World Cup Play-Offs

[Sun Tzu]

It's quite easy to clean up, no one in power has the balls to do it though.

Which is why you have to accept it as it won't change...

It can change they need to stamp down on it. No one ever got anything done by just accepting things. And calling for a cheat to be banned is hardly outrageous.

Sorry but it is....

If you were able to actually talk rationally about it we may get some where but posting without thinking is a waste of everyone's time.

Henry acted instinctively, and wrongly.

Had the officials seen it they would have penalised it, and probably cautioned him. But they didn't see it.

There was nothing premeditated about what Henry did (and huge fits of laughter at comapring it to the utterly different situation in Formula One where not only was there a preplanned plot to cheat but it involved putting the lives of participants and specators at risk)

There is nothing logical or reasonable that can be done about this specific incident, and if they did try and penalise him retrospectively there would be queues round the block of players being hauled over the coals.

Of course irish fans will struggle with the injustice of it, like fans of loads of clubs and countries struggle with the injustice of decisions every week. Hysterical and disproportionate reaction won't change that.

[Sun Tzu]

some of the rationalisers of this are absolutely pathetic, their key points I think are

I think it's really funny that you let fly with the insults and accuse others of bullshit and inventing words and then post daft and inaccurate 'summaries' which you then use to base more insults on !

And now even your blooming government is getting involved !

Henry to the guillotine !

Close all the Irish pubs in France !

French fries banned from Dublin McDonalds !

[sandman]

I suggest you take your own advice. The ball was going out for a goal kick and Henry handled it twice.The first handball may have been accidental but do you really believe the second wasn't ?

I'm sorry for being an idealist but cheats should not prosper and just dismissing it as something that happens is not going to change anything. He should be held up as an example. Quite frankly it is this type of view that is holding football back. Please think before you post again.

[Ian Herring]

Stepping back a little, I find it hard to recall a World Cup tournament that entertained/captured the imagination in recent times. So in some respects the Irish can think themselves fortunate not to be going there. The French, if they continue in their current 'just about can be arsed' state, will maybe sneak through the group stages (if FIFA allow/results go their way) then get removed by whomever the seeding puts them up against.

In stadia that are nothing other than billboards for large multi-national corporations in a tournament overly-long and designed to feed the most powerful countries to strangle the f*ck out of a once-decent sport and tournament that once had some decent sporting principles. (A very, very, long time ago.)

Cynical? Moi? Probably.

The greatest pleasure for me will not be watching any of that junket-inspired jingoistic shit at all.

On a harsher point? Our friends in Dublin did have two games in which they could have removed the 'threat' of the French legitimately. And a whole group stage of qualifying also.

[Sarah Star]

If you are going to attempt to clean up football and try to stamp out cheating, you may as well start with something as blatent as Henry's handball. No one has denied that he did handle the ball - even he admits he did - therefore it sounds like a good case to begin with. You have to start somewhere.

[sandman]

If you are going to attempt to clean up football and try to stamp out cheating, you may as well start with something as blatent as Henry's handball. No one has denied that he did handle the ball - even he admits he did - therefore it sounds like a good case to begin with. You have to start somewhere.

I totally agree. People like Mark Lawrenson, Alan Hansen and others have said in the past that if you make an example of one player the others would stop such dubious practices.

[sandman]

Sun Tzu wrote:

This is Roger Federer, the man who admits to using his line call challenges purely to disrupt the rhythm of his opponents ?

I don't know but it might be the same Federer who says he doesn't like the Hawkeye system and is reluctant to use it.

[Gus the teenage cow]

some of the rationalisers of this are absolutely pathetic, their key points I think are

I think it's really funny that you let fly with the insults and accuse others of bullshit and inventing words and then post daft and inaccurate 'summaries' which you then use to base more insults on !

And now even your blooming government is getting involved !

Henry to the guillotine !

Close all the Irish pubs in France !

French fries banned from Dublin McDonalds !

you are like a broken record, the same old waffle from you as ever

your points seem to be

1. bad decisions happen every week to every team in football.....yup profound stuff there, why don't you get your head around two key facts though

a) this was extra-time second leg of a world cup qualifier, a tournament that comes around every 4 years

b) the game was decided by the most blatantly obviously piece of cheating, not a 50/50 penalty call, not a corner/free kick that shouldn't have been given, not a dodgy sending-off, not a "was it over the line or not", not a "was he offside or not", yes those calls happen all the time BUT THIS WAS UNPRECEDENTED IN TERMS OF HOW BLATANT THE OFFENCE WAS AND HOW IMPORTANT THE GAME WAS (LAST MINUTES, 4 YEAR WINDOW)


2, you say what Henry did was instinctive, lol so he instinctively did it twice, if i am ever up on a murder charge can you plead my case? your honour he instinctively stabbed the victim 19 times, then instinctively drove the victim to the pier, and instinctively dumped the body into the sea

[No Fixed Abode]

Hand of frog.

