No gold but Stephanie Roche’s ‘golazo’ still wows stars at Ballon D’Or
That, after all, was inevitable.
“I asked him was he coming back to [Manchester] United, but he didn’t really answer,” Roche laughed. “We were rushing in to take our seats so it was a last-minute thing.”
If Roche didn’t find out whether Ronaldo would be going back to Old Trafford, she did repeatedly show she was totally unfazed by an evening surrounded by the luminaries of the game at Fifa’s Ballon D’Or ceremony.
Despite her pride at being there, her wish to help women’s football, and her gratitude to everyone that voted, there was one comment that stood out above all regarding the Fifa Puskas award.
“Being a footballer, I wanted to win,” Roche said of her goal for Peamount against Wexford Youths in the Women’s National League.
There was no folksy pride about just being happy to be there.
Roche also admitted that she was “disappointed” and “raw”, partially because the public campaign had allowed her to believe she had a real chance.
“When you have people telling you it’s such a great goal — people who know a lot about football — that gave me the hope that I could win it.
“But the achievement of getting here is fantastic and something I’ll remember forever. Right now, it’s a little bit raw.”
It came down to the raw numbers, specifically those in Colombia.
Stories from the last week had it that country’s population was mobilising behind James Rodriguez’s goal against Uruguay from the second round of the World Cup, and that there was a campaign to match anything in Ireland — but with a population of 42m to influence.
James claimed 42% of the votes to Roche’s 33%, but she did leave Robin van Persie well behind on 11%.
“Exactly, we’re only a small country,” Roche smiled. “I’ve seen the difference in votes and we weren’t far off.
“I don’t think a lot of people had seen the goal because, when it was first shown, there was a reaction from the crowd. That was nice to see.”
Roche stated her congratulations to James, but he also reciprocated.
“It was a golazo!” the Real Madrid star told the Irish Examiner. “A golazo as well, a really great goal! The pity is only one can win.”
James wasn’t the only star name to express his admiration for the strike.
Alessandro Del Piero did so personally, and said she should have won it.
“The first person I saw in the hotel was Del Piero,” Roche revealed. “He’s a fantastic footballer so that was a little bit surreal.
“He came over and congratulated me on a great goal. I’ve had a lot of players like him, who have played at the highest level, say it’s a great goal and it should win the award.”
Del Piero even told media she was “the moral winner of the award”.
“She is great,” the Italian legend said. “She needs to make another one for next year. That is what I would say to her.”
It’s quite a story to have, but seemed so normal on the day.
It revealed much that, in the mixed zone after the awards, Roche was stood next to Thierry Henry but there were as many members of the international media interested in what she had to say as there were in the French star.
The only moment that seemed to take her by surprise was when a French journalist asked her why she was leaving ASPTT Albi.
She insisted she hadn’t actually left yet, and was still under contract, so couldn’t talk about it.
“I think as the day went on we took it in our stride,” Roche said.
“It was nice to see all these footballers but at the same time, we wouldn’t be too fazed by it.
“We just wanted to come and enjoy the day and we’ve done that.”
Today, after all, it’s back to normality.
“I’m flying to La Manga tomorrow with Ireland so I’m concentrating on that right now. I’ll decide what happens after that.”
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