World Cup Play-Off..

[lildave3]

AFIE, did you cheer Beckham's penalty against Argentina?

[dandannieldanok]

Gets worse every time you see it, the picture on the BBC Sport frontpage 1/6 captures it perfectly. Feel so sorry for Ireland.

[Manwell Pablo]

Sums up the kind of person you are.

Oh Shut up.

We've been screwed over in just about every way since the World Cup started in 1930, if a bit of luck happened to go our way for once I'd see it as justice before anything else!!

[Samilktray]

:laugh:

[Manwell Pablo]

Just think of the back lash you'd get if you actually did own up to hand balling the ball over the line and France ended up going out as well! You'd never live it down!

[CosbehFox]

togo '06.

Never lost by more than two goals, had two managers at the event and a team rioting between themselves. But yes

Angola.

Drew twice and lost to Portugal by a goal. Competitive.

[Guest Bilo]

Most entertaining thread of the year. Some classic quotes can be found.

Thierry Henry is a fucking cheat.

Ireland should be at the World Cup but won't be.

Hopefully France will get knocked out by New Zealand or North Korea and the laughter will be heard from Dublin.

The Irish probably pissed themselves at the Hand of God so schadenfreude is indeed a bitch.

That's my take on it anyway.

[Radovan's Caravan]

Oh Shut up.

We've been screwed over in just about every way since the World Cup started in 1930, if a bit of luck happened to go our way for once I'd see it as justice before anything else!!

1) England did not enter the World Cup until 1950

2) England had considerable luck in 1966 - 9/10 referees would not have awarded Geoff Hurst's second goal (even though a GERMAN study indicates that the ball actually crossed the line for about 1/200th second in flight between bar and turf). It could also be argued they were even more fortunate against Argentina in the QF. England were absolutely filthy and provocative. It was this behaviour and a communication problem with the ref that led to Ratin being dismissed. England won 1-0.

3) 1986 - 'hand of God' - say no more

4) 1998 - a clear penalty and a goal denied against Argnetina in the 'round of sixteen'

5) 2006 - Ronaldo getting Rooney sent off in the QF

Hardly more sinned against than sinning - 3) & 5) were situations that could have been recovered by a quality side. And '86 is evened out by '66.

Par for the course I say.

Henry is a sportsman who gave into a temptation that eleven out of ten Premier League players have little difficulty in resisting week in, week out.

Would be interesting though to speculate about whether FIFA's reaction would have been so stoic if Henry's indiscretion had occurred in a match against a big European side (Spain, Italy Germany). Such national associations have more clout.

Or I wonder if their respective FIFA reps would get the mandatory call from Zurich: 'no more brown envelopes for you if you demand a replay.'

[Fosse Boy]

Well your need to take a long look at yourself.

I would of loved it last night if I was a French player/footballer and I would of loved it even more if England done the same and we went to the World Cup and won it.

Winning the World Cup is massive, I dont care how we win it aslong as I get to see them win it in my lifetime. Next you will say you wouldnt enjoy seeing Leicester win the Premier League because they won it by cheating.

So you're saying you actively want England to cheat to win the World Cup now? OK...

AFIE, did you cheer Beckham's penalty against Argentina?

I'll hold my hands up and say I did because I was only a kid then and I thought that beating Argentina at any cost was the most important thing at that time. But if your team has to cheat to win it doesn't feel like a "good" victory if you get what I mean. You can't celebrate it like you could celebrate a fairly won victory. Or maybe that's just me...

[lou]

Henry did what every other footballer in the world would have done... end of.

Ireland had their chances and didnt take them - Im desperately sorry for them but thats life.

Like others have said none of you would say a thing if it had happened to an England player.

I still love Henry its not his fault the ref was a dick. If anyone seriously expected him to run to the ref and beg him to disallow the goal youre clearly off your heads... he would have been crucified by his entire team/manager and countrymen and to expect a player to do that is a joke.

You win some you lose some.

[Manwell Pablo]

1) England did not enter the World Cup until 1950

2) England had considerable luck in 1966 - 9/10 referees would not have awarded Geoff Hurst's second goal (even though a GERMAN study indicates that the ball actually crossed the line for about 1/200th second in flight between bar and turf). It could also be argued they were even more fortunate against Argentina in the QF. England were absolutely filthy and provocative. It was this behaviour and a communication problem with the ref that led to Ratin being dismissed. England won 1-0.

3) 1986 - 'hand of God' - say no more

4) 1998 - a clear penalty and a goal denied against Argnetina in the 'round of sixteen'

5) 2006 - Ronaldo getting Rooney sent off in the QF

Hardly more sinned against than sinning - 3) & 5) were situations that could have been recovered by a quality side. And '86 is evened out by '66.

Par for the course I say.

Henry is a sportsman who gave into a temptation that eleven out of ten Premier League players have little difficulty in resisting week in, week out.

Would be interesting though to speculate about whether FIFA's reaction would have been so stoic if Henry's indiscretion had occurred in a match against a big European side (Spain, Italy Germany). Such national associations have more clout.

Or I wonder if their respective FIFA reps would get the mandatory call from Zurich: 'no more brown envelopes for you if you demand a replay.'

I'm aware they didn't enter until 1950 I was emphasising a point. And if you want to be pedantic, 1986 and no.3 are the same thing so you're referring to it twice?

