Thetownend.com

Anyone else watching this tonight? Im looking foward to it should be a good game!

No. I'm watching WW3 (Algeria v Egypt) on Eurosport.

Be more action in the crowd than on the pitch there though.

Only the 15,000 police deployed for the match.

I will probably watch Algeria V Egypt until the game is abandoned, then i will watch the ROI game, cant see them getting into the world cup though

Fuck the football JJ, War is wheres its at!

The game has already kicked off and there's been a mass brawl after 3 mins...and no-ones got booked !!

Algeria go 1-0 up...

The Eurosport commentator has said that there are an estimated 50,000 in the ground...yet the ground is supposed to only hold 42,000, and seeing some of the pictures of people sitting on walls, I can belive it. When will FIFA learn, as it's only 7 months since 19 people were killedin the Ivory Coast :

http://fourfourtwo.com/news/worldcup2010/27695/default.aspx

Algeria qualify...

Game was poor, probably due to the rock hard pitch, but Algeria got their tactics spot on.

nervy start for france....come on ireland

I want france to win, fucking hate the irish.

Ukraine are out then, Greece through.

Come on Bosnia & Ireland.

A Celtic fan that hates the Irish.:o

Go Paddys!

Really surprised by that. Hasn't it been years since Ukraine actually lost at home? I guess it had to happen at some stage.

gooooooaaaalllllllllllllllll

fucking get in

Is this on the tellybox?

sky sports 1

Sky Sports :(

Well that's that then. All of you watching it are responsible for the impending death of football. Just saying.

get a job you pikey cunt

or try here......

http://p2p4u.net/watch-live-sports.php?id=8477&link=1

why are the french team all wearing bras?

i want them to do those french twats so bad.....come on ireland

It would be good to see the Irish get through - wouldn't bet against France pulling it back late on though.

Russia might be going out. Down to 10 men, and away goals...

Why is it that England are the only country that have player names on their shirts? I thought everyone had to.

Nah. It's just that our lot get confused in the changing rooms and throw a strop if they don't have them.

getting a bit edgy, its going to be a long twenty mins

Fuck me, how many chances do Ireland need?

Keane and Duff should have finished this.

Kevin Doyle is shite.

i got a feeling that the quote "heartbreak for ireland" will feature tonight

Sweet, the stuff I was downloading finished and link2 works nicely. Nice one.

Slovenia have beaten Russia on away goals...Russia finiahed with 9 men...

Domenech makes Steve McClaren look good...

Well this is exciting.

I've only got 3 cigarettes left. I'm going to have to ration them over my wine and the rest of the game.

Well extra time then.

more exciting then england

It'd be nice to have a team to support throughout the 2010 worldcup. Come on Ireland

Good decision from the ref there. From what I could see peering in from outside whilst having a fag anyway.

Terry Henry the cheat !!

Oh dear France you cheating cunts.

Maradona Henry.

boooooooo

Heartbreak for Ireland.  Blatant handball.

Terry Henry...the new Maradona !!

Hand of God Mark II

The stream broke just before they scored. Got another one working but it's french and I missed what happened. I saw Henry get booked from diving just before.

Fuck me that was disgraceful, no way was it accidental - he deliberately controlled it with his hand TWICE.

If they give out bans for diving, how many games is Henry going to get banned for?

Cheating fucking scum.

cheating fucking cunting henry

I wouldn't worry about missing it first time round, there will be plenty of replays of that goal for a long time to come.

The other bad thing is that it's now impossible that we'll get the excitement of penalties.

I hope the Irish get a goal with seconds left to shut the French up.

2211: EVEN BIGGER CONTROVERSY. This is quite unbelievable. Long ball over the top - and two French players are offside - but forget that, Thierry Henry juggles the ball CLEARLY with his hand before squaring for William Gallas to bundle in. The Republic of Ireland have been robbed here. Robbed.

That is harsh.

Cheaters never prosper...Yeah right !!!

Legend!

just replay the fucking incident you sky cunts.

i'm very intrigued to see this...Henry has always been a bit of a hero for me and judging from the sky sports shots of him next to richard dunne he looks as if he's just admited being a massive cheat

Gutted for Ireland, but at the end of the day I'm English and couldn't really give a fuck. I dislike them as much as the French.

Not seen it yet?

Crappy replay here (about 50 secs in)!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UDvUvKzUUhU

That looks a bloody disgrace.

that chinese kid is far too close to the screen.

no wonder they all have funny eyes

This is why I'd never be a professional footballer, I consider myself reasonably mild mannered but there's no way in that situation I wouldn't have punched either Henry, the Ref or both.

