It was a tense start to Ireland and England’s Nations League clash in Wembley, as the home crowd tried to drown out Amhrán Na Bhfiann before a ball was even kicked.
That tension showed no sign of slowing down after play got underway either, with tensions boiling over more than once and the referee punishing both sides for their fiery start to the game with a pair of yellow cards.
Contrary to expectations, Heimir Hallgrímsson’s men had little issue holding their own against their star-studded opposition, in what could only be described as an end-to-end opening half of football.
While England may have enjoyed a higher proportion of the possession early on, Ireland’s counterattack wreaked havoc on the English defence, with momentum well and truly sitting with the visitors as both sides headed down the tunnel.
Unfortunately for Ireland, the referee offered up little reward for the desperation Ireland’s attack had caused the English defence, denying Ireland not one, but two penalty claims.
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Hamann Livid as Evan Ferguson denied ‘stonewall’ first-half penalty
The clearest of the two penalty claims came just after the twenty-minute mark when Marc Guehi took a fistful of Evan Ferguson’s jersey and pulled him down inside the box.
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Did Ireland have a shout for a penalty here? Marc Guehi appeared to have a fistful of Evan Ferguson’s shirt…
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Despite the incident seeming like a clear-cut penalty, neither the referee, his assistant or VAR deemed it to be one, a decision that Dietmar Hamann slammed at halftime.
As soon as the ball is played Guehi is not favourite to win the ball, he’s grabbing his shirt outside the box, he’s got him from twenty yards out, because he sees he’s not favourite to win the ball he tries to swing his leg, doesn’t get it what’s he going to do: ‘I’ve gotta pull him down, otherwise he’s in on goal’.
This is a stonewall penalty, there’s no two ways about it.
He starts grabbing him as soon as he realises he can’t get there and he holds onto his shirt for two or three seconds until he’s on the ground.
Hamann’s comments were met with absolute agreement from his fellow pundits Shay Given and Richie Sadlier who were left in absolute disbelief that VAR had failed to intervene, with Sadlier claiming,
That is a penalty kick, you used to be able to get away with that before VAR because it’s unsighted, but he shouldn’t have got away with it there.
You’d love to sit and meet them and say justify that, explain your thought process where you looked at that footage and went nothing to see..It’s so clear.
The referee only rubbed salt into Irish wounds early in the second half, when England were awarded a penalty for a bad tackle in the same box Evan Ferguson got brought down in, a penalty that would see Liam Scales sent off and a three-goal English onslaught get under way.
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