Another ridiculous Ref decision...

[Dodger]

Henry clear as day handles the ball to keep it in play before crossing for a fellow frog to score and the Ref and Linesman see nowt!!

The Irish should have been out of sight but sadly it looks like I am only going to have 1 team to support this summer.....any team that play the English.

 

[HomerJSimpson]

Henri was far side of the linesman so the ref wasn't going to get any help there but it was pretty blatant. Shame as I thought the Irish had played well especially for the first hour

 

[rgs]

Should have been picked up by the officials. I'm gutted we deserved to put the French out.

Another reason why technology-video ref- is required.

 

[PhilTheFragger]

There has to be a big push for a Video Ref as they have in Cricket and Rugby

The stakes are so high and to not do it is farsical

 

[drawboy]

Football will never bow to the pressure of video refs. It is blatantly corrupt as this game clearly shows, and week in-week out in premiership matches. A world cup without France was never going to happen ever! Fifa will go through the motions of smacking the naughty ref on the hand but in the long run Ireland have had to pay the price for a corrupt game. If I were Irish I would be fuming. Shame on football again.

 

[AuburnWarrior]

Football is blatantly fixed and this is yet another example! Who do FIFA want at the World Cup - France with Henry, Ribery, Anelka, Gallas et al or Ireland with Keane, O'shea and Given? Also, why did FIFA suddenly introduce seeding into the play offs? Should have been a random draw.
It's the same in the Champions League - UEFA didn't want another all England final so Chelsea pay the price.

 

[StuartD]

The extra refs used in the Europa league have been much crticised. If they were used here they would have only been 6ft away from the incident. Still would have missed it though

I agree the decision to seed the draw at the last minute was disgraceful. They all finished 2nd so it should have been an open draw

 

[AuburnWarrior]

It makes a mockery of both FIFA's and UEFA's statements that they want the 'lesser' leagues and 'lesser' countries to start getting a bigger slice of the action. They then proceed to seed the groups and 'forcing' the refs to make shocking decisions.
I see the Irish are asking for the game to be replayed. Nice idea and it should be - won't happen though.

 

[freddielong]

I have it on good authority that as Fifa is one of the most courupt organisations in the world that this is ok (if you are french)

p.s. Barca taught him to cheat not Arsenal

 

[toonarmy]

A Frenchman cheats to win something - big shock there.

For all those Irish that laughed at England in '86 (and that was a WC QF, not a play off, which if you'd been better you wouldn't have been in in the first place) and support 'anyone playing England'...


...ain't karma a bitch.

 

[USER1999]

I like Tony Cascarinos view on this. Pot and kettle me thinks. Henry has cheated the once, and is therefore to be despised and outed as a cheat. Something Cascarino says he would never have done.

So getting 80 odd caps for a country you have no blood ties to at all (or residency) isn't cheating?

The ref / linesman is at fault for not picking it up.

All footballers cheat. Some just get away with it a bit more than others.

The sad thing to come out of this is that Domenech keeps his job. He makes Steve Mclaren look good. That's Frances chance of winning the WC scuppered then.

 

[slugger]

FIFA are a nonsense. This is typical of various incidents over the last few years where the "bigger" nation gets away with bloody murder and nothing is ever done about it!

I also know that the only reason the world cup is still going ahead in South Africa is because FIFA own 90% of the hotels and will make big big money from it. The world cup will be a shambles, but someone else will get the blame. In a way, i'm glad Scotland didn't qualify so as i don't need to go there and put my life in danger!

 

[forefortheday]

Henry clear as day handles the ball to keep it in play before crossing for a fellow frog to score and the Ref and Linesman see nowt!!

The Irish should have been out of sight but sadly it looks like I am only going to have 1 team to support this summer.....any team that play the English.

And we'll be supporting any team that plays Scotland. Oh hang on that won't work will it

Seriously if you think this is bad read "Foul" by Andrew Jennings.The depth of Fifa's corruption will make you seethe.

Shocking decision but the worse one was the seeding one.

 

[toonarmy]

The sad thing to come out of this is that Domenech keeps his job. He makes Steve Mclaren look good. That's Frances chance of winning the WC scuppered then.

France's chances of winning the WC scuppered because they have a terrible manager is bad why?

Bad enough they were crow-barred into 'winning' it in '98, so frankly stuff 'em. Nothing would give me greater pleasure than seeing Platini's face as France go out (preferably to an African team whose players they shamelessly steal and preferably to a really bad decision).

The man who burnt Joan of Arc wasn't just wasting good matches.

 

[USER1999]

I like watching France play. They used to play with flair, skill and passion. Give me the French to watch rather than the Italians any day. Obviously I prefer to watch Brazil than any one else.

I don't really follow the world cup, to me it is like watching Watford, when I am used to watching Arsenal.

 

[AuburnWarrior]

I like watching France play. They used to play with flair, skill and passion. Give me the French to watch rather than the Italians any day. Obviously I prefer to watch Brazil than any one else.

I don't really follow the world cup, to me it is like watching Watford, when I am used to watching Arsenal.

Arsenal = France!

Unfortunately the Brazilians are playing more like Germany under Dunga.....

 

[clubchamp07]

I thought Henry controlled it very well. It looked like ball to hand to me.

 

[USER1999]

Why does Arsenal = France?

In our regular squad of players, not counting all the kids, of whom there are many (often english), there are 7 frenchies, yes, but also 5 english, 3 spanish, 2 swiss, and one of each denmark, croatia, czech, mexican, brazilian, welsh, cameroon, polish, russian, italian, ivory coast and belgian.

Therefore Arsenal = any one capable of kicking a football who owns a passport, not just frenchies. We are only 2 english players short of the french contingent, and obviously that doesn't include Ramsey who is our token welshman, but is from the home nations so almost counts.

 

[AuburnWarrior]

Why does Arsenal = France?

In our regular squad of players, not counting all the kids, of whom there are many (often english), there are 7 frenchies, yes, but also 5 english, 3 spanish, 2 swiss, and one of each denmark, croatia, czech, mexican, brazilian, welsh, cameroon, polish, russian, italian, ivory coast and belgian.

Therefore Arsenal = any one capable of kicking a football who owns a passport, not just frenchies. We are only 2 english players short of the french contingent, and obviously that doesn't include Ramsey who is our token welshman, but is from the home nations so almost counts.

Yes - got him!!!!!

Easiest wind up in the World - tell an Arsenal fan that his team is the French national side in disguise.....

Similar to a Chelsea fan being told that they've 'bought' the Premiership - they always bite.....

 

[viscount17]

who says they do!