NRR: France's Hand-of-God goal v. Ireland

the famine's over why don't you go home......

This is not a hand-of-God goal. It's a hand-of-God assist.

Also I have a question. Those guys who were offsides didn't actually make contact with the ball on the play. Doesn't this mean that it shouldn't have been called? Because I've seen people be offsides during a play but since it's never played to them offsides is not called.

It is not fair. All the decisions go against Ireland. Look at this if you are not sure.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jf9fx4ipF4Q

Give him his dues - it was very noble of Robbie Keane to pull a Robbie Fowler and put the penalty past the post.

Irish guy above - if this game was not replayed can you please explain to me why the France Ireland game should be replayed?

Also - I do not think the Anelka penalty (or the Evra one on Saturday) should have been a penalty because I hate the Ronaldo-isation of the game where everyone makes a meal of every tackle. But any time a goalkeeper dives at the feet of an on-rushing player and misses the ball - he's playing with fire.

MarathonMind wrote:

working link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wh4QS5RKhoY

Henry has admitted it was intentional.

No he didn't. If so, where?

Personally, the anger of the whole thing has died down inside me by now.

I now regret sending that multitude of expletive-ridden emails to Fifa, anonymously, calling for a rematch and shouting CONSPIRACY!!!

My final judgment on the situation is that yes, Fifa acted unfairly when they re-jigged the playoff structure with a month left in the 2-year qualifying campain. Yes, Henry probably DID mean to touch the ball with his hand, but he shouldn't be villified about it. No, Henry didn't need to go over to the referee as soon as the offence was committed. Yes, the referee was at fault. No, we shouldn't have a rematch, as that would be unfair on every other team that has had a decision go against them in the past.

and finally, yes, I hope that the Glasgow Rangers supporter, who posted the extract from that racist supporter's chant earlier in the thread about the famine, that he be sodomised with a pitchfork and then be punted off a cliff

The rejiggering of the playoffs was not very fair. There were still no easy draws and it is no guarentee either France of Ireland would get through if they drew Slovenia or Portugal or anybody else. FIFA is a particularly corrupt governing organization, though.

Statistics don't tell you anything about the match. Particularly posession. It's easy to posess the ball by back-passing in your own area.

The fault on the handball is 100% on the referee. I don't blame Henry at all. Maybe this is the American perspective but I expect the players to cheat, the same way I expect football linemen to hold on every play and defenders in the NBA to flop trying to draw a charge. It's the officials job to see that.

Soccer really should use instant replay. It works well in other sports and could work well here, too. It doesn't fix all the problems but some it does.

The other players offside is a judgement call. The official doesn't have to call it if the ball isn't played through them but should call it if they impact the play--note, the ball doesn't have to be played through them to impact the play.

Henry admitted it was a handball and he has said that Ireland deserve to be in the WC and a replay would be the fairest way to resolve the issue.

Im a huge Ireland fan and I'm upset that they wont have another shot for 4 years but I agree that Henry should not be villified and I like the way he has conducted himself since the handball.

If you can read French:

http://fr.sports.yahoo.com/20112009/70/qualification-2010-europe-henry-aimerait-rejouer.html

If you can't

http://translate.google.com/translate?js=y&prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&u=http%3A%2F%2Ffr.sports.yahoo.com%2F20112009%2F70%2Fqualification-2010-europe-henry-aimerait-rejouer.html&sl=fr&tl=en

funny how the Irish fans who were so quick to respond earlier in the thread have nothing to say about the Robbie Keane Georgia incident.

Hey. Roy Keane agrees with me!

Of course it was a horrible decision - but maybe what goes around comes around.

And if your response is - two wrongs don't make a right - what happened to Ireland is not fair.

Well what happened to Georgia was not fair either - was it?

Dont worry - I don't expect a response.

actually wrote:

funny how the Irish fans who were so quick to respond earlier in the thread have nothing to say about the Robbie Keane Georgia incident.

Hey. Roy Keane agrees with me!

Of course it was a horrible decision - but maybe what goes around comes around.

And if your response is - two wrongs don't make a right - what happened to Ireland is not fair.

Well what happened to Georgia was not fair either - was it?

Dont worry - I don't expect a response.

Dickhead...

This topic isn't something to gloat about.

actually wrote:

funny how the Irish fans who were so quick to respond earlier in the thread have nothing to say about the Robbie Keane Georgia incident.

Hey. Roy Keane agrees with me!

Of course it was a horrible decision - but maybe what goes around comes around.

And if your response is - two wrongs don't make a right - what happened to Ireland is not fair.

Well what happened to Georgia was not fair either - was it?

Dont worry - I don't expect a response.

