World Cup Play-Offs

[TBM]

By the way, not that ireland haven't qualified for the World Cup I will officially be supporting England as will a lot of my mates.

Good to hear

Not France then? - you could then say you lost to the winners

[Sun Tzu]

By the way, not that ireland haven't qualified for the World Cup I will officially be supporting England as will a lot of my mates.

Plastics.

[Starfish]

Strange no one has started picking on me on this thread. I sort of feel left out.

Anyway, I saw a press conference with Trapattoni today and he was very clear in his 'we are out and we don't want a replay'. He argued instead (and it's an interesting point) that in International tournaments (and that would include CL or Europa Cup or whatever), a tie over two legs should be twice 90 minutes. If the score is tied after that - straight to penalties, no extra time as the home team in the second leg would then obviously have something of an unfair advantage. I am pretty sure most club managers would agree with that too.

He accepted defeat, accepted that an Irish player in Henry's position would have done the same under the circumstances, said we should learn from it and that is that. Personally, I would not like to see a replay either but for other reasons. I think Ireland played better than we have for over 7 years last night and to go to Paris again and replicate that, would be very difficult. Some people might claim that 'France were awful last night' but making the opposition look awful is what a team playing well does. It was beginning to look inevitable that France would score yesterday however - it's just a shame that the controversy has overshadowed a good performance and a decent game.

[Starfish]

Oh, and this is the first time a thread I have started has ever reached Page 3. Thanks for that Thierry. At least.

[FiNeRaIn]

Great post starfish.

To be fair too there are some absolutely lovely irish girls on this facebook group http://www.facebook.com/pages/France-do ... 0181019968

Well worth the sign up. WTF kind of a name is Béibhín for a girl though 0_0

[Sun Tzu]

Good post Starfish and that sounds a very dignified respononse from Trappatoni.

Clearly Ireland were very much on the receiving end of a bad situation but atthe same time some of the comments immediatley afterwards from people who should have known better were rather ill advised.

The 'no extra time' point is interesting.

I wonder whether there is an advantage in the extra 30 minutes being at home. If you are on top after 90 then would you rather have another 30 mins of proper football to press home the advantage or go for a lottery ? I don't know. I thought the football world in general felt penalties were an unsatisfactory way to decide these big games.

Maybe rather than 2 legs make the games just one leg at a neutral venue. No doubt practical issues arise with that.

[Victor Meldrew]

Surely people should be having a go at the officials, not Henry....i'm sure in that split moment he just instinctively stuck his hand out and handled the ball BUT as anyone who plays football knows........you play until the whistle, if the ref or lino didn't spot it - whats Henry to do???

There has to be some place in the game for honour and sportsmanship.

Nobody else has really picked up on this.
I wanted France to win but after the incident I rather hoped that the other Republicans would win (and then be totally embarrassed at the finals).
It's amazing how much the British media has been on about this game between two foreign sides.

What surprised me most was the attitude of Whelan and McLeish in the studio,Kevin Doyle when interviewed and even Trappatoni in suggesting that there was not much wrong with what Henry did,it was more a refereeing matter.
As Sun Tzu said earlier the Irish captain was penalised for deliberate handball but because those offences didn't lead to a goal that seems to be acceptable.

What has happened to sport especially with the "professionalism"?
Rugby players try to gouge eyes when the ref can't see(on the blind side ).
Batsmen don't walk when they know they are out and players tamper with the ball,others claim a catch when they know it's not a clean take.
Tennis players dispute calls to upset the rhythm of the other player.
Footballers diving,shirt-pulling,fouling and even deliberately hand-balling.
All of that plus the little matter of drugs.
These examples in sport reflect the "I'll do it if I can get away with it" attitude in society whether that be MP's expenses or parking on a yellow line.

Henry is no worse than so many of his fellow "professionals"-the idea that he should be banned from the World Cup as suggested by some on the radio is way out of line especially bearing in mind Keane's hand of a lesser God in the same game.
Today I feel sick of the "professional" aspect of sport but to put things in perspective concerning last night the little country went out like a non-league club playing a Premiership team-they played way above themseves last night after playing like a non-league side last Saturday and were a long way from being likely to go through even if THAT goal had been disallowed.
Let's not forget this play-off game and the others was for teams to have a second chance having failed to win their group-they should be grateful to have that second chance just like play-off sides in our league system and shouldn't really complain if (as earlier losers) they fail to take advantage of the second chance-do better in your group.
BTW for any conspiracy theorist the ref could well have given a penalty if it were cast in stone that the bigger country should go through.

[Dick Habbin's hairdo]

How many people on here are Irish?
How many people on here (for some reason) "support" Ireland?

Errr, the Mrs is from Tralee and she's so white, she's blue. My three daughters all have unpronouncable, unspellable names with lots of vowels and very few consonants. I have no choice. Even my bloody dog is a wolfhound.

Oh, and I thought Bobby Lennox was god when I was a kid and the first shirt I ever had was a Lisbon Lions Celtic one.

