devastating moment. In terms of the character of my team, it’s a high point.’