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Morning Ticker: Henry backs calls for replay, Beckham battles ankle injury and more

Thierry Henry (AP)

Thierry Henry has backed calls for a replay of the Ireland-France World Cup playoff he helped decide with his now infamous handball, even though FIFA has already rejected a request for a replay.

"Naturally I feel embarrassed at the way that we won and feel extremely sorry for the Irish who definitely deserve to be in South Africa," said Henry. "Of course the fairest solution would be to replay the game but it is not in my control.''

FIFA already rejected the calls for a replay, citing the Laws of the Game, which clearly state that all decisions made by match officials are final.

Here are some other stories to get your Friday going:

BECKHAM BATTLES ANKLE INJURY AHEAD OF MLS CUP

LA Galaxy star David Beckham looks set to play in Sunday's MLS Cup final, but he'll battle through pain to do so.

Beckham took part in his first practice of the week on Thursday as he battles an ankle injury suffered in the Galaxy's Western Conference final victory against Houston.

Beckham and the Galaxy arrived in Seattle on Thursday night ahead of Sunday's MLS Cup Final vs. Real Salt Lake.

BARCELONA DUO HIT WITH SWINE FLU

French defender Eric Abidal and Ivorian midfielder Yaya Toure have been diagnosed with swine flu. Abidal was already sidelined by a thigh injury, but now he and Toure are battling illness as Barcelona prepares to face Athletic Bilbao a week before the highly-anticipated showdown vs. Real Madrid.

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What do you think of these story? Buying Henry's calls for a replay? Think the Galaxy can win MLS Cup with a hobbled Beckham? Hoping Henry is the next Barcelona player to catch swine flu?

Share your thoughts below.

Comments

  1. Classy response by Henry, but he should have no shame. Fouls happen all the time in every sport. Change the refs or bring in replay. If you ain’t fouling you ain’t trying.

    Vive Henry

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  2. I’m not so sure everyone’s anger about this is misplaced. But I don’t think the level of rancor is just because of Henry’s action. People were already upset at the way Fifa greased the skids for France by screwing around with the qualifying schedule, and the Ireland result adds injury to insult.

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  3. 57tele: handballs in attack are almost never carded–the only ref I’ve seen consistently do so is Marco Antonio Rodríguez(Chiquidrácula)of Mexico. Intentional defensive handballs are usually yellow if they are a blatant attempt to disrupt the attack, red if an imminent goal-scoring opportunity thwarted. I have seen a few not so clear defensive handballs not carded.

    Short of doing a video review every time these situations come up, maybe FIFA could just emphasize carding handballs equally in attack or defense: if you call it it’s intentional, so yellow. If in the box or creates/thwarts imminent goal-scoring opportunity, red. The problem, of course, is the handball in attack is currently rarely carded, often even laughed at by refs as they call it, so attacking players have no reason not to try it.

    By the way if you mention Germany’s handball in 2002 you must also mention John O’Brien’s handball against Mexico. It should also have been called a penalty, though probably only a yellow card. Or a myriad of other circumstances involving other teams where a call or noncall may have turned the balance of a game that often is won or lost 1-0 on a single pivotal play.

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  4. Why do you assume only your conclusions apply? Suppose one of the officials saw the offside or the hand-balls and did nothing. And there are probably more reasons to let the officials tell their side.

    PS: If the hand/arm is extended for advantage it’s still a violation no matter what hit what.

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  5. Yes. I’m with you on this. It pretty much echoes what I had put up there. Basically, replay should only be used after play has stopped on its own. Don’t use it to tell the referee he missed a call and let play continue; use it to make sure that calls that are made are the correct ones. Leave the stuff that happens in the middle of the pitch alone, but when the ball moves into the box the stakes get much higher.

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  6. FIFA made a mistake by seeding the teams last minute. They should have gone ahead and done that before. Sepp Blatter doubles as a businessman and FIFA President. Just like every president before him or the commissioners of the sports in America, it’s about the money. You think a World Cup without France or Ronaldo is good for business? No! It’s BAD for business.

