France will head to the 2010 World Cup in South Africa with the memory of Thierry Henrys blatant handball still burned in most football fans memories.
His handling of the ball before playing it to William Gallas to head in at the end of 1st half of extra time sealed the victory for France in a game where Robbie Keane’s first half, normal time strike put the Irish back on level terms over the two legs.
This moment bought a massive cloud over what was quite an enjoyable game, and also bought shame to the one of the worlds best and most respected players. He admitted to handling the ball after the game but that has done nothing to calm the Irish nor has it done anything to change the result.
The Irish FA have called for a replay, whilst the French FA have called for some perspective on the matter, with the French Football President saying “You have to take a philosophical approach to this match. Football is played on small details, however, qualification is still beautiful”
The incident has inevitably bought up the issue of TV replays, an idea which will probably be continually dismissed out of hand by FIFA.
A FIFA source has stated that a replay will not happen, as it opens the floodgates for masses of other calls for replays, however, there is no doubt that situations like this need to be addressed in the future,