PARIS — Ia adalah hukuman pusat membeli-kejam dan luar biasa dalam bola sepak, nasib yang memalukan kerana ia adalah emasculating. Matlamat sendiri — atau o.g., kerana ia sering direkodkan di dalam laporan perlawanan — adalah cukup kejam semasa perlawanan tetap pada hari biasa. Tapi dalam bekas seperti Sabtu di pusingan 16 perlawanan Kejohanan Eropah, ianya, ringkas, mortifying.
Ia adalah mustahil untuk tahu sekarang bagaimana sejarah sukan akhirnya akan ingat Gareth McAuley, Pembela veteran untuk Ireland Utara yang bertukar bola menjadi bersih sendiri dengan 15 minit berada di kerugian 1-0 pasukannya ke Wales di Parc des Princes. Beliau adalah belakang Pusat dikenalkan, para pemain England West Bromwich Albion pada tahun pada tahun 2013 dan kehadiran yang berceranggah belakang pembentukan Ireland Utara.
Tetapi McAuley juga 36, meningkatkan kemungkinan bahawa ini akan merupakan perlawanan akhir dia bermain untuk negaranya pada sesebuah kejohanan utama. Jika ia adalah, beliau mengalami mungkin Tempahan menyeksa jalan keluar boleh dipikirkan.
"Ia adalah satu perkara yang dahsyat, kehilangan permainan yang berbentuk," Pengurus Ireland Utara, Michael O'Neill, berkata selepas itu. Beliau terhenti. "Saya tidak fikir kita mendapat apa yang kita patut semalam."
Dalam sukan lain, matlamat sendiri adalah kerap adalah lembab, sekurang-kurangnya agak, oleh perakaunan lagi Mengasihani. Jika pemain bola keranjang meletakkan bola ke dalam bakul sendiri, mata akan dikreditkan kepada pemain pasukan lain; dalam Hoki, jika skor pemain yang ke bersih sendiri, pemain lawan yang buat menyentuh PUK diberi matlamat. Sesetengah menghadapi, jika hanya sedikit, akan disimpan.
Dalam bola sepak, indignity tinggal selama-lamanya. Matlamat sendiri paling diingati adalah, sudah tentu, salah satu oleh Andrés Escobar Colombia, yang menjaringkan gol ke bersih sendiri Piala Dunia 1994 dan telah dibunuh lima hari selepas penghapusan pasukannya ke. Tetapi terdapat banyak, banyak orang lain. Baru-baru ini, Laura Bassett, pemain England, menjaringkan satu matlamat sendiri dalam pemberhentian masa musim panas yang lepas itu diri ke Piala Dunia Wanita dan menghantar pasukan beliau daripada perlawanan dengan kekalahan 2-1 ke Jepun.
Malapetaka di McAuley adalah tidak sama sekali berbeza dari di Bassett. Dalam kes di Bassett, dia slid untuk memintas salib, dan bola dipesongkan dari kakinya, muncul tinggi di udara, bangkit dari palang tersebut dan jatuh ke atas garisan gol. Ia adalah tragedi dalam gerakan perlahan.
Teruskan membaca cerita utama
McAuley's adalah sama tetapi cepat. Gareth meminati, Wales superstar, mempunyai bola sebelah kanan medan dan whizzed rendah, keras salib di hadapan matlamat Ireland Utara. McAuley, seperti beberapa rakan sepasukan, adalah berlari kembali ke arah baris akhir dan dilanda satu soalan yang seolah-olah tidak ada jawapan yang baik: harus dia membiarkan bola berlalu (hampir pasti akan membolehkan pemain Wales untuk slam rumah) atau cuba untuk menjadikan permainan di atasnya dirinya?
Beliau memilih yang kedua. Dan dengan semua momentum beliau akan kembali ke arah matlamat, peluang beliau untuk melakukan apa-apa selain daripada apa yang dia lakukan — menjadikan bola betul-betul bersih sendiri — telah slim.
Pemain Wales berbondong-bondong untuk merayakan dengan meminati, dan McAuley meletakkan kepalanya ke dalam tangannya.
"Tidak ada Gareth banyak boleh dilakukan; Beliau telah mendapat untuk pergi dan cuba untuk membersihkan itu,"kata Michael McGovern, penceroboh Ireland Utara.
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Steven Davis, Northern Ireland’s captain, said: “He didn’t deserve that. No one does.”
McAuley’s
misfortune, grim as it was, should not overshadow Wales’s
accomplishment. With Bale leading the way, Wales has become one of the
best stories of the Euros. Playing in its first major tournament in 58
years, the Welsh finished first in Group B with victories over Russia
and Slovakia.
Now,
after Saturday’s victory, Wales is in the final eight, with a
quarterfinal match against the winner of Sunday’s match between Hungary
and Belgium.
“They
made it difficult for us,” said Bale, who had scored in all three group
stage games. “But we knew we had that moment of quality in us. We were
just glad that it finally came.”
There
were, frankly, few others, as the play on the field, surrounded by an
atmosphere of raucous chanting and singing from two groups of fans just
delighted to be there, did not match the electricity in the stands.
Three completed passes in a row was an unusual sight. Midfield play was
rocky and stunted. There was lots of long, hopeful passing with far, far
too many balls skidding over the end line for goal kicks.
It
was, some might say, a display of the worst kind of English soccer,
although that description also fit in other ways. Other than the sunny,
warm day weather, the feeling here Saturday was very British: 19 of the
22 players in the starting lineups play for clubs in Britain, and an
English Premier League referee, Martin Atkinson, was assigned to the
game.
At
a cafe near the Parc des Princes a few hours before the match, a server
approached several tables of fans of both teams and was summarily, but
kindly, told, “No one in here speaks French today!”
Political
talk, much of it focused on Britain’s vote last week to leave the
European Union, was largely put aside, save for a brief “Remain!” chant
from Northern Ireland’s fans early in the match. (A majority of voters
in Wales cast ballots to leave the E.U., while Northern Ireland voted to
stay.) It was a day for sports, an opportunity for both teams to turn
an already memorable competition into something truly remarkable.
Wales
last played in a major tournament in 1958 and had never played in the
Euros; Northern Ireland last played in the World Cup 30 years ago and
was in its maiden Euros as well.
That
was why the ending stung so much. Northern Ireland defended well,
largely containing Bale and his teammate Aaron Ramsey. They had a few
chances and, as O’Neill said, certainly felt they deserved the chance to
take the game to extra time.
Instead,
there was Bale flashing toward the wing, the ball suddenly coming
across and McAuley, with nowhere to go, tumbling into infamy as the red
end of the stadium roared.
Nearly
half an hour after the final whistle, Northern Ireland’s players
returned to the field. They walked out together and stood in front of
the Wales fans who had stayed in the stadium, still singing. O’Neill was
inside at the news conference, but the players wanted to savor one last
moment from this tournament, wanted to feel that feeling one more time.
McAuley
did not stay behind, did not sulk. Instead, he stood in the middle of
it all and nodded as the fans warmly chanted his name. When the players
finally began to head back to the locker room, he lingered a bit longer.
He did not want to leave.
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selamat pagi..jalan2 sini ambil mood raya.. ^_^
BalasPadamawal mood raya die
Padam