by FRANCO PANIZO
Thierry Henry's handball heard around the world helped secure France's passage to the 2010 World Cup, but the French may not be through to South Africa yet.
The Irish federation has appealed Wednesday's night 1-1 result (2-1 aggregate advantage for France), and is demanding that France replay the second leg of the playoff. Ireland is claiming that if FIFA allows Les Bleus to clinch their World Cup berth off Henry's controversial play, where he handled the ball twice before assisting on William Gallas' goal, then it is encouraging cheating.
The Irish have also pointed out that in 2005 FIFA invalidated a World Cup qualifying result between Uzbekistan and Bahrain because of a critical referee error.
Here are more stories from Thursday:
Hiddink future unclear
Guus Hiddink failed to lead Russia to the 2010 World Cup, falling on aggregate to Slovenia, but the Dutchman is uncertain as to what the future holds for him.
Hiddink's contract with the Russian national team runs through July 2010, but he is unclear as to whether he will remain with the team after that. Hiddink, who succesfully filled in as Chelsea head coach last season, has been linked with a move back to the English Premier League.
Bellamy admits early retirement
Manchester City striker Craig Bellamy has had a plethora of injuries during his career, and he believes those nicks will force him to retire soon.
Bellamy, who is currently recovering from a groin injury, feels he only has one to two years left in his career, but he believes he is playing some of his best soccer ever and is enjoying every minute of it.
The 30-year-old has scored five goals and assisted on two others in league play for an improved Manchester City this season.
Euro 2012 seedings announced
The 2012 Euro Cup's seedings have been announced, and Spain, Germany, England and Croatia are among the teams in pot one. The full list of seedings for the tournament, which will be held in Ukraine and Poland, can be found here.
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Do you see FIFA granting Ireland a replay of the match? Are you hoping Hiddink leaves Russia? Surprised by Bellamy's retirement plan? Liking the seeding for Euro 2012?
Share your thoughts below.
The two actions that could clear up the controversy in Ire vs Fra have been rejected by FIFA. Why?
Let the 4 officials who missed the three infractions explain how they blew it. FIFA, NO.
Have a replay as an actual show of Fair Play. FIFA NO.
It’s crystal clear to me who wants to keep this in the dark.
Agreed 100% especially on the confed cup results, players overcame poor coaching
Agree and then some, but not with #8. That was Thomas Rongen who insulted Subotic, I don’t think any national coach could have saved that disaster.
For #9, I am certain that Coach Bradley is not seeing the game unfold as quickly as he should and he ends up confused and frozen when plan A fails. There is also a pattern forming of bringing out unprepared teams for the second half.
#10. It’s not too late to bring in Guus. One because team has not yet attained any degree of cohesion or form. 2. Guus’ track record says he can get results quickly.
well, i like wine .. but i have to stereoptype the french somehow.
By the way, I love this picture of Gallas. A monumental moment in time captured. That $20 was the best I’ve ever spent on pay-per-view.
Guus will go to Scotland to take over the shambolocks that are going on up north. It’s a true shame Russia didn’t make it. It just goes to show you how much of a team sport soccer really is.
So I guess Bellamy is coming to the MLS since he is retiring?
I’m all ready making plans to travel to Ukraine/Poland. After watching EURO 2008, the sea of Orange supporters, Russia’s run, Turkey’s last minute shocks, I HAVE to be in Europe for the next one. Keep my fingers crossed for big tax returns!!
Bah, win with Bradley or be stylish losers, your choice. This is the U.S. player pool we’re talking about.
Show me in the rule book where it says “cheating is part of soccer.”
I’ll bet some teams underuse it too, huh you bizarre lunatic?
I would take Guus at this late date over Bob in a heart beat. This team is no where near settled at the moment and I would trust Hiddink 100x more than Bradley to figure it out.
Exhibit a. Bradley’s inability to judge talent. All revelations in 09 were forced on him due to injury. He constantly selects suspect lineups. see gold cup.
Exhibit b. Subs. Zero acumen for when and who to change. See cinfed and Dane game. Same topic alternate scenario.. Castillo at LM?? Worthless use of time.
The US did NOT qualify or advance in Confed because of Bob. They did despite him.
Guus, come here to a New Amsterdam.
Clearly was a hand ball, but I’ve gotta say I hate the hand-raising Ireland (and every other team) did as Gallas got the ball instead of trying to actually defend. Same thing happens on offsides. I don’t know what’s more irritating to me…defenders all raising their hands mindlessly instead of defending or the possibility that refs and linesmen are actually influenced by it
I think LFC need’s Gus more then USA, and I think he is more inclined to return to England.
