by Darren Douglas

Created on: November 18, 2009

When speaking to colleagues and friends who like their football it is not always easy to find agreement, but in the last few weeks there has been a general unison over one topic in particular. Unless you are French, Portuguese or dare I say a little too diplomatic, almost all football fans were supporting the Republic of Ireland and Bosnia-Herzegovina for last weekend's 1st leg World Cup play-offs.

The overly diplomatic of you will naturally say that the World Cup would be much poorer for the absences of Cristiano Ronaldo, Thierry Henry, Deco, Franck Ribry, the list goes on. That is a fair point, but it's far from unusual for a World Cup to be missing the odd 'major' international side. Some country that is expected to participate always messes up their qualification.

At least the players I've listed have played in a World Cup, it will always be a great shame that George Best, Ryan Giggs or Alfredo di Stfano never got such an opportunity. Add to that the fact that Eusbio only played in the 1966 finals and you could say that the French and Portuguese have been quite fortunate in recent times!

More to the point, a lot of football fans will see the absence of the 2 nations as a major bonus for the prospects of their own national teams. With both of them out of the equation before a ball has been kicked in South Africa next summer, any sane supporter will mischievously be thankful.

On top of that is the not so secret revelation that Cristian Ronaldo is far from the most popular player in the World. Aside from those that follow him for Real Madrid and Portugal, it can't be said that Ronaldo has ever really enamoured himself with rival supporters.

Any player who can be so dangerous on the pitch is bound to be greeted with some hostility at away grounds, but Ronaldo has courted the occasional controversy. It was after he got over the habit of being soft on his feet that he developed into the person who is the current FIFA World Player of the Year and Ballon d'Or holder.

His move away from Manchester United to Real Madrid may have been pre-ordained but it still caused some resentment. The Spanish club is infamous for the way that it often uses the media to manufacture transfers of the high-profile players it wants. Whilst Ronaldo may not be the first footballer to make contradictory declarations of loyalty, there have been some sportsmanship that caused widespread anger.

The obvious example came at the last World Cup and Ronaldo's part in the sending-off of Wayne Rooney

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