WORLD CUP USA ‘94: ROUND OF 16 : Ireland’s Forgiving Fans: To Eire Is Human : Loyalists: Despite costly gaffes, supporters say players will be given hero’s welcome on return home.
Both were costly mistakes, almost comparable to a man kicking a shot into his own net.
By definition, Pat (Packie) Bonner and Terry Phelan were the goats of Ireland’s 2-0 loss Monday to the Netherlands at the Florida Citrus Bowl.
Phelan, a defender, had weakly headed a back pass toward his goalkeeper that was intercepted by Holland’s Marc Overmars, who made a crossing pass to Dennis Bergkamp, who scored in the 11th minute.
In the 41st, Bonner, the Irish goalkeeper, allowed Wim Jonk’s shot from 25 yards to pass through his hands into the net.
Unpardonable.
For such a sin, Colombia’s Andres Escobar’s bullet-riddled body lies in a freshly dug grave in Medellin. Escobar, who committed an own goal in Colombia’s loss to the United States, was gunned down outside a restaurant Saturday as murderers reportedly shouted “thanks for the auto goal.”
A reporter, unclear as to how soccer passion plays around the world, wondered whether the Irish players would fear for their safety.
“Unthinkable,” Kieran Walsh, a reporter from the Munster Express, responded.
Walsh and Irish fans interviewed said Bonner and Phelan will return to a hero’s welcome.
Bonner and Phelan return to Dublin today and more than a quarter of a million fans are expected to salute the Irish team this week at Dublin’s Phoenix Park. That would make it the largest Irish gathering since a papal visit in the late 1970s.
Make no mistake: The Irish deplore losing. In pubs, the expletives will flow as freely as the Guinness. In papers, game tactics will be second-guessed.
“We’re disappointed,” Walsh said as he was filing his daily report. “I thought we went down too easily.”
But in the end, Bonner and Phelan will be exonerated. The Irish live and die with their team, but do not kill over it.
Irish fans wanted to make clear the distinction. “For South American people, that’s how seriously they take their soccer,” Dublin’s John Cleary said as Irish-green paint dripped down his face. “In Brazil, they jump out of windows when they lose. Northern Europeans are a colder type of people. There will be harsh words. But Irish fans are very forgiving.”
Indeed, a large group of Irish fans gave their team a supportive send-off as the team bus pulled away from the Citrus Bowl.
“You can’t use Colombia as a judge,” said another Irishman, who did not want to be identified. “Colombia has its own rules and laws. Our guys will get a hero’s welcome home, you watch. We’re crazy, but we’re crazy about life. We like to live.”
Soccer fans around the world continued to be sickened over Escobar’s murder. Before Sunday’s game, two fans held up a banner:
Andres Escobar
Colombia will never forget you!
Stop Coward Killers.
In acknowledgment, fans from Ireland and Holland struck up the chant, “Es-co-bar! Es-co-bar! Es-co-bar!”
The choruses rang out, over and over, in what could only be described as a touching moment of soccer solidarity.
“You saw the banner, and you saw the response,” John Hand of Dublin said. “That poor guy should have never been shot.”
Irish fans, admittedly, had lowered expectations for their team. Colombia was touted by many to win the World Cup.
Ireland was elated to survive its group and reach the second round.
The Irish also have memories. No one had forgotten that it was Bonner, at the 1990 World Cup in Italy, who made a penalty save that allowed Ireland to defeat Romania.
“We like Packie,” Walsh, the journalist, said of the goalkeeper. “We like our players. They’ve done so many good things. We remember the good things as well as the bad.”
