We’re not even in the tournament yet Irish fans are still stealing the show at the World Cup.
A couple of days ago, a video went around the world of one poor unfortunate Croatian fan in Brazil watching the opening game of the World Cup in an open-air setting amongst thousands of Brazilian fans and raging at the decision to award a penalty for a nothing foul on Fred that turned the game in the hosts’ favour.
While everyone else delighted at the decision and prepared to celebrate as Neymar stepped up to take the spot-kick, the Croatian fan was caught on camera making gestures about diving and the need for the ref to open his eyes and shouting despairingly about the injustice of it all.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xs9Y7yGHFtY&feature=youtu.be
The video appeared on numerous well-known websites worldwide (Deadspin and Bleacher Report to name two) and it has garnered almost 400,000 views (at the time of writing) on YouTube in two days. As it turns out, the star of the show is not Croatian, but is an Irishman by the name of Niall Murphy from County Galway.
JOE reader Joe Campbell alerted us to the true Irish identity of the Croatian fan in question and was able to provide us with this photo of Niall celebrating on Friday, presumably after Croatia had taken the lead thanks to a Marcelo own goal.
Even when we’re not in a tournament, we still manage to hog the attention and fair play to Niall for providing us with the best story about an Irish fan and a Croatian jersey since this… *Warning, slightly NSFW*
Hat-tip to Joe Campbell for all his help with this one
