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

[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.

[Den Perry]

Sorry for Ireland, now for sure within 15 days nobody except you will remember this. If it was at the other end you'd be congratulating each other. We had our bad times too (France-Germany 1982, France Bulgaria 1993....) . Referee's bad, not french. Good luck

Not French? what's Henry the cheat? French!!

[drummerboy]

It was Dunne's ball but he was illegally impeded by the french centre-half.

[Murfinator]

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.

Maybe make Sepp Blatter a big clown in a costume to make the game appeal to children?

It's true, I think at times FIFA forget it's a sport and not purely about entertainment or money.

[topia]

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

the referee got rules wrong last night too, the handball rule and the offside rule

[Vermicious Knid]

Lads, McShane let him walk into the position. It was bad defending plain and simple.

[Noelys Guitar]

The game should be replayed as Brady says. And lets see what happens over the next few days. Million to one shot I know. But Platini, Bluffer and their various sponsors must be unhappy with this spotlight being on them this morning. And keep it on them. Henry's double handball is being shown around the globe on TV networks (ESPN have it on constantly). Over and over again. Not good news for the Henry, Platini and Bluffer. And especially Gillette.

[markmc]

http://www.fifa.com/contact/form.html

[leedsfan88]

Death to Henry...too harsh

But lets hope us the Irish can create as big a stink as possible.

Henry should also be banned for cheating that dirty fog eating surrender monkey.

[Marek]

Sorry for that, Irish people. I can not know what you feel, and can not find the right words to show how I'm disappointed for this qualification. Keane, Duff and his teammates deserved to win the travel to South Africa, with you to support them.

Ireland don't have 11 superstars (and an crappy Henry) on the pitch, but you have a real football team.

From north of France.

[markmc]

Newstalk are sending a petition to FIFA,email rematch@newstalk.ie to get included.