France V Ireland - Wednesday, 18th November 2009 - World Cup 2010 Playoff Second Leg

[livehead1]

Fifa have ordered World Cup qualifiers to be played before as a result of referring error. See here:

http://www.fifa.com/worldcup/archive/germany2006/news/newsid=27212.html

FIFA confirmed today that the result of the 2006 FIFA World Cup Germany™ qualifying match between Uzbekistan and Bahrain on 3 September 2005 has been declared invalid and must be replayed. In order to respect the drawn order of the matches, the first leg is to be replayed in Uzbekistan on 8 October 2005, with the second leg match to be rescheduled for 12 October 2005 in Bahrain.

The decision was taken by the Bureau of the 2006 FIFA World Cup Germany™ Organising Committee following a formal protest from the Uzbekistan Football Federation concerning a technical error by the referee of the match.

According to Art. 12.4 (b) and 14.1 of the Regulations for the 2006 FIFA World Cup™, all protests, including those against technical errors committed by referees, are to be decided by the Organising Committee for the 2006 FIFA World Cup Germany™. A bureau of the Organising Committee may pass a decision in lieu of the plenary committee in urgent matters.

The Bureau, composed of Chairman Lennart Johansson, Deputy Chairman Julio Grondona, Dr Chung Mong Joon and FIFA General Secretary Urs Linsi, took the decision based on the following facts:
1) At the score of 1-0 in favour of Uzbekistan, in the 39th minute of the match, the referee decided to award a penalty kick to Uzbekistan;
2) The penalty kick was taken and led to goal in favour of Uzbekistan;
3) Before the penalty kick was carried out, an Uzbek player entered the penalty area;
4) Consequently, the referee awarded an indirect free kick to the Bahrain team;
5) However, in such a situation, the Laws of the Game require the referee to order the penalty kick to be retaken;
6) The captain of Uzbekistan team protested to the referee immediately after the mistake had taken place and before the game had restarted. This protest was confirmed after the match;
7) This technical error was confirmed by the match commissioner and the referee inspector in their respective reports;
8) Uzbekistan protested the decision of the referee in a written request, asking for the match to be "cancelled" and be evaluated with a 3-0 forfeit result;

The bureau, taking into consideration that the referee in the match in question had indeed committed a technical error, established that, as a consequence, the match needed to be replayed. As a result, the protest put forward by the Uzbekistan team for the match to be considered a forfeit with a 3–0 result is rejected. In accordance with Art. 12.6 of the Regulations 2006 FIFA World Cup Germany™, this decision is final and binding.

[John83]

They'll give us nothing - that was a clear case of the referee not knowing the rules. We were done by a failure of the referee to observe an incident - which they never question.

[Dodge]

If the game is replayed, will henry be booked for the handball, if he is Keane must be booked twice for his too. He'll be a loss

Ridiculous carry on by some here...

[dr_peepee]

Indeed, we either play a fair game or what is the point of playing at all, you may as well hand the trophy to the country with the most money.

Basicaly just make it like America Wrestling, that's the sort of stuff the yanks like, fake staged nonsense. Think of the money.

Great analogy!!

[lionelhutz]

also mc shane should have attacked ball and cleared it :ball:

Agreed. It was a high, hopeful punt into the box that any defender worth his salt would have dealt with. Still absolutely heartbreakon about what transpired though

[livehead1]

If the game is replayed, will henry be booked for the handball, if he is Keane must be booked twice for his too. He'll be a loss

Ridiculous carry on by some here...

Is it so ridiculous? I would argue it is more ridiculous that football, and the governing bodies in particular attempt to promote a culture of 'Respect' and 'Fair Play' and then appear more than willing to turn a blind eye to a situation which is completely abhorrent and foreign to those two terms.

[KK77]

Ireland assistant boss Liam Brady has called for last night's controversial game between Ireland and France to be replayed.

Ireland lost out on a place in next year's World Cup finals to a goal scored after French captain Thierry Henry clearly handled the ball.

'If we are going to have integrity and dignity in the world game then the match should be replayed,' Mr Brady said on the Pat Kenny show this morning.

He was also critical of FIFA authorities for seeding the
play-off draw to favour the bigger teams.
Match officials who did not spot the foul had 'succumbed under real, real pressure' of 'the big teams have to go through', he added.


'Basically FIFA were saying we want you lot out and this lot in,' Mr Brady said. 'They were not expecting us to put up the fight we did.'

Henry admitted that he handled the ball in the build-up to the goal , but said it did not change anything regarding the fact that he was happy that France had qualified.

The second leg of the play-off ended one-all on the night at the Stade de France in Paris; but France went through 2-1 on aggregate.

[Fr Damo]

agree 100% with dodge. Result would stand irrespective of who the two teams were and their standing within FIFA

[tricky_colour]

Kilbanes on radio 5 live.