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  7. Don’t ever compare NFL to Football. Football is fine the way it is, America can keep it’s replay system, so cos football does not do it the sport is negative, then don’t watch.
    If there was another official on the goal line like we have seen in Europa League, he would have caught that. I don’t need the game pausing like it’s an American sport; I’ve had enough with the diving players already, don’t need any replays to decide the action for me.

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  8. The time for Henry to not be a douche was when he knew he handled the ball and the referee didn’t. I’m sure the referee would have called a handball if Henry had told him about it.

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  9. I think the Coaches should get one challenge call not per half but for the entire game. This will encourage the coaches to use that one challenge call wisely. If you challenge the legitimately of a goal call and if its not a goal then restart the game at the center spot with possession for the team that was not allowed the goal.

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  10. maybe New Zealand should just let Ireland have their spot in the World Cup, since the Kiwis obviously don’t deserve to be there…

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  11. It assumes nothing ko’d. Did you even watch that game? The USA was outplaying Germany virtually throughout the whole match. It would have been the correct call, had it not been for Frings hand the ball would have been in the back of the net! Handball in penalty area! Any assumptions after that is purely speculative, but would have been the right call.

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  12. FIFA states that the result of the match cannot be changed and the match cannot be replayed. As is clearly mentioned in the Laws of the Game, during matches, decisions are taken by the referee and these decisions are final.”

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  13. They CAN’T have video review at all without at least trying to implement 1 behind the goal line on each side AR and a 2nd referee on the field! Some form of this should have happened after “the hand of god” so many years ago! Too many calls are interpretive calls (shoving/shirt pulling on corners, diving etc.) by the refs rendering in-game video reviewing irrelevant. Extra sets of human eyes would have surely weed out the ‘cheats’.

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  14. I am seeing a silver lining in this:

    1) France gets a top seed

    2) US is drawn into France’s group

    3) The entire stadium minus a few thousand French is cheering for the US in their match

    4) US wins 2-0

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  15. In re-watching the Henry’s handball play from different angles, I noticed that the assistant referee is way out of position. It would have been his responsibilty to call the foul. He is at least 3-5 yards behind the play and slowly jogging back. AR’s are supposed to be even with the 2nd to last defender(goalie being the last defender) or with the ball, whichever is the deepest. The replay I saw showed that IF the AR was in his correct position he would have most likely seen the handball. However, since he was behind the play and out of position, his view was probably blocked by Gallas. The center referee was in the correct positon, to the left and behind the play. He would almost certainly not see this handball since an Irish defender is between him and Henry.

    The replay I’m speaking of is at this link and is about 40 seconds into the video:

    http://www.france24.com/en/20091119-press-react-henry-main-de-dieu-football-france-ireland-world-cup-sport-thierry-uk

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  16. It would be an interesting scenario if France was on the receiving end of a clear handball that kept the out of the WC. What would FIFA’s reaction be then? Would this whole fiasco play out the same way. I wonder.

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  17. Of course Henry will back a replay – he knows it will never happen.

    He’s just trying to heal his broken image because of endorsement deals.

    If he feels so badly for Ireland, and say they deserve to be there, I dare Henry to remove himself from France’s 2010 WC squad.

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  18. Apparently so. The French commentators were going mental at the end of regulation when Domenech had used up all of his subs and none of them were named “Karim Benzema.”

    Domenech and Maradona have to be the early favorites in the “Which Manager Will Make the Most Spectacular Blunder at the World Cup Contest.”

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  19. As I think about this more, I continue to believe that it would be a terrible precedent for FIFA to order a replay under these circumstances. That said, I’m wondering what would be the harm in the French football association offering and agreeing with the Irish to go ahead with a replay on their own. If it’s just the Irish making the request, it can’t go anywhere. If the Irish got the French to join them in seeking FIFA’s sanction of such a match, it’s harder to see how FIFA can deny it. Instead of being confrontational about this, the Irish should try to convince the French that it is in their interest to have a replay.

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  20. I haven’t read any of the comments so far, but I would like to note that on top of the bs job job done by the officials, FIFA set up the Irish to fail with the “fair” seeding they conducted in the first place that paired them with France.

    Reply

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