Edit: Also, a complete lack of talent has something to do with it.

Even Gallas was walking away looking guilty after the goal. Crazy.

Like Nemo said.  If Henri had even tried to talk to me, and I was fit, and talented, and irish, and playing in that game etc etc etc, the bastard would have been chinned so hard he'd be picking teeth out of his shit for weeks.  Cheat cheat cheat cheat.  How he had the audacity to stay on the pitch and lord it up after that...

Cracking pass i thought

Must admit I was hoping that after the final whistle one of the Ireland players would say "fuck it, what have I got to lose" and then go up to Henry and punch his lights out. What's the worst that could have happened? A red card and a three match ban - that wouldn't mean much at present would it? And he'd be a national hero in Ireland.

Hopefully they'll get the IRA on it.

oh tans, you're so controversial! you just don't give a fuck! you wacky fellow you

Am i the only one that finds it really funny? I don't like the Irish, or the French either to be honest, but i still find it funny.

what a farce. i'm not particularly bothered about the result but it's just another reason to hate football for me...

This man speaketh sense. They would be pissing themselves if it happened to us.

:Ride On Fatbury's Lovestick:

Yes, but by not pissing ourselves we become better than the Irish.

Irish is the only non-English identity which is obvious in my family tree. It's nice to have an extra. Also my granddad was a really interesting bloke, I'm pretty sure I've gone into him being a Catholic Priest before.

Exactly d'Artagnan. That's why it's funny. But Ben is right. We're better than that. :D

Nah, surely not :)

I'll bet we don't hear too much from Platini on this.

I'm with Sonic Youth on this one, football's becoming more of a joke by the week. It's embarassing. I don't really give a shit re: the outcome, although I'd rather see Ireland there than France. What fucks me off is I'll have the kids team I coach all handballing it later, thinking that can get away with it.

The BBC are live-blogging this. I think that's taking it a bit far.

I can remember when all the other home nations including the paddy's were pissing themselves laughing when Maradona did the hand of god in 1986 I say what comes around goes around.

It all seems to be discussion about Anelka. For me the real discussion to be had is about refereing (sp).

I guess I'm one of the few English people that always wants Ireland and the other home nations to do well, except for when they're playing us of course. We've all got a lot in common, most of their players are in the English leagues so why wouldn't I support them? Though I don't really give a toss if they lose.

Some people are talking about holding a replay, that will never happen. But they really do need to do something about the cheating. Surely Henry should be brought up on the same charges as Eduardo and given a lengthy international ban?

One of the Ireland players said the ref should have asked Henry what happened. I like that idea. Give the player a chance to come clean at the time, if he does then there should be no punishment and if he doesn't through the book at him after the game. A bit of honesty from players would do a lot to improve the game.

I think a lot of English people think that way, but it does seem to be rather one way.

No me too. Although it doesn't stop me laughing at them when they fuck up.

Yes, they should ban France. Not the football team, the whole nation. The UN Security Council should pass an immediate resolution outlawing the whole concept of France.

I'd propose that the notion of 'France' is reduced to 'Cheese and Wine Party'

France should be rebranded as "South England" as punishment.

didn't watch the game but had it on the radio.the way people were going on about it you would have thought henry threw the ball in the net,and deserved to hang for his crime.
having seen the goal it was blatant handball.but a hand ball every footballer has done in reaction at one time or another.to say he is a cheat and has ruined his reputation etc is absolute madness.the goal shouldn't have stood, but nobody would say "oh excuse me ref but can you chalk that goal off as i handled it in the build up"
i wanted ireland to win and they have been robbed,but it happens.it has historically and it will again.

I forgot that the referees make the game shit, not the players themselves.

comments like that iare why this country is short of referees - one decision we don't agree with suddenly makes the whole refereeing job impossible. what would the game be like without referees? Last nights ref did everything right. Referee (and assistants) have to see an infringement to be able to give free-kicks (i thought that would have been obvious), but in a crowded 18 yard box, with the ball to the 'blind' side of the player, he hasn't got very good chances to see it. Think of our game at Tranmere, i nearly started to cry because JFL punched the ball in the box, nobody mentioned a thing though.

Were we all laughing when UEFA decided to trial the 2 extra officials...i bet ireland would have wanted them there last night. the standard of refereeing (generally) is good, but players are aware of the areas where referees find it difficult to spot things, and they play for it.