Are you high?
dont see what ppls beef with bob is we arent that good, our top two players (LD and Clint) play for an MLS team and mid table prem team most of our other players barely see the field for there european clubs. Bob has done and excellent job making us competitive.
ur an idiot.
Yes, but cheating isn’t the same as “luck”.
err, Henry
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Th4b1LqmoMo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2RNsXqNiTCM
Henri? France?
perfect.
I revealed henri to be the lout that e is for many years. Many of my soccer-loving friends disagree. Today? All called to say: “You were right!”. It just takes time for a fraud to be exposed. “TT” is the soccerversion of AIG, Goldman sachs, the US housing market, Bear sterns. A fraud thru and thru.
When Gooch and Demeritt are healthy Bob was regularly staring Bocanegra on the left. Were you watching back then?
So Costa Rica was an important World Cup qualifier but Honduras is a turd that needs polishing….
Still, having Brazil worried at all is what I take away from that game.
I think you must be the worst kind of pessimist, the glass is ALWAYS EMPTY
Try new things in an important WC qualifier. The sign of a desparate (or foolish) coa
The Brazilian players themselves said they were worried about the game until the tactics changed for the US. We had our foot on their throat and BB didn’t realize the situation.
Honduras is a minnow. You can’t polish that turd.
What about when Gooch and DeMerit are healthy. Whe plays LB?
There goes Henry’s Gillette gig.
I believe that he is referring to the 2007 Gold Cup the one which qualified us for the Confederations Cup and the one that everyone used their A team.
I’ll say this about Craig Bellamy, he is daaamn quick. Even if he loses a step in the next two years, he’ll still be pretty fast. Unless his knees disintigrate, I think he’ll be around a while.
No chance for a replay. The referee is the judge of the facts in a soccer game. If he judged the play to not be a handball (by not calling it, even though he probably did not see it, he judged it to not be a handball), it is a fact and that will not change. He did not apply the LOTG improperly, no handball, no call, no recall of the goal.
If FIFA were to do anything to change the result, they would be overturning their own interpretation of things. It ain’t gonna happen.
For Henry’s part, when the ball hit his hand, he simply did what every player is told to do, he played the whistle. No whistle, so he keep playing. What he did was far less bad than all the cynical fouls made in every game to stop an attack before it is dangerous, or the hard fouls intended to force players to guard against injury rather than play the game, or players who get into the box and dive in an attempt to get a P.K.
Either the referee saw the handball and judged it to be ball-to-hand or he did not see it. In either case FIFA’s position is the referee is the judge of the facts. End of story.
First off, a replay here would set an AWFUL precedent. These petitions would come out of the woodwork. For example, this business with the refs adding “injury time” could lead to an amazing number of disputes. Let’s say Costa Rica pulls out some video with a stopwatch to say that Bornstein scored after the game should have been over. For the love of Pete, bring in the replay, settle the dispute during the game. Unless you can prove someone was paid off, there can be no replay.
And if you believe there SHOULD be a replay, then before the replay, they should allow the French to take the penalty kick they were denied by an earlier no-call. If they make the kick, replay called off. Just a slightly stupider idea.
F.
So due to awful tactics, poor coaching, and piss poor player selection, we were able to do all of the things i listed above. I see….
I think he earns a shred of respect.
I think our player pool does not compare to the talent of other countries that we tend to play, yet we come up with some big results when it happens to matter.
4. Then who pairs in the middle when Gooch and Demeritt are hurt?
5. against Honduras in Honduras and not yet qualified for the world cup!? not quite a minnow game to me… They also qualified for the World Cup you know.
Sub- well, he sure turned things around the next 5 games…which are what I choose to focus on.. How can you talk about that early game when we reached the final!
4-3-3, see, he tries new things! People say all the time he is too conservative, when he tries something new, he gets criticized also!
A coach never wins with fans like that!
Brazil, Dude, seriously, we got to the final of the confed cup and were beaten by BRAZIl!!! Seriously, you think the loss was due to poor tactics!!! are you crazy??? Most teams in the world lose to Brazil, most of the time!!! WE ARE NOT EVEN CLOSE to as talented as teams that should beat brazil some and don’t (argentina). Come on. Get real! You are complaining that poor tactics is the reason we got to the final of the confed cup and lost to brazil after being up 2-0 early! I feel that is a damn fine showing, one worthy of respect!!
aye yay yay@!!!!3$%Y^Y&$*(IKM<
REPLAY!!! REPLAY!!!
wine and brie are both good things.
4. Bocanegra
5. C’mon you’re defending Casey and BB’s ‘brilliance’ in playing him against a minnow?
What about Bob holding a sub in his pocket against Italy when we are a man down?
What about Bob playing a 4-3-3 on plastic turf against Costa Rica in an important WC qualifying match.