[No Fixed Abode]

THE FAI LOOK REALLY STUPID REQUESTING A REPLAY!

PATHETIC.

[Starfish]

THE FAI LOOK REALLY STUPID REQUESTING A REPLAY!

I agree with you.

[Thaumagurist*]

Just how fúcking thick is David Beckham? He says Thierry Henry is not a cheat. Eh? What is deliberately handling the ball, if not cheating?

[Northern Boy]

Just how fúcking thick is David Beckham? He says Thierry Henry is not a cheat. Eh? What is deliberately handling the ball, if not cheating?

A piece of cunning footballing genius, if some of the responses are to be believed.

[No Fixed Abode]

Just how fúcking thick is David Beckham? He says Thierry Henry is not a cheat. Eh? What is deliberately handling the ball, if not cheating?

GET OVER IT

[brendywendy]

can we possibly replay the hand of god game too

we'd have won that world cup i tell thee

[RG30]

Guardian reporting via twitter "Roy Keane's Ipswich press conference descends into him spectacularly lambasting the FAI: 'What goes around comes around,' he says

[Thaumagurist*]

Jesus Christ!!! Even one of our players is doing it!

http://www.getbracknell.co.uk/sport/foo ... erry_henry

Long: Why I don't blame Thierry Henry
By Matthew Sadler
November 20, 2009


Shane Long insists he does not blame Thierry Henry for the controversial goal that ended the Republic of Ireland’s World Cup dreams.

France skipper Henry clearly handled the ball before crossing to William Gallas, who fired home the goal that sealed a 2-1 aggregate win after extra-time.

But Long, who missed the game through injury, admits most players would have done the same thing if the opportunity arose.

The Reading and Ireland striker said: “It’s disappointing. You wait four years to get to a World Cup and for it all to come down to a decision like that is frustrating, but that is football I suppose.

“You can’t do anything about that now and we can only build for the European Championships in three years time.

“You are in France, playing in front of how many thousand people and they are all wanting you to get to the World Cup.

“The ball is there to be stuck into the net and you will put it in however you can.

“There were two offsides, three handballs and it was still a goal. It’s frustrating, but I can’t blame Henry for doing it.”

The former Cork City striker had been hopeful of a return to action for Reading in tomorrow’s home game against Blackpool (3pm kick-off).

But the ankle injury he aggravated in Royals’ 1-1 draw with Ipswich two weeks ago has not healed as quickly as hoped.

If he is not available, boss Brendan Rodgers will be left with just Simon Church and Grzegorz Rasiak to choose from up front as Noel Hunt, the only other recognised senior striker, is sidelined for the rest of the season by a knee injury.

Long admits the club could benefit from striking reinforcements.

He said: “I’ve been trying to get fit and I have had to get another injection in my ankle.

“Hopefully I will be okay for tomorrow, but it is looking more likely it will be the next weekend.

“There is quality here and there are four strikers, but another wouldn’t be bad for the club as a whole.

“As a striker I want to play every week and don’t think we need another one, but as a club one more would add to the competition and give the team a boost.”

There must be something wrong with football if young people like Shane thinks it's ok for most footballers to cheat.

Thierry Henry has a lot to answer for.

[brendywendy]

Best press conference ever! Lolzaplenty from keano, spot on but boy does he hold a grudge. I wouldnt have wanted to be that reporter whos phone went off for all the frogs legs in paris.

[No Fixed Abode]

Keano is a legend.

IreLOLand!


And Keane pointed out that controversial decisions also went Ireland's way in the qualifying campaign, not least a harsh penalty award against Georgia which helped them to clinch a 2-1 qualifying win in February.

"There was one match against Georgia where Ireland got a penalty and it was one of the worst decisions I've ever seen which changed the whole course of the game.

"I don't remember the FAI after the game saying we should give them a replay."

[Zammo]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/internationals/8370327.stm

The world's greatest football manager adds his thoughts.