I'm not sure what point your trying to make, you've named a number of situations where we've been ****ed over (and I can think of a number more) and justified it by saying a quality would of recovered it, that's not really relevant, the fact of the matter is recoverable or not we didn't get the luck/ref's decision. You've then stated that being on the receiving end of the biggest display of deliberate pre meditated cheating at a world cup finals has been balanced out by the fact that we were awarded goal in 66 that has had its legitimacy scientifically proven. Par for the course Righty-o.

[Babylon]

If Rooney picked up the ball with his hands and ran the length of the pitch, pulled out a revolver, shot the keeper and then threw the ball into the net I wouldn't care, If it meant we won the world cup in my life time.

Ireland want a rematch? Get a grip Ireland, there have been plenty of similar things happen to teams all around the world, why is your case any different to deserve a rematch!

[Fosse Boy]

If Rooney picked up the ball with his hands and ran the length of the pitch, pulled out a revolver, shot the keeper and then threw the ball into the net I wouldn't care, If it meant we won the world cup in my life time.

Ireland want a rematch? Get a grip Ireland, there have been plenty of similar things happen to teams all around the world, why is your case any different to deserve a rematch!

But until FIFA do set a precedent and take action like ordering rematches, banning players and generally fessing up to the fact that the game is rife with cheating, the cheats will continue to prevail. Look at how gutless UEFA were with the Eduardo diving case.

[Babylon]

But until FIFA do set a precedent and take action like ordering rematches, banning players and generally fessing up to the fact that the game is rife with cheating, the cheats will continue to prevail. Look at how gutless UEFA were with the Eduardo diving case.

Unfortunately you are going into a minefield with things like that. There are cases of handballs like that where it was a complete accident, do you impose rematches and sanctions for those too? Much of the time there is no way of knowing if it was done on purpose or not.

[davieG]

I'll never condone cheating even from the teams I support and have been embarrassed by it on many occasions. I can accept that players feel they have to exaggerate a foul on occasions to get the attention of a weak referee but not blatant intentional cheat.

I don't thing the game should be replayed because although cheating took place it's ultimately a failing of the officiation, as hard as that can be at times to recognise this and that happens in practically every single game.

I see no reason however why retrospective punishment of the player cannot take place, it's already used for violent play and I see no difference with this offence especially when it has a significant impact on the outcome of the game.

[Tommeh]

If it were the other way round and France were done over and Ireland were at South Africa FIFA would be all over this in outrage.

[Manwell Pablo]

I'll never condone cheating even from the teams I support and have been embarrassed by it on many occasions. I can accept that players feel they have to exaggerate a foul on occasions to get the attention of a weak referee but not blatant intentional cheat.

I don't thing the game should be replayed because although cheating took place it's ultimately a failing of the officiation, as hard as that can be at times to recognise this and that happens in practically every single game.

I see no reason however why retrospective punishment of the player cannot take place, it's already used for violent play and I see no difference with this offence especially when it has a significant impact on the outcome of the game.

Doing something like that is reactionary though, he's not thought about it, he's just done it, and fessed up after as well. Ultimatly if a referee can't spot something like that they shouldn't be reffing international football.

[davieG]

If it were the other way round and France were done over and Ireland were at South Africa FIFA would be all over this in outrage.

& Platini

[purpleronnie]

nah.

[davieG]

Doing something like that is reactionary though, he's not thought about it, he's just done it, and fessed up after as well. Ultimatly if a referee can't spot something like that they shouldn't be reffing international football.

So is punching someone in retaliation but they still get punished, besides he touched it twice so dilutes the only a reaction theory. I agree about the reffing, well linesman because there was certainly a decent call for offsides in that melee so where was he?

[deepbluedevil]

The game should be replayed, but that will never happen.

As far as fifa are concerned, the right team won.

[Uncle Albert]

So you're saying you actively want England to cheat to win the World Cup now? OK...

I'll hold my hands up and say I did because I was only a kid then and I thought that beating Argentina at any cost was the most important thing at that time. But if your team has to cheat to win it doesn't feel like a "good" victory if you get what I mean. You can't celebrate it like you could celebrate a fairly won victory. Or maybe that's just me...

Yeah like I said I dont care how England win the World Cup aslong as we do, means we have cheated down the line then why not?

It must be you because to me a win's a win, I treat every win the same unless it's against a rival team but to say you were only a kid then is a silly comment because the majority of people on this forum would have celebrated Beckham's penalty in the same way, doesnt matter if people were kids or grown men.

Maybe if it was Germany who had done the same you would of felt differently.

If Rooney picked up the ball with his hands and ran the length of the pitch, pulled out a revolver, shot the keeper and then threw the ball into the net I wouldn't care, If it meant we won the world cup in my life time.

Amen.

[Fosse Boy]

Maybe if it was Germany who had done the same you would of felt differently.

Why?

[Uncle Albert]

Why?

It was a joke because you seem to have a fascination with German football but thats a different debate for a different day.

I like it how you didnt respond to anything else I said, maybe thats because you can't answer as you know I am right. Thanks Foxy.

[dandannieldanok]

If Rooney picked up the ball with his hands and ran the length of the pitch, pulled out a revolver, shot the keeper and then threw the ball into the net I wouldn't care, If it meant we won the world cup in my life time.

I would care personally, to me there just wouldn't be any satisfaction from winning by cheating. Its like down at Leicester matches, I find it embarrassing that everyone will cheer Steve Howard when he dives over to win a freekick.

In this case, Henry obviously cared, he wasn't exuberant in celebration because he knew he cheated. There's no way he would have been so subdued in celebration had he not handballed it.