[Dodge]

Is it so ridiculous? I would argue it is more ridiculous that football, and the governing bodies in particular attempt to promote a culture of 'Respect' and 'Fair Play' and then appear more than willing to turn a blind eye to a situation which is completely abhorrent and foreign to those two terms.

As I've said numerous times here, players on both sides handled the ball last night. Ref seen some, missed others.

Its not acceptable for either side to do it IMO, but referees make mistakes all the time. There's no conspiracy.

If there was a conspiracy, the ref would've given a penalty for Anelka's dive. Just like the ref gave one for Duff's dive here (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hIFCToqGZpk&feature=related)

[tricky_colour]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio/aod/fivelive.shtml

[livehead1]

agree 100% with dodge. Result would stand irrespective of who the two teams were and their standing within FIFA

So where would you draw the line? Cheating is getting increasingly worse in football. Not long before the 'hand of frog' incident, Anelka tried to deceive the referee by diving in the box. There are two options here. Either we turn a blind eye to all forms of 'cheating' or an extremely tough stance is taken. At the moment, the authorities don't know what to do. They tried the tough stance with Eduardo, then decided to repeal it, and I firmly believe they will do absolutely nothing in this situation.

Something radical has to be done, it is ruining the sport.

[as_i_say]

If they had the 2 extra officials behind the goals like the UEFA cup that would help enormously and we would have been in a penno shoot out last night. it is getting to be a joke at this stage.

[livehead1]

As I've said numerous times here, players on both sides handled the ball last night. Ref seen some, missed others.

Its not acceptable for either side to do it IMO, but referees make mistakes all the time. There's no conspiracy.

If there was a conspiracy, the ref would've given a penalty for Anelka's dive. Just like the ref gave one for Duff's dive here (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hIFCToqGZpk&feature=related)

I'm not condoning one form of cheating over another; I'm saying that the policy of 'what comes around goes around' just doesn't wash with me any more.

Cheating is ruining football, end of.

[pineapple stu]

That Fox report is hilarious! Like reading a babelfish translation or something.


France avoided a penalty-kicks shootout and won the home-and-home, total-goals playoff 2-1.

The game appeared headed to penalty kicks when Florent Malouda sent a free kick to Henry at the post to the right of goalkeeper Shay Given in the 103rd minute.

They say Henry scored, and two paragraphs later change to Gallas.

[Fr Damo]

I'm not a legal Brain but i guess the best they could do is isuue cards or sanctions if found to be quilty later via TV.. ok that would be after the event and no good to us or any other sporting team who suffer but eventually players would get the message and to avoid sanction and embarressment, decline to dive, handle, push, feign injury etc. Basically ridicule them.
In terms of righting wrongs, dunno how we do it so first port of call is to try and stamp it out.

The GAA do it with 24 and 48 week bans after incidents!

[joe_barry80]

FIFA have their bigger Market now to sell their merchandise seedings my a.. it was just bigger Market potential nations against smaller. Thank god Slovenia won. They can pull down that fair play flag before games as well, hypocrites.

Regarding Henry he done what he had to do we wouldn't be complaining if we got away with it, but it's up to the authorities to spot stuff like that. Should have continued their tests with goal line judges for the playoffs. Maybe he wouldn't have seen it also because he got temporally blinded by the floodlights.

We will move on from this, the team will be stronger and they way they played yesterday made me so proud absolutely brilliant.

Come On Ireland

[smellyfeet]

Found this on the FIFA.COM site.

They didn't even mention the Henry "Cheating ******" hand ball incident.

France 1-1 Republic of Ireland (first leg 1-0)
Goals: William Gallas 103 (France); Robbie Keane 32 (Republic of Ireland)

The story of the game
Hosts France were kept completely quiet in the first half by an Ireland team burning with passion, conviction and the desire to battle for every ball. Robbie Keane’s strike not long after the half-hour was just reward for the efforts the visitors had put in and it took heroics from France goalkeeper Hugo Lloris to limit the damage to one goal. Les Bleus came into the contest after the break but remained vulnerable to Irish attacks, meaning the tie had to be resolved in extra time, when William Gallas equalised to send his team through to their fourth consecutive finals.

The key moment
After 180 hard-fought minutes, the fate of both teams was decided by a moment of drama in extra time. The outcome remained in the balance until the very last second, and when the final whistle was blown the disappointed Irish could hold their heads up high.

The man of the match
France have long been looking for a successor to Fabien Barthez and they have found the perfect candidate in Hugo Lloris. In this game, as in the opening leg, the Lyon No1 bolstered his burgeoning reputation with a string of top-class saves.

[pateen]

No they shouldnt. They fouled and the ref missed it.
It wont happen
Next

[pateen]

Unfortunalty Refs decision is final.
Sin é

[tricky_colour]

He's off now.

