Word: irishness
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...great sorrow of Irish soccer fans, the fat lady of their sport sang on Friday, dashing what little hope Ireland had left of reviving its vanquished World Cup dreams...
...collective groans of anger and claims of deception from Ireland were audible in Paris, the Irish weren't hearing any corresponding sighs of relief - and certainly no cries of joy - booming from France. Indeed, as the international furor surrounding Henry's handball showed no signs of abating Friday, the initially sheepish yet reassured reaction of French fans, commentators and politicians following their team's World Cup qualification morphed into something closer to shameful discomfort. (Read "France's Sweet Cheat Thierry Henry...
...extra time, Henry clearly controlled the ball with his hand before passing it on for the goal that secured France's ticket to South Africa next June. The referee didn't see the incident and allowed the goal to stand despite howls of protest from the Irish players. After the game, Henry admitted that he had touched the ball, but in a manner implying it was accidental - an assertion that compounded the sin because replays showed he actually touched it twice, the second time with a certainty that suggested it was deliberate. "I cannot speak, I am so angry," fumed...
...reference to the notorious hand punch Argentine striker Diego Maradona admitted he'd used to score the winning goal over England in a 1986 World Cup quarterfinal match. "Les Bleus: Hands Up," echoed Libération in its coverage of what it called France's "holdup" of the Irish team that had utterly dominated Wednesday's game prior to Henry's pawing of the ball...
...British press, not always friendly to Irish sports teams, went ballistic. "Ireland Cheated out of the World Cup by the Cruel Hand of Thierry Henry," blasted the Guardian. "Thierry Henry Is an Insincere Cheat Who Has Tarnished His Reputation for Good," wailed former Irish international star Tony Cascarino in a Times of London piece. (That last one came with a certain amount of irony, given Cascarino's admission in his 2000 autobiography that he shouldn't have qualified to play for Ireland's national team from 1985 to 1999, since the grandfather he cited as proof of his Irish ancestry...