Fair game if they get away with it.

It wouldn't have come to this though really if FIFA & UEFA hadn't got together and decided that had better do something to help out the likes of France, Portugal etc who are big countries and who may not be at the world cup and changing the seeding for the play-off's so it meant that the smaller nations would have to meet one of the bigger nations.

But I suppose it has been reported that corruption is rife within fifa.

I don't think the ref takes any blame at all for missing the handball as there is no way he could have seen it as his view was blocked. The linesman on the other hand should have seen it as his view wasn't blocked and it happened exactly where he should have been looking at the time.

Interesting that the Swedish press (where the officials are from) are up in arms about it as well, with one paper saying the officials should never be allowed to work an international match again.

 http://www.youtube.com/v/ty5vgjMOsAI&hl=en_GB&fs=1&rel=0

 :D

ref's view was blocked? then he should have been in a better position. That's no excuse.

Couldn't have said it better myself. (Apart from the last line, as i'd rather France won than Ireland.)

When i saw it i found the issues people are taking with Henry ludicrous. It's not even in the same ballpark as Maradona.

Goodnight and God Bless


Ace

That's hilarious. I'm actually embarrassed for him and his excessive annoyance. I suppose it'd be no differnet if it happened to us, but it didn't. Ah well, at least he's putting the stolen video camera to good use.

i reckon it's the best thing to happen in football for a long time. i don't mean the result, i mean the effect it's had = very entertaining

excellent article: http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/blog/2009/nov/19/thierry-henry-handball-france-ireland

I don't understand why video refs aren't seriously considered.

In an ice hockey game last week (pittsburgh penguins against the dallas stars, I think) the puck was shot into the net. The goal judge, referee and line judge failed to spot it, so play continued for 2 minutes. At the next break in play the video referee reviewed the previous play, the goal was given and the game clock reset to the time the goal was scored.



However, last night a similar turn of events took place between the detroit redwings and the dallas stars, the play wasn't reviewed so the goal wasn't given.

Who knows!

in which case the referee needs to be in all places at once, and must tell players not to run across his line of sight. Maybe players shouldn't be allowed to run at all, so that the referee has more of an advantage to see things.

I suggest you referee some games before you start talking about a referees positioning - he's never going to see everything in the game because of the players contesting for the ball, or racing back to help out.

Are you always this aggressive?

Yeah, France cheated. Henry is a cunt. There shouldn't be a replay. Don't care if he gets a suspension or something. No there shouldn't be video refs.

I'm always right. You are all gayzors.

Oh yeah, I just had an awesome afternoon nap. Take that society.

Time for lunch.

Incidents like this is what makes football ace. Its not perfect, its contraversial and its unfair.

Football would be crap if it was perfect.

 No, it wasn't agressive. there is never any point in skirting around a point trying to be made, i just go ahead and say it...maybe i shouldn't be so blunt? :(

Spot on.

The Irish FA are writing to FIFA to ask for the game to be replayed

Its never gonna happen

Agree.  It's not fair, but if FIFA agreed to a replay I think it would set an unworkable precedent.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/internationals/8368100.stm

If they did I would start a campaign to replay the 1986 World cup.

With the same teams?

the irish FA should just let it go and hold the heads up high in the knowledge they were very close to getting there.

henry's handball didn't cost them a world cup place, poor finishing did

i dont see what the big deal is, i dont think it even hit his hand

me neither, i thought he shinned it :)

on this point- how much of a difference would then beating italy have made to the group standings if they could've defended a smidge better?

I reckon it depends on whether the French FA agree to a replay, if they do then I don't see a problem with FIFA agreeing to it. But, FIFA making the decision would be dangerous and I can't see them doing it.

I still think the solution is to let it go, but for Henry to be given a 4 match ban from FIFA competitions - so it would start with the group matches of the World Cup. Hitting players with lengthy bans is the only way to stop them cheating.

Fucking hell it was an instictive act, i don't believe he meant to do it. The uproar from this is hysterical

instinctive? yea, if he played basketball... :P

Ironically, the action as he performed it would actually have been illegal in Basketball as well. Nice.

Agree there.

probably been said allready but it a shame what happened, its never a nice thing for it to happen to your team but no way shuold it be replayed, if they allow it to be replaced, we'll have every team asking for replays.