What about Bob trying to pack 11 in the box with a 2 goal lead in the Confed Cup. Even the Brazilian players said they were worried about our forward(Davies). They also said the knew they would win the game once Davies got pulled back in to a defensive role. This freed up 2 more players to attack. Our great tactician played straight into their hands.
I doubt FIFA has a replay for this game…for many reasons…but I would like to see it happen.
Ives- Any chance of establishing a word limit on posts…?? 😉
Secure his future now and bring him in after the WC.
The NHL did this a few years ago and I think everone is happy. The NHL also has video replay nowadays and I think they’re quite happy with that too.
A. Russia is always more talented than US. So is the Slovenia team that beat them. Would Robobob have been able to qualify with russia? hello no.
B. We won our qualifying group, great so he matched Arena’s accomplishment in 05.
C. We won’t win the world cup with any coach, so this doesn’t even matter.
D. Really? He separated men from boys? Like Conor Casey and some of the other total scrubs he keeps calling up? They sure looked like boys, too, as Bobs teams have been getting spanked all over the place this year.
E. True.
F. We made it to the final of the confed cup thanks to egypt losing all their best players to injury and 90 minutes of insane bunkerball against spain. You really think these results are any indication of Robobob’s talent as a manager?
G. Sometimes bunkering teams win, just look at greece.
Overall, Bradley is terrible and not only can he not hold Hiddink’s jock, he isn’t even in a position to hold Bruce Arena’s either.
No replay when the German defender blocked the shot in World Cup 2002. Sucks, but part of the game.
i have to say that this makes way to much sense for the geezers that run fifa/uefa to do. in this case a 5th video replay official could have EASILY reviewed this play, made a decision, radioed down to the ref that it was a handball … and all before the game was restarted. goal/no goal. penalty/dive. handball/no handball. red card/yellow card and intent on dangerous/egregious fouls. how hard would it be to have replay for those. you would still have a fully trained ref as the video reviewer and some of these calls would still involve some ref discretion but the way to look at this is it is a way to HELP the refs make the game better/fairer/more accurate. you would think the refs would want this help in a game that is getting ever faster, rougher, and more deceitful (with diving/simulating).
For instance I am a Man Utd fan but even I think that J. Evans should have been sent of with a red card for his challenge on Drogba and if the ref missed it I definitely think that a video replay official could/should have done it instead. Of course with video replay in that game I am not sure that Drogba wouldn’t have been sent off earlier in the game for his extremely melodramatic diving/acting but that is a different story.
Just replay the OT.
REALLY!?!? You want to bring on a new coach with the World Cup less than a year away?! You would be setting that coach and the team up for failure. Sure BB has made some questionable decisions but he is our man through the World Cup. It is time people started showing some respect for the coach who will lead us into the biggest tournament in soccer.
oooh, stinky breath!
them is fighting words…
watch us draw the french in our group!!
Even after the hand of frog – this is still funny
http://irishsoccerinsider.wordpress.com/2009/11/11/french-and-irish-fall-out-over-box-incident/
true dat.
Bob Bradley achieved all our goals as fans and our players goals. Indeed, maybe exceeded expectations so far.
All the players talked about was qualifying, there was not too many people who EXPECTED to reach the final of the confederations cup.
This whole situation reminds me of a certain handball in a certain empty net by a certain German sending home a certain U.S. team from Korea/Japan ’02.
Only then, the rest of the world seemed not to care.
Apparently it was done in france…
http://abcnews.go.com/Sports/wireStory?id=6980011
4. Bornstein?
and who oh wise sage and eminent junkie, would you place at left back? Castillo just became available, Pearce has unproven his worth….
5. Conor Casey?
See the 2nd to last game of world cup qualifying in Honduras when Casey scored two goals to put us up 3-2 to get to go to the World Cup and put us on top of qualifying.
Now, obviously Casey was not the obvious choice, but he worked out well did he not? Seems like a good coaching maneuver to do the unpopular thing, especially with those results.
Maybe Bob Bradley does the best with the players we have in the U.S.A…. I mean, I don’t think we have much better than what he puts out there….I think some of you are delusional that you blame Bob Bradley for our lack of playing talent at left back!
Why not station another asst. at the goal or close to it. It’s the most critical spot on the field and you have an assitant on one side 70′ away and the center who more often than not has his view obstructed with many bodies flying around the box. Have this additional referee asst. replace the idea of instant replay and provide another set of eyes (much closer) to catch not only these types of plays, but issues of balls that cross the goaline or not as well.
That is mainly why I would like the game to be replay.
About the cheating part… that is just part of soccer. Some teams overuse it but its part of it.
Paging US Soccer Federation, Guus Hiddink is available.
Wasn’t fifa trying to use a ref behind one goal? I think they did it on the U-20 world cup.
That could have prevented this.