[Sarah Star]

Surely people should be having a go at the officials, not Henry....i'm sure in that split moment he just instinctively stuck his hand out and handled the ball BUT as anyone who plays football knows........you play until the whistle, if the ref or lino didn't spot it - whats Henry to do???

There has to be some place in the game for honour and sportsmanship.

Nobody else has really picked up on this.
I wanted France to win but after the incident I rather hoped that the other Republicans would win (and then be totally embarrassed at the finals).
It's amazing how much the British media has been on about this game between two foreign sides.

What surprised me most was the attitude of Whelan and McLeish in the studio,Kevin Doyle when interviewed and even Trappatoni in suggesting that there was not much wrong with what Henry did,it was more a refereeing matter.
As Sun Tzu said earlier the Irish captain was penalised for deliberate handball but because those offences didn't lead to a goal that seems to be acceptable.

What has happened to sport especially with the "professionalism"?
Rugby players try to gouge eyes when the ref can't see(on the blind side ).
Batsmen don't walk when they know they are out and players tamper with the ball,others claim a catch when they know it's not a clean take.
Tennis players dispute calls to upset the rhythm of the other player.
Footballers diving,shirt-pulling,fouling and even deliberately hand-balling.
All of that plus the little matter of drugs.
These examples in sport reflect the "I'll do it if I can get away with it" attitude in society whether that be MP's expenses or parking on a yellow line.

Henry is no worse than so many of his fellow "professionals"-the idea that he should be banned from the World Cup as suggested by some on the radio is way out of line especially bearing in mind Keane's hand of a lesser God in the same game.
Today I feel sick of the "professional" aspect of sport but to put things in perspective concerning last night the little country went out like a non-league club playing a Premiership team-they played way above themseves last night after playing like a non-league side last Saturday and were a long way from being likely to go through even if THAT goal had been disallowed.
Let's not forget this play-off game and the others was for teams to have a second chance having failed to win their group-they should be grateful to have that second chance just like play-off sides in our league system and shouldn't really complain if (as earlier losers) they fail to take advantage of the second chance-do better in your group.
BTW for any conspiracy theorist the ref could well have given a penalty if it were cast in stone that the bigger country should go through.

Well, this is why I think there should be some sort of comeback if there is any cheating rather than just saying 'oh, it's part of the game'. Fair enough if there is any doubt, but when there's not do something about it.

[sandman]

Henry should be given a ban from international matches until the end of the World Cup that he felt the need to cheat to get to. Although he probably won't miss it, I would like to think that Gillette will sack him from his promotional activities for them as well. See how he likes it when his bank balance is hit.

[Sun Tzu]

Henry should be given a ban from international matches until the end of the World Cup that he felt the need to cheat to get to. Although he probably won't miss it, I would like to think that Gillette will sack him from his promotional activities for them as well. See how he likes it when his bank balance is hit.

Banning him for a period when he won;t have any proper games would be a real harsh punishment !

And if they stripped everyone who handled the ball or infringed the rules of all their promotional earnings we'd never have a player appear in an advert again.

Does Robbie Keane do any endorsements ? Not that he'd be much of an advert !!

[FiNeRaIn]

Henry should be given a ban from international matches until the end of the World Cup that he felt the need to cheat to get to. Although he probably won't miss it, I would like to think that Gillette will sack him from his promotional activities for them as well. See how he likes it when his bank balance is hit.

LOL one of the most ridiculous posts i've seen for a while. Tell me what happened when reading cheated against watford last season? Oh yeah....nothing, and it was 10 times worse.

[Sun Tzu]

Henry should be given a ban from international matches until the end of the World Cup that he felt the need to cheat to get to. Although he probably won't miss it, I would like to think that Gillette will sack him from his promotional activities for them as well. See how he likes it when his bank balance is hit.

LOL one of the most ridiculous posts i've seen for a while. Tell me what happened when reading cheated against watford last season? Oh yeah....nothing, and it was 10 times worse.

You are fictionalising again.

There was no such incident.

[sandman]

Henry should be given a ban from international matches until the end of the World Cup that he felt the need to cheat to get to. Although he probably won't miss it, I would like to think that Gillette will sack him from his promotional activities for them as well. See how he likes it when his bank balance is hit.

Banning him for a period when he won;t have any proper games would be a real harsh punishment !

And if they stripped everyone who handled the ball or infringed the rules of all their promotional earnings we'd never have a player appear in an advert again.

Does Robbie Keane do any endorsements ? Not that he'd be much of an advert !!

Do you even know the concept of sporting behaviour? He cheated to get to the World Cup so he should be banned from it especially as it means so much to him that he cheats to get there.

Gillette should ban him because by doing this he has bought their company into disrepute. Do you see either of their other representatives Federer and Woods cheating so blatantly? "The best a man can get" cheating isn't worthy of a real man is it? I notice he also works for Unicef what does his cheating do for their image? Whilst I think parents should be kids role models rather than footballers what does his actions tell them? Even the French teachers union have condemned him for setting a bad example.