Althuogh I support England I'm half Bog Wog. There's no doubt it was a massive fuck up by the officials but nothing will get changed by it. The offside was a difficult call. The cheese eating surrender monkeys should be ashamed but the lure of money and SA will more than compensate.
I thikn Henry has been the best player I have ever seen in English football but if FIFA had any balls they would ban him from the World Cup and make him accountable for his actions.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FNJndFpgTEI&feature=player_embedded

Oh, and apparently the Irish FA are formally asking for a replay. But the refs decision is final so a futile thing to do.Though I suppose it is being done out of principle rather than expectation.

The great Tony O'Cascarino who played for the Republic, scored 19 goals and played in 2 World Cup and 1 European Championship finals.

in his own words:

"Henry is an insincere cheat" (Ireland fail to qualify)

"I didn't qualify for Ireland. I was a fraud. A fake Irishman" (Ireland qualify)

Once a Gill, always a hypocrite

I do. Giving the French the opportunity to decide on a replay means that they could be under political pressure to do so. Yeah the Irish aren't exactly a super-power, but do you start replaying games for every bad decision when a country can exert pressure?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/8369379.stm

this cheeky chappy (cheif of FAI) thinks that the game should be replayed as one team should have gone through and it wasn't france. i'm not sure he knows that the game should have gone to penalties and ireland weren't a stick on to go through

Fifa have told Ireland to sod off regarding a replay.

I feel sorry for the Irish, but they're making this bigger than the Maradona incident in '86. The 'Hand Of God' was an absolute disgrace, and in a WC quarter-final as well. As people have said the Irish should've killed the game of in normal time, as there was only oneteam in extra-time, as the Irish seemed knackered.

But due to the fact that Blatter and Platini, have gone quiet, especially as they both normally like being in front of a TV camera, that the conspiracy will continue, even tough I do have sympathy in regards to 'seeding' of the draw,but they might have drawn each other anyway.

See Roy Keane's put the boot into the Irish on this.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/internationals/8370327.stm

And he's right. But it shouldn't detract from what is, after all, a splendid opportunity to excoriate the entire French nation

That interview with Keano was quality :)

Theyd never get a replay anyway, Platini and Blatter innit

This is the worst part of it for me - Blatter / FIFA and Platini / UEFA being silent over the whole affair, other than issuing statements repeating the laws of the game. Most of the time they can't keep their mouths shut, especially when it comes to cheating, yet suddenly they've got nothing to say.

If that play off match had been England against France, and it had been Rooney's "hand of god" that put England through would they be so silent about it? Would the suggestion of a replay be ignored and disregarded so quickly?

I doubt it. Most likely a replay would already have been arranged and Rooney would have already been charged and banned. They are nothing more than hypocritical, two faced, cunts. They both go on about the damage the Premier League has caused, but those two and the organisations they front have done far, far more to damage the game than the Premier League ever will.

They invinted Gaelic football, they should be appluaded Theirry's skill.

Its only Ireland for fucks sake.All players cheat,its just about who the latest victims are.

Fully agree Jonny.FIFA's motto is 'For the good of the game', but they are one of the most corrupt organisations in the game. Just read any Andrew Jennings book, but especialy 'Foul!' and have a look at the following website http://www.transparencyinsport.org/.

And Platini goes on about English clubs with high debts, but goes quiet as soon as Real Madrid, who has an estimated £500m debt, goes on a £250m spending spree, and despite having rules about being financially solvent in Germany, it didn't stop Borussia Dortmund racking up debts of Eur 130m, and nearly went bankrupt in 2005 (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/4274377.stm ).

Some sort of move needs to be made to let technology help decide in these matters.

I would support a system like tennis, where players get 3 appeals to Hawkeye. If, in a game of football, team captains could have 3 appeals against decisions it could have a number of positive effects - it would give the ref some support and it could also stop players crowding the ref. It could also prevent diving, as players would know that the opposition could ask for TV adjudication during the match.

YES  ;D

I like that Wiggy, that'd be good because 3 chances of appeal would likely still keep enough controversy to really get wound up post match. I'm semi-against video refs and replays, but if you get only 3 appeals you could imagine the crowd being on tenterhooks several times at every game. Could be good.

I personally wouldnt want any video replay of any kind bought into the game, these kind of incidents make football what it is. Big talking points/arguments make the game fun for any neutral, great for any decision winning side and shit for the victims, but that is a part of the game that we all love and it could go anyway for any team. If anything was to be done about things like this then the FA or FIFA should take matters into account after the game, passing on punishments to the cheating player.

