Despite what the FAI records might say, John O'Shea won't be winning his 100th cap against Germany tomorrow night according to FIFA. By Ireland's reckoning, O'Shea is set become the sixth Irish international to play 100 games for his country following in the footsteps of Steve Staunton, Shay Given, Kevin Kilbane, Robbie Keane and (a FIFA disputed) Damien Duff.
However, the legitimacy of O'Shea's cap record is in doubt because FIFA struck one of those games from the official records. The game in question came against Hungary in June 2012. It later emerged that one of the referee's assistants, David Vang Andersen, was not on the official FIFA list at the time of the game and, as such, FIFA refused to recognise the fixture.
The FAI decided to award caps for the fixture, thus allowing Damien Duff to retire on 100 caps as opposed to the 99, which he finds himself on according to FIFA's records.
According to an FAI source quoted in the Sun, it doesn't look like FIFA are likely to change their stance just because Ireland have ignored them so far. "They don’t view it as a full international and that won’t change" the spokesperson said.
There had been rumours that O'Shea would be handed the captain's armband to mark the occasion (even more likely if Robbie Keane doesn't start in Gelsenkirchen) and, given the situation with Duff, it's unlikely FIFA's assertion would change that.
