Well, that’s taken the wind out of our sails.
After a performance against Sweden that deserved two points more than the one it got, Ireland were slammed back down into reality by Belgium’s Red Devils today. Or rather, karate kicked back down to reality.
Mere seconds before Romelu Lukaku opened the scoring, Shane Long went down in the Belgian box clutching his head after being challenged in the air by Vermaelen and Alderweireld.
In case you are the only person on earth besides the match officials who couldn’t understand why Long went down, this screen-grab should give you some insight:
Can someone tell me why this is not a penalty?!!! Absolutely appalling refereeing!! #IRL #ShaneLong #EURO2016 pic.twitter.com/YoTtkiDa5X
— @Aoifs123 (@Aoifs123) June 18, 2016
To use that classic commentator’s crutch – “We’ve seen them given.” It’s worth noting that a high-foot challenge would be an indirect free-kick instead of a penalty, but there’s no denying that play should have been stopped before Lukaku scored the goal that opened the floodgates.
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