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  • irishtimes.com - Posted: May 22, 2010 @ 12:00 pm

    South Africa 2010: How it should have been…

    Ciara O'Brien

    Unless you’ve been hiding away on a remote island off the west coast, chances are you know how Ireland exited the upcoming World Cup. Well, now’s the chance for some payback.

    It may be too late to do anything about the result, but if you’re a Fifa fan, you need to get your hands on Fifa World Cup 2010. The game allows you to play out the story of the qualifiers, with selected scenarios that you can revisit, replay and correct the hideous decisions that were made.

    Including Ireland v France and THAT goal. The game drops you in at a pivotal moment: it’s 103 minutes into it, Gallas has just scored and Andy Townsend and Clive Tyldesley are discussing Henry’s handball.

    Your mission is to prevent the French from scoring again, score more goals and win the game for Ireland. (It is not, repeat NOT, to foul every French player going, giving away free kicks left right and centre. That is quite satisfying though.)

    It’s not the only part of the game of course (last week’s Ticket review is here) but it’s definitely the first bit I went for.

    With a bit of luck, you could end up like this: