Ireland still in World Cup?

[John Boy]

but this issue is now getting ridiculous. Yes Henry cheated but that is NOT why Ireland didn't qualify. It's one of the reasons but not the main one.

, yep, I agree with that. I have said this since day 1.
Sky Sports News and some tabloids have really annoyed me recently, as they seem to think they represent the FAI and Irish fans

 

[Firingblanks1]

A bit harsh on the Irish

I think most of you are being very hard on the Irish. Truth is that if Henry hadn't cheated Ireland would probably have had a 50% chance of winning a penaly shoot out. As it is, Given, Duff and Keen will probably never play in a World Cup finals. No i'm not Irish, but cut them some slack, if it had been the Albion you lot would be giving it a right old moan up....pot, kettle, black springs to mind!

 

[Cian]

As it is, Given, Duff and Keen will probably never play in a World Cup finals.

They all already have, in 2002.

 

[Firingblanks1]

Thanks for the correction, but I guess they would still be pretty cheesed off?

 

[Cian]

Thanks for the correction, but I guess they would still be pretty cheesed off?

Well, yes. There will certainly be quite a few retirements from the international squad coming shortly as some of the players are going to see themselves as too old to bother for Euro 2012 even.

 

[drew]

If the FAI has actually asked this its a little embarassing. Up until now, it was mainly the English media that had kicked up a fuss, and I actually think the FAI acted with a lot of dignity - a polite request for a replay, followed by an acceptance but condemnation of its refusal. This is a bit ridiculous. Wouldn't say no if FIFA offered it though!

I still think people are jumping the gun a bit to compare this to poor refereeing decisions or even missed chances, it was blatant cheating that won a game in a very very direct way.

It was not the cheating but poor officials that didn't spot the incident. Any professional foul, shirt pulling, diving etc is cheating but you don't see games replayed because of it. Would Keane/Duff et al have owned up if they had done the same at the same point in the game. Of course they wouldn't.

Not true - look at the table.

Had the penalty not been granted and the result otherwise stayed the same, we would have still qualified for the playoffs. We finished 4 points clear of Bulgaria and our results against Georgia were discounted from the calculation to find the lowest points second place team anyway.

The point is that had you not got the penalty, you may well have lost the game as you were 1-0 down at the time. Without that 3 points, the dynamics of the group would have changed and that could have affected performances in the last few games from both the Irish and the the likes of Bulgaria!

 

[Kinky Gerbil]

While its not going to happen Im not sure Blatter should be seen laughing at about it?

 

[Barry Izbak]

I confess I didn't really care about this until I heard that **** Blatter laughing at the Irish.
The bloke is a fckuing disgrace. How on earth does he keep his job? Unless of course its because all the FA's who vote him in are filled with similar tossers.
Blatter out!

 

[El Presidente]

The Football Association of Ireland has continued its policy of applying to enter events it has not qualified for by submitting a formal application to compete at the 2010 World Snooker Championships.

The move comes just hours after the FAI applied to be the 33rd team at the FIFA World Cup, effectively asking to ruin a competition format that is nearly fifty years old.

“We feel that just because we haven’t qualified for an event, doesn’t mean we shouldn’t be taking part,” said FAI President David Blood.

“I mean, whose idea was this whole, ‘only play if you qualify’ thing anyway? It sounds suspiciously like corruption to me.”

“In fact, if you think about it, the fact that we didn’t qualify for it would make our participation all the more interesting.”

“It would make a great movie - the rights to which we already own, by the way.”

The Crucible is due to host the world snooker championships in Sheffield in April 2010, and the FAI has made it clear that they too, would like to be involved.

“No, technically we have not qualified for the Snooker finals - but I say to you - should the winning of matches in a particular sport really be the deciding factor on who gets to compete in the finals?” Continued Blood.

“By denying us the opportunity to take to the baize at the Crucible, the authorities are simply hiding behind bureaucracy and so-called ‘rules’ to prevent the dreams of millions of Irish people coming true.”

“Do you know who else stuck fastidiously to the rule book no matter how compelling the alternate argument? The Nazis. That’s right, I said what everyone else is thinking.”

U2 front man Bono has this morning added the considerable weight of his ego to the campaign to get the Irish team to the World Cup finals, with David Blood concluding, “Please don’t hold that against us, please.”

 

[glasfryn]

I confess I didn't really care about this until I heard that **** Blatter laughing at the Irish.
The bloke is a fckuing disgrace. How on earth does he keep his job? Unless of course its because all the FA's who vote him in are filled with similar tossers.
Blatter out!

agreed
and there are many players, management and fans that will not forget what that sniffling little tosser has done he made the Irish a laughing stock in front of the worlds press and I'm sure if it had been done to the French all hell would have been let loose

 

[ATFC Seagull]

The point is that had you not got the penalty, you may well have lost the game as you were 1-0 down at the time. Without that 3 points, the dynamics of the group would have changed and that could have affected performances in the last few games from both the Irish and the the likes of Bulgaria!

The main point is that we didn't even appeal for that penalty, let alone deceive the ref in some way! If that was down to us cheating or being unsportsmanlike, then I'd be suitably embarassed by it, as most French fans are now..

Interesting that my point yesterday (which was totally ignored on here) has proven to be correct today. For those that say "stop whinging", the request was made a while ago not yesterday, and was supposed to be in private.

I wouldn't have agreed with it, but its clear that Blatter has brought this up now to turn public opinion against Ireland (which reading this thread it obviously has succeeded in doing), even though we had given up. Its no coincidence that he mentioned it in the same conference as saying Henry's family have been receiving threats.

 

[pork pie]

I just cannot believe the thick ***** are still banging on about this! Get over it you bunch of morons!

 

[ATFC Seagull]

I just cannot believe the thick ***** are still banging on about this! Get over it you bunch of morons!

That's exactly the point, we're not. Blatter was the one who brought this up.