Your hatred of a particular nation is clouding your views. Henry is a cheat plain and simple.

[sandman]

Henry should be given a ban from international matches until the end of the World Cup that he felt the need to cheat to get to. Although he probably won't miss it, I would like to think that Gillette will sack him from his promotional activities for them as well. See how he likes it when his bank balance is hit.

LOL one of the most ridiculous posts i've seen for a while. Tell me what happened when reading cheated against watford last season? Oh yeah....nothing, and it was 10 times worse.

Reading did not cheat deliberately. They did not claim a goal they just celebrated it. They didn't know if the the ref had seen something they hadn't. And the Watford manager acknowledged it wasn't an effort by our players to cheat. Henry made a conscious effort to cheat.

LOL at you and your pathetic anti Celtic and Ireland shit. Grow up.

[Sun Tzu]

Henry should be given a ban from international matches until the end of the World Cup that he felt the need to cheat to get to. Although he probably won't miss it, I would like to think that Gillette will sack him from his promotional activities for them as well. See how he likes it when his bank balance is hit.

Banning him for a period when he won;t have any proper games would be a real harsh punishment !

And if they stripped everyone who handled the ball or infringed the rules of all their promotional earnings we'd never have a player appear in an advert again.

Does Robbie Keane do any endorsements ? Not that he'd be much of an advert !!

Do you even know the concept of sporting behaviour? He cheated to get to the World Cup so he should be banned from it especially as it means so much to him that he cheats to get there..

You'll be applying that line to everyone else who committed offences during the qualifying campaign though ? I mean if you apply it to one you have to apply it to all. So Robert Green is banned - after all he committed a far worse offence !

Gillette should ban him because by doing this he has bought their company into disrepute. Do you see either of their other representatives Federer and Woods cheating so blatantly?.

This is Roger Federer, the man who admits to using his line call challenges purely to disrupt the rhythm of his opponents ?

Your hatred of a particular nation is clouding your views. Henry is a cheat plain and simple.

Which nation would that be ? I can't think of a nation I hate. I dislike a few Americans, one or two germans and even a number of Englishmen but a whole nation ? Sorry, you are talking twaddle.

Agree that Henry committed an offence though. Same offence as Keane (just not as many times).

[Smoking Kills Dancing Doe]

I still remember the little oxf*rd rolling round the pictch at Elm Park to get a Reading player sent off after this player had patted him on the head.

And managing to get a different one red carded !

He didn;t even have the grace to tell the referee that he was dismissing the wrong player ....

Was it Bodin that did it and Davies that got sent off?
GAreth Davies and Paul Bodin. Remind me bout that next time I moan about the current back 4!!

[Sun Tzu]

I still remember the little oxf*rd rolling round the pictch at Elm Park to get a Reading player sent off after this player had patted him on the head.

And managing to get a different one red carded !

He didn;t even have the grace to tell the referee that he was dismissing the wrong player ....

Was it Bodin that did it and Davies that got sent off?
GAreth Davies and Paul Bodin. Remind me bout that next time I moan about the current back 4!!

Other way round I think.

And we didn;t raise it with the FA becasue we were right out of centre backs and didn;t want to lose Davies to suspension so Bodin took it for the team...

[sandman]

Banning him for a period when he won;t have any proper games would be a real harsh punishment !

And if they stripped everyone who handled the ball or infringed the rules of all their promotional earnings we'd never have a player appear in an advert again.

Does Robbie Keane do any endorsements ? Not that he'd be much of an advert !!

Do you even know the concept of sporting behaviour? He cheated to get to the World Cup so he should be banned from it especially as it means so much to him that he cheats to get there..

You'll be applying that line to everyone else who committed offences during the qualifying campaign though ? I mean if you apply it to one you have to apply it to all. So Robert Green is banned - after all he committed a far worse offence !

Gillette should ban him because by doing this he has bought their company into disrepute. Do you see either of their other representatives Federer and Woods cheating so blatantly?.

This is Roger Federer, the man who admits to using his line call challenges purely to disrupt the rhythm of his opponents ?

Your hatred of a particular nation is clouding your views. Henry is a cheat plain and simple.

Which nation would that be ? I can't think of a nation I hate. I dislike a few Americans, one or two germans and even a number of Englishmen but a whole nation ? Sorry, you are talking twaddle.

Agree that Henry committed an offence though. Same offence as Keane (just not as many times).

The hatred of a country bit wasn't aimed at you it was an error in replying to finerain. Henry cheated and if you want to justify that then go ahead but I do feel sorry for you if you think it is acceptable. Why don't you try cheating on your next tax return see if the the fraud office think it's acceptable.

[FiNeRaIn]

You are a bit thick mate.

Even if it was an error in replying to me, I have clearly stated and defended Ireland on the thread on AE.

Calls for replays, bans and sponsorship cancellations are laughable, cringe worthy in fact. Incidents like this happen day in day out in football.