Well arsehole, Robbie Keane didn't cheat to score that goal....Henry did and that's the arguement. Keane went onto score another goal for Ireland to win the game. The result of that game turned out to be meaningless as Ireland qualified for the playoff spot comfortably.

I'm glad you agree with Roy Keane...arseholes think along the same lines....Keane walked out on his country when needed most in 2002....judging by the tone in his voice today, he sounds like a bitter angry man with many regrets of his actions. He is now managing Ipswich Town that is struggling in last place in the Championship..."what goes around comes around" Roy

Here's what's really the most important point. If you watch the French video, it's clear that on the free kick leading to the goal that #17 was in an offsides position and involved in the play (the ball almost hit him in the head). Therefore, offsides should have been called. On French TV they drew a line showing the offsides. Had that call been made--and it really is very clear--the hand ball would have been irrelevant. However, if you look at the video, the linesman in question was never in a very good position. Free kicks are hard on a linesman, but he has to be prepared to moved quickly, and this guy wasn't. Moreover, the referee was in a very poor position for the free kick, essentially lining up directly with the far post. You should never do that, because it's easy to get shielded with a ball at that post. You want to be at an angle.

General Zaroff wrote:

I also wish they could have won in a better way. What Henry did was an instinctive reaction. Irish players would have done the same thing.

You are such a tool!

RobXC wrote:

.html

- Possession:

France: 55%

Ireland: 45%

- Successful passing:

France: 73%

Ireland: 61%

- Shots on target:

France: 3

Ireland: 2

- Shots off target:

France: 8

Ireland: 4

Score at time of the blatant handball:

France: 0

Ireland: 1

Cheat Cheat Ugly Henry Pigs wrote:

RobXC wrote:

.html

- Possession:

France: 55%

Ireland: 45%

- Successful passing:

France: 73%

Ireland: 61%

- Shots on target:

France: 3

Ireland: 2

- Shots off target:

France: 8

Ireland: 4

Score at time of the blatant handball:

France: 0

Ireland: 1

Is this thread bout golf coming to to the Olympics ?

The real atrocity was FIFA's decision to introduce ranking-based seeding for the playoff draw at such a late stage. What the hell were they thinking? Obviously they must have predicted the charges of corruption or favoritism when they decided that, and obviously they felt they had something to gain which was more valuable than the damage to their reputation. If France, Portugal and Germany had been safe qualifiers by the time of that decision, they would have never in a million years done the seeding - or they would have based it on points earned during qualification.

Watch the draw for the actual World Cup. Are they gonna base the seeding purely on FIFA ranking? Nope. You know why? Because they would have to seed Holland and Portugal but not Argentina and England. As much as they wanted to get Portugal to the World Cup it's not as big a market as England and the team does not have the jersey-selling appeal of Argentina. Holland is ranked 3rd in the world but it's also a smaller market. So they'll come up with some other "formula" that leaves Holland unseeded and with a harder path to the knock-out stages.

France of course have nothing to worry about. They will be seeded. Let's hope they get drawn with Serbia, Ivory Coast and Mexico so they can get spanked and sent home early like in 2002.

Roy Keane has lambasted the Republic of Ireland's attempts to get their controversial World Cup play-off match against France replayed.

The Republic appealed to Fifa after their 2-1 aggregate defeat by France on the basis that the winning goal came after a blatant Thierry Henry handball.

But Ipswich boss Keane said: "They can complain all they want but France are going to the World Cup - get over it.

"France were there for the taking and Ireland didn't do it. Same old story."

The Irishman, who made 65 appearances for the Republic as a player, continued: "If I'd been there in the dressing room after the game, I wouldn't be talking about the handball. I'd focus on why the defenders didn't clear it. They should've cleared it.

"I'd be more annoyed with my defenders and my goalkeeper than Thierry Henry. How can you let the ball bounce in your six-yard box? How can you let Thierry Henry get goal-side of you? If the ball goes into the six-yard box, where the hell is my goalkeeper?

"These are skills and lessons you learn as a schoolboy.

"Ireland had their chances in the two games and they never took them. They had chances at Croke Park (in the first leg) and they had chances on Wednesday.

"They didn't take them, but it's the usual FAI (Football Association of Ireland) reaction - 'we've been robbed, the honesty of the game...' It's rubbish."

And Keane pointed out that controversial decisions 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."

26mi235 wrote:

When you have played as much soccer as these guys (lived it every day all day....) touching the ball with your hands is not instinctive it is deliberate.

I agree with this poster completely. I played for 15 years and never managed or was tempted to grab the ball with my hands when the ball was going out of bounds. I'd say the only instinctive reaction would be if the ball was being drilled at Henry's face, I would okay it then. But what happened in this instance is right up with Maradona's Hand of God. It's ridiculous and he should be fined for this.