[Hank Scorpio]

http://www.fifa.com/contact/validate.htmx

Use this link to make an official complaint to FIFA and urge them to have a replay

[pateen]

What did he say?

[dr_peepee]

Sure. i'd prefere the french games played in stade Velodrome in Marseille for passion. Still, we're more a football nation than you are...

Not last night you weren't!!

[endabob1]

Fifa have ordered World Cup qualifiers to be played before as a result of referring error. See here:

The bureau, taking into consideration that the referee in the match in question had indeed committed a technical error, established that, as a consequence, the match needed to be replayed. As a result, the protest put forward by the Uzbekistan team for the match to be considered a forfeit with a 3–0 result is rejected. In accordance with Art. 12.6 of the Regulations 2006 FIFA World Cup Germany™, this decision is final and binding.

That's the difference, in that game the referee got a rule wrong, it wasn't that he missed an offence they are different things.
It's a precedent but not a particularly solid one for building a case on.

Oh that and the fact that there's zero chance of FIFA granting a replay

[tricky_colour]

Well a lot of the usual stuff you would expect, he was asked about the reaction in the dressing room and how Trap reacted etc.. ( didn't say much to the players apparently but spopke to one or two of them). He was saying that they stopped playing because it was such an obvious handball, something which I noticed, they never made an attempt to cut the ball out really although I don't know if that was possible anyway.
Obviously most of the stuff was what you would expect him to say.
He asked Henry if he handballed it and he said he did but it was accidental, which it clearly was not.

[lionelhutz]

Maybe I'm just trying to cling onto something that will make me feel better but does anyone else here agree that Anelka should have got a penalty? Given put his right hand out and made contact with Anelka's foot as he went past

[centre mid]

I've seen them given but imo it was not a penalty, Anelka was certainly looking for it but Given didnt make contact with him.

[tricky_colour]

You might beable to hear the whole show (Victoria Derbyshire) here, but it won't be put up untill her 'show' has finished persumably. PRobably can't get the player in Irland anyway?
http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/radio/bbc_radio_five_live?sort=dateavailable

[the 12 th man]

Maybe I'm just trying to cling onto something that will make me feel better but does anyone else here agree that Anelka should have got a penalty? Given put his right hand out and made contact with Anelka's foot as he went past


Absolutely not,Anelka tried to make his foot hit Given.

[Two Touch]

Maybe I'm just trying to cling onto something that will make me feel better but does anyone else here agree that Anelka should have got a penalty? Given put his right hand out and made contact with Anelka's foot as he went past

No.Anelka should have been booked for diving.

[dahamsta]

Giuly, and the people responding to them, knock the interpersonal stuff on the head please. Either make your point without being a twit, or don't make a point.

[geysir]

If the game is replayed, will henry be booked for the handball, if he is Keane must be booked twice for his too. He'll be a loss

Ridiculous carry on by some here...
What's it to you Dodge? Why do you bother you árse coming on to an Ireland thread?
The fact that in the 2nd leg of a play off, the Irish came back from losing the home game, clearly did enough to deserve to have done the impossible and
pretty much the rest of the sporting world is aghast at the circumstances of how the tie was lost.
And all you want to do is miserably nitpick your way around on a stupid thread.

[Noelys Guitar]

It was a blatant dive by Anelka and he should have been booked.

[Maroon 7]

Maybe I'm just trying to cling onto something that will make me feel better but does anyone else here agree that Anelka should have got a penalty? Given put his right hand out and made contact with Anelka's foot as he went past

There was some contact between foot and glove but Anelka was already on his way down by then. Ref actually did very well to spot it. I just wish him and the linesman were as observant later for Henry's juggling act.

[dr_peepee]

Anyone, including our own people, citing and comparing Keane and Henry's handballs is insulting thier own integrity and our inteligence..

Also, had it have happened the other end of the pitch, I'll bet the calls for video analysis and retrospective punishment would carry more weight because one of the "Big Dogs" will have suffered as a result of bad refereeing, and not us. It'll be brought in soon, but only as a result of an injustice against one of the Big Countries, Clubs or even emerging Footballing markets. The England of '86 hasn't got the clout they have now, nor was the technology there. It's coming. But only when it suits the powers that be.

I'm delighted Russia was knocked out though... One finger to Blatter anyway. The middle one. We nearly made it two fingers to the ****.

Oh... The serenity to accept what you can't change!!

[Ozymandias]

whatever about missing the handball...it was blatant offside by two french players and that was missed as well...the linesman was in position to call this and didn't..also gallas was one of the original two offside and became active again putting the ball in the net

[endabob1]

Maybe I'm just trying to cling onto something that will make me feel better but does anyone else here agree that Anelka should have got a penalty? Given put his right hand out and made contact with Anelka's foot as he went past

Credit to the ref, I think he got it spot on, Anelka went looking for it and it would have been very easy for him to give it.

