“WHATEVER THE OUTCOME, major victories are still ahead.”
A questionable red card and a calamitous own goal set the stage for a heroic Armenian failure in Dublin last night, leaving the country’s press to reflect on the type of the defeat that has been Ireland’s trademark all too frequently in the past.
Armenia outpassed their hosts with an adventurous brand of football in the opening quarter and, but for Eduardo Gonzalez Ituralde’s decision to dismiss keeper Roman Berezovsky for a deliberate handball in the 26th minute, Ireland’s 2-1 win and progression to tomorrow’s play-off draw would have been far from certain.
Unsurprisingly, not everybody in Armenia deemed Berezovsky’s sending-off to be as black and white as the man in the middle. ”No luck for Armenia in crunch Euro 2012 qualifier in Dublin,” muses ArmeniaNow in one of the more polite takes on the decision.
An Armenian dream at Dublin’s magnificent Aviva stadium lasted for just over half a period before an unfortunate mistake (some say of the goalkeeper, others believe of the referee) saw Roman Berezovsky leaving the pitch over a controversial handball outside the penalty area.
Mimicking the mood of coach Vardan Minasyan’s abrupt post-match press conference, others felt slightly less charitable towards Ituralde. Daily newspaper Aravot went so far as to label him the star of the Irish team.
“After 26 minutes, our 10 players were faces with a dignified struggle against Ireland’s ‘best player’, Spanish referee Eduardo Gonzalez Ituralde, the only person in the whole of Europe who saw Roman Berezovsky handle the ball outside the penalty area.”
Beneath the disappointment however, the positives of a campaign which saw Armenia rise from international obscurity to become genuine contenders in Group B gave context to the evening’s events.
“The Armenian national team played football in difficult conditions,” writes Zhamanak.
“It is great consolation, despite this disappointing failure, that they continued to play and play better than the 11 remaining Irishmen. We have a really good team, as shown by Ireland’s failure to control the game.”
The match report in Hayastany Hanrapetutyun is similarly optimistic. ”Following the course of the game and the adversity of the first half, we can say that Armenia’s national team showed themselves to be Ireland’s equals,” writes Arman Gasparyan.
For the first time, the team showed the ability to win and approach a place in the finals. Whatever the outcome, major victories are still ahead.
