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Saturday October 3, 2009

World Cup to miss Giggs show again

THE United Kingdom has four teams – England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland – vying for a spot in the 2010 World Cup Finals in South Africa.

So far, only England have qualified.

Of the rest, Wales are virtually out and things are not really looking up for Scotland and Northern Ireland either.

But it is Wales’ absence – or rather that of the evergreen Ryan Giggs – that is sure to be sorely felt at the Finals.

True, Giggs retired from international football in 2007 but isn’t it possible that had Wales made the cut, the Welsh wizard could have been tempted to make a comeback one last time?

The Manchester United man has been in sensational form since the season started and is already being talked of as a potential winner of the Footballer of the Year award.

Wales have never qualified for the World Cup or the European Championship since Giggs burst onto the stage in 1991 as a precocious footballing talent.

Now, at 36, Giggs is already a legend at United – with two Champions League titles to his name. But isn’t true greatness measured by your achievements in the World Cup?

In that sense, Giggs does not compare with true greats like Pele, Diego Maradona, Johann Cruyff and Franz Beckenbauer.

But then Giggs isn’t the only non-Englishman deprived of parading his sublime skills on the world stage.

George Best was a prime example. The 1968 European Player of the Year played during an era where his national side, Northern Ireland, never qualified for any major championships.

The question is could England have won more World Cups, apart from the one in 1966, if they had been allowed to use players from other Home countries?

We will never know. But England had pretty decent sides who qualified for the 1982, 1986 and 1990 World Cups.

Imagine a combined United Kingdom side from that era that comprised the likes of Scotland’s Kenny Dalglish, Alex McLeish, Andy Gray and Alan Hansen; Northern Ireland’s Norman Whiteside and Mark Hughes; and Ian Rush of Wales.

What a team that would have been, especially if you include Bryan Robson, Gary Lineker, Terry Butcher and John Barnes from the England side.

As for the current England team, what a difference Giggs would have made to the Three Lions.

It’s unfortunate that football fans worldwide will be deprived of watching Giggs’ talent grace the World Cup stage.

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