the hand of le god

[shuffs]

The game should of been dead & buried before the cheating
fiasco, i've never seen an Irish team play so well, they gave
the cocky frogs a footballing lesson. As for Henry his legacy
and image are well tarnished, i just hope Hughesy does'nt
bring him to City.

[billy2]

i wonder if this was an irish hacker ???

Thierry Henry - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[Hollo]

Hard luck to the Irish, but there was no way they would qualify after the eufa / fifa (Platini) rule change implemented 2 minutes after the whistle went for full time (90 mins) that allows home teams to have 3 goalkeepers for penalty shootouts in international competitions!!

[opsmonkey]

there's a few Irish lads in here who are man utd fans.. you used to think it was funny when Ronaldo threw himself around on a saturday.. not laughing now though boys are we..

The referee's decision is final..

Also whats with all this french conspiracy crap.. Remember the last world cup final.. The greatest ever french player was sent off by a referee and two assistants who didn't see the incident..

[leotheloin]

[QUOTE=opsmonkey

The referee's decision is final..
your right there just like the ref in the 66 world cup final.

[hideous.ape]

The referee's decision is final..

Not exactly true.

If a technical error is made then the ref's decision can be disregarded and a match result can be deemed invalid. I consider failure to award a freekick to Ireland and a yellow card to Henry for handball a pretty major ****ing technical error but not according to FIFA. So if the ref misses Henry's or Maradona's juggling skills that is not deemed a technical error:

FIFA.com - FIFA invalidates Uzbekistan-Bahrain result; match to be replayed

Either way what happened in this match makes FIFA's Fair Play code of conduct a joke.

[opsmonkey]

i can see what you are angling at but no technical error was made.. the error was in the application of Law 12.. errors in the application of law can not be changed, as mentioned in Law 5

The decisions of the referee regarding facts connected with play, including whether or not a goal is scored and the result of the match, are final.

The referee may only change a decision on realising that it is incorrect or, at his discretion, on the advice of an assistant referee or the fourth official, provided that he has not restarted play or terminated the match.

I agree the goal should not have stood but if a precedent was set with this then games would be replayed each week across the globe..

There was no way on earth this match would have been replayed.. think of all the teams and games which have had dubious offside decisions, or claims a player should have been sent off then that player scores the winning goal, or claims for a penalty..

also what is this..??

Hard luck to the Irish, but there was no way they would qualify after the eufa / fifa (Platini) rule change implemented 2 minutes after the whistle went for full time (90 mins) that allows home teams to have 3 goalkeepers for penalty shootouts in international competitions!!

where did you hear this...??? changes to the laws of the game only happen at the end of a season and are a result of a meeting of the IFAB. The AGM for the IFAB hasn't even taken place yet and wont until early next year

[hideous.ape]

I didn't expect a replay to happen but its just such a piss poor way to miss out on a World Cup. I've no problem getting tanked 5-0 but losing to a goal like that in extra-time is difficult to take. We missed countless chances and got beat by a deflected goal in Dublin and a handball in Paris. We fought tooth and nail just to get to the play-off and then France sail through by doing ~~~~ all.

Personally I think World Cup play-offs should be ditched and that the best runners up from the Qualifiers should get through. This year that would have been Russia, Ukraine, France and on goal difference Slovenia. That would prevent FIFA from shaping the play-off results using seeding. Why should teams be forced into a winner takes all situation after busting their balls for a year.

I think whats annoyed most Irish people has been Henry's way of "handling" the situation

Saying "oh it was just an accident" is a bit like a burglar saying he accidentally cased a house for a week and then accidentally broke in and stole everything.

[opsmonkey]

the sickner for the irish on this is that i fully think that next year this wouldn't have happened.. the goal line assistants that are being tested in the Europa League would have seen this and brought it to the attention of the referee.. expect to see goal line assistants fast-tracked to be in South Africa as a direct result of this..

[hideous.ape]

Ya...looks weird to see a linesmen moving around in that area of the pitch though it doesn't seem to have distracted the players:

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EXrMSfQIz7w&feature=player_embedded]YouTube - Europa League: highlights Roma - Cska Sofia 2-0 [video] 01-10-2009[/ame]

[Walkinmyshadow]

there's a few Irish lads in here who are man utd fans.. you used to think it was funny when Ronaldo threw himself around on a saturday.. not laughing now though boys are we..

The referee's decision is final..

Also whats with all this french conspiracy crap.. Remember the last world cup final.. The greatest ever french player was sent off by a referee and two assistants who didn't see the incident..

Yes there is a few Irish Man Utd fans here, and if you opened your eyes you will also see that there are also Irish Lfc fans on this site, but of course they are "out of towners" who seemingly don't deserve respect in your book.. but that's for another day!!

Jesus ops wtf is with you?? you can write a write a perfect agreeably post then spoil it all by puttin some crap in like " you used to think it was funny when Ronaldo threw himself around on a saturday.. not laughing now though boys are we .........
seriously what the fcuk has that got to do with Henry's handball??

Ok getting back to the subject in hand, yes we were shafted, but it happens all the ~~~~in time in football, did you see those eejits protesting in Dublin outside the french embassy?? what an embarrassment, thank ~~~~ there was only about 30 showed up!!
However, it happened, and s*it happens, even though i was fuming at he time.
When all is said and done i still think I'd prefer to see goal-linesman as apposed to video ref, just to see how it would work out.

Oh yes one more thing!!
One thing is for sure, we Irish wont be crying into our lager top in 23 yrs time moaning about how we were out done by a "hand of god" unlike some neighbours i could mention.

[ghostfox]

i suppose it looks worse because of the extra extra slow motion replays of the incident.
the whole world knows the irish took the p1ss out of the french but were just unlucky not to go through.

[opsmonkey]

I was trying to point out walkinmyshaddow that football is a game of ups and downs.. All fans are happy to take a goal and will look for all excuses when it's in their favour to justify it, but when it's against them they whinge like girls for days.. That's not just you but everyone.. Fans tend to remember the time they were 'robbed' but seem to forget when instances of cheating or dubious decisions go in their favour... I'd be interested to see the Irish lads stance next time their club team gains a dubious decision and see if their eagerness for replays are still at the fore