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ireland‘s sensational win is an important reminder that football’s “glory” comes in many forms – while delivering uefa something to think about.
Putting the ball where it was needed, when it was needed most, troy parrot Then put it best:
“That’s why we love football… because things like this can happen.”
Her voice cracked slightly as she talked about her family and she struggled to hold back tears – she quickly clarified that these tears were “tears of happiness.”
Many people outside Ireland and Hungary might not have expected to be so interested in a match between two relatively mediocre international teams, but the occasion produced scenes to which everyone could relate.
In the Puskas Arena dressing room, just after Parrott’s interview, the Irish players could not stop looking at his 96th-minute winner, which sent them into the play-off in qualification for the 2026 World Cup. In doing so, he was just like every Irish fan. I know from family and friends that many people were watching it multiple times while holding back their tears.
The clip they replayed showed scenes that can only happen when the game is pushed to its limits – the limits of time, effort and emotion.
With the score 2–2 and needing just one goal, Ireland opted for a desperate last-ditch attack. Goalkeeper Caoimhin Kelleher usually launches it forward, but with more focus than trying to get it there. He found Liam Scales, whose header was converted. Parrott was already building a very calculated race – one that would continue into wild emotions… with a significant amount of scrutiny. As Denis Debus came out to collect the ball, Parrott effortlessly used his studs to head it past the goalkeeper.
Frustration was increased by agility. The parrot kept running happily. Behind him were all his teammates on one side and the entire Irish bench on the other.
It was cinematic, except for the reality that you only really see it in games, and you see it best at the World Cup.
I can already understand some of the reactions: that it wasn’t the World Cup, that it was just a qualifier, and that there are still playoffs left.
An absolutely central point of which – and the real point of this Monday newsletter – is that glory comes in many forms. And, for a country as big as Ireland, that’s the equivalent of England reaching the semi-finals.
It’s about still getting that chance for glory, and so much more.
What was that about another boring international break? I’ve spent the last few days telling everyone who will listen It’s always the best week of football Every four years – and you can see why. There’s likely more to come.
This is why amidst the emotions there must be some rational thought about what happens next.
Once the emotions had subsided, former Ireland forward Kevin Doyle made an important point on broadcaster RTE. He told how his own children are crazy about Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi.
In that sense they’re like every other kid in the world – except they watched Ronaldo send off in an otherwise sensational match in Dublin on Thursday, somehow becoming Ireland’s support act for the main event.
“Then they see Ireland winning,” Doyle continued, “and they realize there’s a world outside of that.”
To be honest, the world is generally more obsessed with the Premier League than anything else in football. The numbers make it clear, at least not in broadcasting. You only have to look at the billions flowing into the Premier League at the expense of almost every other competition in the world – including the majority of Irish and Hungarian players.
Undoubtedly, such habits shape attitudes toward such international breaks. The natural fixation on the major clubs ensures that stories outside of that are heavily lacking, which is why people are no longer often aware of the stakes of such qualifying stages.
There is also an extremely important self-perpetuating element from the football ecosystem.
Since more people react to content about big clubs, they receive more of it, which leads to greater fan interest and, as a result, commercial interest comes to the fore, rapidly overshadowing everything else.
Just look (or maybe don’t look) at the anger-fodder “fan” media that has developed around the big clubs. (It should be stressed that this is not exactly a description we would apply to all fan media.)
But it’s also what’s glorious about sports – especially a global sport like football – that Parrott expresses so well.
One of the beauties of it is the very open sense of possibility.
This is a very organic quality, which is slowly being destroyed due to the constant lack of financial distribution in football.
But it’s still there. It still explodes at such moments.
That’s why people are now constantly searching for parrot goal footage online, just hoping to find one posted that conforms to copyright law. this is the reason The Independent’His own live blog on the Irish match tripled the number of the England match – which was full of international stars. A prominent former Premier League player even messaged me after Ireland’s win: “That’s what sport really is. It brings people together. Pure joy. We forget.”
This is why the Super League failed, and why many football legends are now complaining about an expanded Champions League. You can’t connect moments like this, and they don’t come from the same big clubs playing each other endlessly. It will have to be constructed.
This touches on an area where Amazon has done some very clever work this week, although I’m not inclined to think that the super-growth of such groups is exactly positive for the game.
They nevertheless secured a broadcast deal which allowed a cheaper pay-per-view model for individual matches, at £2.49 per game.
So you can watch fixtures like this, or Germany-Slovakia tonight, or Scotland-Denmark tomorrow, without the subscription you might otherwise want.
This is a much smarter approach and actually makes it much more possible for UEFA to get audiences for these games. It also comes as the European body tries to figure out this exact problem – and what to do with these qualifiers.
They are very concerned about how earlier fixtures do not get as many viewers, particularly as it is this – rather than the Champions League – that generates most of the money invested in the wider game.
The funny thing is that the Champions League “Swiss-style” system has already been rejected due to broadcasting arrangements. Now the expansion of the Nations League is being considered.
But that system is highly unlikely to produce such moments. Sometimes a little patience is needed, as Parrott demonstrated. It can’t be big games with big teams all the time… otherwise none of this is big. And the truly great moments actually come from something else.
It also points to something that won’t really be acknowledged, but should be done: These smaller groups – of only four teams – work much better. They’re more intense, and you get to those moments more quickly, but still in the same organic way.
The European Championships are different, because more teams qualify, and, well, it’s not the World Cup.
UEFA could do more to make this week an “event”, as these games clearly are. How to describe what we have just seen, and the feeling it creates?
As Parrott said, this is why we love football…
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