Just watched the Roy Keane interview. That's actually surprisingly good viewing. Love it when the phone rings. :D

We don't need video replays. What we do need is;
- more officials on the pitch, five or possibly more in high profile games.
- goal line technology, that sends an automatic signal to the referee when the ball crosses the goal line.
- harsh penalties issued post match for any player that cheats or deceives the referee in any way (diving, handball, feigning injury etc).

At the same time we need to clamp down on dissent. Allow the captain and vice captain to approach the referee and discuss decisions, with an instant booking for any other player approaching the referee without being called.

None of this is rocket science and could be quickly and easily implemented, if we didn't have a bunch of cunts running the game.

NO WE DO NOT

Football has worked fucking fine for 100+ years. We don't need fucking change. The 'hard luck' factor is what makes football great.

Its only a game. People seem to forget that

Its not now though, is it. Its money!

Fuck football then

I'd rather do Lily Allen

As was argued extensively a few months ago, where are these officials going to come from given that we complain about the ones we already have?!

That's rubbish, the game and especially the rules have been changed countless times over the years and mainly for the better. If the rules hadn't been changed we'd still have outfield players catching the ball and there wouldn't be a cross bar.

Obviously there needs to be a balance and getting rid of all the questionable decisions would be bad. But I don't see any problem with goal line technology and more officials. Video replays would be a bad thing though.

Don't agree, so long as its use is capped to each team having just 3 challenges.

They have all of that in the NHL, and even the English Ice Hockey leagues and it works a treat. Also an 'official' clock that stops when the ref blows his whistle and starts when he blows it again, to stop this fucking stupid added on time rule which is probably the most retarded law football has.

http://www.jeu-de-main.com/

http://www.unitedrant.co.uk/?p=4332

The linesman should have flagged for offside and flagged for 2 handballs.

Any TV replays are giving more benefit to the people on TV to the detriment of those at the ground. I think TV replays have ruined cricket. All the spontenaity is taken out of it.

Its a game, its played by people, people make mistakes. This is the problem with people trying to view it as a business. Its not, its a sport. You cant sue the linesman because he made a mistake.

Henry really is a complete and utter cunt. He's now come out saying he considered retiring from international football after the Ireland game, as he felt so bad and felt totally let down by the French FA.

You deserve to feel bad, you cheating French piece of fucking shit.

Agreed, he's a massive cock.

From the Spoiler:

Ever since he decided to illegally smear his warm hands all over a football during a hugely important World Cup qualifier, Thierry Henry has been desperately attempting to convince the world that, seriously, he’s just a man… albeit one who is standing arrogantly in the middle of a football pitch, demanding that the crowds adore him.

His winning-you-back techniques so far have included: consoling the Irish players by sitting with them on the pitch after the match, feigning world class sympathy. Joining the Twitter generation to tweet about how gutted he is about the time that he deliberately handled a football, then pretended that he hadn’t. Then finally demanding a replay, a few tactical hours after FIFA had rejected the idea. Oh, and now he’s been caught sniveling through an interview in L’Equipe.

The shamed French captain kicked things off by insisting that he would probably have retired from international footie, were he not such a fighter, believing that - in time - people will forgive him for practically catching the ball and throwing it onto William Gallas’ outstretched foot. He further explained his feelings of “abandonment”, and being “truly alone”, for a few days after the match.

“I should not have done it,” he said, in a moment of touching football honesty… “but frankly, it was uncontrollable”.

Ahh darn it! Just as we were mustering an ounce of sympathy.


Tosser.

Yeh, well I considered having 15 pints, a curry and shagging Miss World. I've also considered what I'd do if Town ever won the European Cup. Then I considered that it didn't actually give a fuck what I considered but it did mattter what I actually did - which was fuck all.

Leave him alone if he was an englishman we'd be right up his arse now

It was offside anyway, even before Henry touched it.

Doesnt take away from the fact that he's an insincere prick trying to fool people with token efforts at redeeming his name.

Where is the line drawn though?  Michael Owen, 1998 v Argentina for the 1-1 penalty - that is a clear dive.  How many of us complained?  If we had gone on to win that game, would we think it needs to be replayed?  Has his reputation suffered because of it?

I'm not condoning it - but Thierry Henry is far from the only top class footballer to cheat.  To make the issue more local - I stood up and cheered like a maniac every time O'Halloran converted a penalty that Sabin won - and I've never felt a trace of guilt for doing so.

