World Cup Play-Offs (Europe) Draw

[noel 78]

i agree with Nerik it should be a red card either way.as for henry hes fooling no one with his claim he considered retiring from international football because of the handball.people still talk about the maradona hand of god.that was nearly 25 years ago nothing has changed since then.id be surprised if it changes now.

[noel 78]

FIFA announce they are to hold extraordinary meeting this week.what exactly does that mean?highlighted will be the henry cheat case but under no circumstance will the IRISH get a replay.nothing extraordinary about that statement maybe the meetings going to be a huge beach party for recoginition of the fantastic job platini and co do there

[Negative]

Before:


and after:

[shass]

bbc sport
Republic of Ireland ask for extra 2010 World Cup place

Fifa's Sepp Blatter has revealed the Republic of Ireland have requested a spot in the 2010 World Cup finals as an extra team after their play-off defeat.

The Republic lost to an extra-time goal against France when Thierry Henry handled the ball during the build-up.

"I will bring it to the attention of the Executive Committee," said Blatter.

The president of football's world governing body added that goal-line technology and extra referees would be considered for the South Africa finals.

The executive committee will hold an emergency meeting in Cape Town on Wednesday, two days ahead of the draw for the finals, to assess the idea of extra match officials.

If they recommend the proposal it will go before football's rule-making international board in Zurich in March for a final decision.

"It's possible we will make additional officials for the World Cup but we have to see if it is feasible or realistic," added Blatter. "Something has to be done in terms of match control.

"We have only one man on the field of play who shall intervene in this matter. He has two assistants for the time being, perhaps more in the future. He has to make an immediate decision.

"He has only two eyes. So match control is now is on the agenda. How shall we avoid such situations as we have seen in this very specific match?"
   
Regarding the Republic's case, Blatter added that Costa Rica, who also believe they were unfairly denied a place in the finals - this time because of an offside goal from Uruguay - would also have to be acknowledged if extra places are discussed.

The Football Association of Ireland released a statement, confirming Blatter had agreed to a meeting in Zurich last Friday, which lasted for 90 minutes.

"A lot was discussed at the meeting and at one stage the FAI asked if Ireland could be accommodated into the World Cup 2010," read the statement.

"Other suggestions were also made to mitigate against further occurrences of such incidents, including the use of additional goal-line assistant referees for Fifa international matches, further use of video technology for matches at the highest level, stronger provisions to discourage players from engaging in such blatant breaches of the laws of the game and provisions to strengthen referee selection for such important matches."

The Republic originally asked for the play-off to be replayed but that request was turned down by Fifa.

The man at the centre of the storm, former Arsenal striker Henry, released a statement two days after the infamous match in which he said a replay would have been "the fairest solution".

[shass]

if that fails, they should just go anyway and kit out.

[kopdude]

I do not agree with granting Ireland a place just because of this incident.  I think a replay of the match would be a much fairer solution. 

[grandrake]

Getting ridiculous and embarrassing now. Yeah, they got hard done by, but this almost smacks of desperate begging.

[Robser]

Its done, it s over, it is embarrassing now, I mean for fook sake, its over, they cheated and got through, tahts it!

[Nosferatu]

Well the cost of not making it has cost the FAI millions of euros. So for that amount, desperate begging probably is appropriate.

[Falkman]

Reports say about £100m to the irish economy!

Now thats the real price of cheating!

[Nosferatu]

I can well believe it. Gets people out and about spending money.

[Nerik]

Extra place my arse..........should have been 25 in USA 1994 when Koeman was not sent off for a professional foul on Platt and then scored 3 mins later. On and on and on......

[Robser]

Well the cost of not making it has cost the FAI millions of euros. So for that amount, desperate begging probably is appropriate.

No its embarrassing, 33 teams, FFS. Its done and it hasnt cost the economy 100m, ridiculous to suggest it has. Oh but Italia 90 etc etc.

Italia 90 also coincided with many events worldwide which resulted in our economy picking itself up, it wasnt simply down to a World cup. And this one would not pick us back up off the floor by some footballing miracle of people going out and spending money again - do you go into town very often, every weekend pubs and clubs are absolutely wedged, people are out spending money already.

Lots of people would probably try borrow to go to the WC here, borrow more than they can afford for a one month or less stint in SA and then struggle with repayments depending on their job or job security, you think thats good for the economy?! Come on!

Look its damn unfortunate what happened but an extra place, its a fooking joke, we are being laughed at and rightfully so for even suggesting it. And this believe that it would of magically dragged us out of a recession is even more ludicrous! 

[Falkman]

As stated, 'Reports suggest'

Whilst i'm sure that a £100m boost in economic spending and revenue could be over elaberate, there is no denying the economic advantages of being in the world cup finals. Both financially and in terms of national morale.

I'm not too sure anyone has suggested that a World Cup place will miraculously drag ROI out of recession.

But i take it we are agreed that a WC berth would be more advantagous than not!

[zaphod]