[tricky_colour]

FIFA have their bigger Market now to sell their merchandise seedings my a.. it was just bigger Market potential nations against smaller. Thank god Slovenia won. They can pull down that fair play flag before games as well, hypocrites.

Regarding Henry he done what he had to do we wouldn't be complaining if we got away with it, but it's up to the authorities to spot stuff like that. Should have continued their tests with goal line judges for the playoffs. Maybe he wouldn't have seen it also because he got temporally blinded by the floodlights.

We will move on from this, the team will be stronger and they way they played yesterday made me so proud absolutely brilliant.

Come On Ireland

The authorites are not going to stop stuff like that.
FIFA already announced to the world that they wanted the big clubs to qualify when the tried to rig the results with a seeded draw.
So it must have been abundantly clear to the officals, referee, linesmen, and fourth official who FIFA wanted to qualify, and that fcourse puts pressure on them to favour France - which they did.

[dr_peepee]

It was a blatant dive by Anelka and he should have been booked.


I was just happy the penalty wasn't given. We've seen them given for less, and would have been an easy out for the ref had he been looking to.. It's because of that and a couple of other decisions I haven't gotten to the stage where I feel the ref "Done Us"

But... Diara and Anelka should have been booked!!!!!!

[noisecontrol]

Mentioned this in another thread but just something I thought when it happened...but could Shay have come for the free kick???

It travelled a hell of a long way and was in the air for a good while...also note how close to the goal it dropped...

Other than that Shay was excellent. Handling was superb although with the exception of the free kick in the 2nd half which was difficult as it bounced in front of him he had little to do.

[tricky_colour]

Henry will carry this with him through the rest of his life.
The French national team and FIFA will be forever remembered as cheats.
They should do the decent thing and boot France out, at least that way they can gain some credibility.
Henry's sponsership deals must surely be in doubt now, how can you sponser a liar and a cheat, it is ridiculous.

[lionelhutz]

I've seen them given but imo it was not a penalty, Anelka was certainly looking for it but Given didnt make contact with him.

I disagree. I'd like to see it again but if you watch Givens right hand it catches Anelka's right foot as he's going past

[youngirish]

Conspiracy theory.. please grow up a little
Don't be ridiculous. The draw was rigged all the way through to make it as likely as possible that France would qualify and even when that plan seemed to fail you managed to get one of the worst decisions on so many counts I've ever seen in International football to push you over the finish line. Football is big business and is all about money. France getting to the world cup earns FIFA millions more in dollars than Ireland. You need to wake up and smell the cornflakes.

You are in no way more of a football nation than us. If we had a population of 60 million and half of west Africa to select from we'd be winning the world cup at least once every decade.

4 million Irishmen can produce a team that outperforms a team composed of players selected from more than 60 million Frenchmen and 100 million West Africans. Do the maths.

[Royal rover]

lads after reading Brady's comments does anyone think Fifa will actually do anything , even make a statement

[Ozymandias]

no they shouldn't....you cant blame the rest of the team and their supporters for henry's handball......A replay would be the hardest sanction I think should happen but i believe the sanction will be on the ref and linesmen who will not be selected for the world cup

ps..the ref did have a good game...i believe he couldn't see the handball..the linesmanwas poor.....ref should have booked anelka for diving and L Diarra for persistent fouling

[dr_peepee]

whatever about missing the handball...it was blatant offside by two french players and that was missed as well...the linesman was in position to call this and didn't..also gallas was one of the original two offside and became active again putting the ball in the net

Linesman and the fourth official. That's where the blame lies, without a shadow of a doubt(McShane aside).. Dunne was clearly fouled too when trying to clear, though I only seen that in slow mo replay from another angle....

[Maroon 7]

I disagree. I'd like to see it again but if you watch Givens right hand it catches Anelka's right foot as he's going past

It does but Anelka was already going down before contact.

[endabob1]

Former official Graham Poll on BBC Radio 5 Live:
"If we're going to punish Thierry Henry for the handball, we should punish Nicolas Anelka for the disgraceful dive that was an attempt to cheat and con the ref minutes earlier - that is equally as bad. The refs do their best but the players are good at cheating. Take that one incident away, (referee) Martin Hansson had a good game and I'm sure if he had seen the handball he would have given it. Sometimes match officials can't see things because of angles. I'm hoping Hansson makes the final 24 for the World Cup finals when selection is made and that his mistake will not count against him, but he will be worried today because he knows that the mistake happened on his watch."

I find myself agreeing with Graham Poll, the shame....

[Murfinator]

They shouldn't be kicked out because they wouldn't have lost that match directly if the goal was disallowed.

The match should be replayed however, in Paris on an equal footing. Probably the fairest solution to an unfair situation.