Owen didn't dive, admittedly he played for it but the defender stuck his leg out and there was contact.

I guess part of the thing with Henry though is that it was such a high profile match and the whole cheating thing has been getting bigger and bigger recently - especially due to the Eduardo incident. So its kind of the icing on the cake and the shit hit the fan as a result. Maybe it could be a good thing and they'll actually clamp down on the cheaters.

What's Eduardo's leg break got to do with Henry's handball?

Absolutely nothing.

Both parts of the body doing something they shouldn't?

As you probably guessed that was probably the shitest attempt at fishing ever.

What is Thierry Henry's favorite Elton John song?

I don't know, what is Thierry Henry's favorite Elton John song?

I don't know. It was a question, not a joke.......

Someone's just told me it 'Handles in the win'. Groan........

Just give it up Ireland. Are they taking advice from Sheffield Utd on how to drag a situation out?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/internationals/8386207.stm

this is, with blatter involved anything is possible.

Surely there are countless examples of nations cruelly denied a win or draw throughout the qualifiers so what gives Irish the right to assume that they would have gone on to win that game?

It's embarressing if I'm honest. I've no problems with the Irish and it was an atrociously bad decision but this is a joke.

Fully agree. It's like us asking FIFA to make us joint winners in '86 after we were cheated by Maradon's handball.

FAI..just get over it.

Great interview with Roy Keane, no nonsense as usual, what a legend :)

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/internationals/8370327.stm

They were denied a chance of going via penalties. They had never earned the right to go to the World Cup at any point during the 2 games.

Also, what about in '93 when Koeman should've been sent off in the qualifier against the Dutch after bringing down Platt? Did England ask to be made to be the '33rd team' despite Koeman then scoring the first goal, which eventually saw us eliminated ? No.

After castigating the German ref for a few months, we moved on.

One thing it did do was get rid of Graham Taylor as manager, though.

I can't even figure out how adding a 33rd team would work. I guess it would mean a 5 team group which would really fuck the group stage up. Even less chance of this happening than them getting replay.

They really need to let this go, they're just making themselves look a right bunch of twats.

Surprise, surprise. FIFA say no :

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/internationals/8388671.stm

As I read it the Irish weren't serious about the proposal, more trying to tease a professional response out of FIFA on how cheating can be stamped on in the future. Not that it can.

As much as it pains me to say it, Blatter actually talked a lot of sense in his press conference the other day. He sounded serious about stamping out cheating (diving, handball, something else I can't remember) and about improving decision making with extra assistants, goal line technology and so on.

Big question is whether they will actually do anything or not. I can't see anything negative with the extra assistants behind the goal, I'm not convinced its the ideal solution or even the best place for them, but it can only be an improvement. No reason for them not putting them in place for the World Cup either.

FIFA have said they'll be discussing disciplinary action against Henry. I still think this is the best route to tackle cheating - after the game with video evidence, punishing the player with a substantial match ban. If Henry gets a 3 game ban, ruling him out of the group stages of the World Cup, the next time he's in a similar position he'll be sprinting over to the ref to correct the decision.

During a game, even a blatant dive shouldn't be penalised with a free kick or a card. Its often impossible for a ref to make the correct decision and far too many players are getting cards they don't deserve as a result. Not getting a penalty when you should is bad enough, getting a card on top is just stupid.

I think the World Cup had 24 teams back then...if we'd have got in at 33 it would've fucked up the draw big time. (Sorry).

Oh, and I don't know how goal line technology would have helped the linesman spot the offside before the handball.

Good to see FIFA are continuing their "fucking useless" policy.

Its taken them two weeks to decide to launch an investigation to decide whether Thierry Henry is a cheating cunt or not. They've also decided to have another inquiry to decide whether extra officials and goal line technology would help improve decision making, or not.

Have FIFA ever made a decision without forming a committee to form a committee to launch an investigation?

Its a pity we don't have football fans (you know, the ones that finance the game) making decisions instead of corrupt ex-players and officials that are more interested in the back handers and quality of their hotel room, than the game itself. Fucking wankers, the lot of them.

I'm coming to the conclusion that FIFA may be staffed by Vogons.

There was another goal that wasn't in the Egypt v Cameroon African Cup of Nations quarter final when the Cameroon keeper punched the ball against the post and ball came back down on the line and away. The lino gave the goal, when it clearly wasn't.

Egypt went on to win 3-1, and now meet their rivals Algeria against in WW3 Part 3, in the semis.