Thierry Henry now says that a replay would be the fair thing, but FIFA won't have any of it. Roy Keane thinks FAI should drop the cause and move on, and France's coach Raymond Domenech seems just happy to have qualified.
The KC Star got in on the act today, as Matt Schofield chimes in on the story, laying out the details for those who haven't yet heard of them and offering a modern-day morality lesson. Click to continue reading...

Welcome to another edition of Groan in Brief, the weekly look at the world of football in bullet point form. Today, we tackle the Worst Handball Ever in History And Time Itself â„¢, and the curiosity of Egypt's continued absence from the grandest stage of international football.

'That' handball

Whenever the media decide to jump on a story, what transpires is the most unsightly of feeding frenzies, each reporter seeking to trump the last.

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Well, at least "The Sun" didn't go with "The Hand Of Frog" as their headline. This, however, was about the best thing that could be said for the media hysteria over Thierry Henry's handball for France against Ireland last night. First of all, though, we may as well take a quick look at the incident itself.

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The Irish FA is calling for a replay. Will it happen? Who knows, but there is no doubt that it was a hand ball. Thierry Henry even admits it:

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What are the laws of football for?  You get sent off for dangerous play because it's dangerous. You get sent off for fouling too much because you shouldn't foul too much.  But what are the implications of these dastardly acts? Usually nothing. Just the general cleaning up of the game and allowing it to be the free-flowing attacking game we all love.

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France captain Thierry Henry admitted he had handled the ball in the build-up to a controversial goal that sent France to the World Cup at the expense of Ireland on Wednesday.

Talk about Maradona's Hand of God, for the Boys from Ireland, this tragedy at the Stade de France will now be known as Henry's Le Hand of God.

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SPAIN ended its last International Football game for 2009 with aconvincing 1-5 victory over AUSTRIA in Vienna tonight. The Austriansstarted with aggression & surprised a "cold" Spain in the 6th min when JANTSCHER scored for the home team.This awoken the "red beast" as Spain turned on the machine with Xavi,Iniesta, Silva, Villa & CESC FABREGAS taking over the ball & equalizingvia the later in the Click to continue reading...

It's a rivalry that goes back decades. Some say that it's political, whilst others point at matches from the past that have inflamed sensibilities in a world that seems to consider the art of taking offence to be the next step in the evolutionary chain. Both sides of the divide sees the other as being the absolute opposite without ever seeming to take the similarities between their two nations into account.

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I'll admit that hearing many a pundit say that a World Cup without France would lose some of its bite made my blood boil. Â I have nothing against French Football, and in fact cheered for them in each of their four knock out stage matches of Germany 2006.

But from my perspective an Irish defeat today in Paris would be a defeat for football.

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Well, the national team were abroad, of course, but we're not counting them. The Brazilian and Mexican leagues were the major top flights in action in spite of the international break during the weekend just gone, and there were goals in both of them. You can read about them and watch them right here, as [. Click to continue reading...

Goal-shy 2010 World Cup hosts South Africa flopped again on Tuesday when held 0-0 by Jamaica in a lacklustre friendly. Bafana Bafana (The Boys) have not scored for 385 minutes and the first African nation chosen to stage the international football showpiece ended a 17-match schedule this year with just nine . Click to continue reading...

Benni Mc Carthy Takes a Shot Against Jamaica

Maybe the "weakened" Jamaica was a better opponent for South Africa, because Bafana Bafana managed to play forward although they were held to a goalless draw at Vodacom Stadium on Tuesday.

That means the 2010 World Cup hosts have now scored just six goals in their last 12 internationals.

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This weekend saw another round of international games, some important like the playoffs for the final positions at the World Cup, but all too many were unimportant games that counted for absolutely nothing t should the top players be excluded form playing in them to avoid injury?

I know that this brings up loads of potential problem like who do you classify as a top player etc.

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When I wanted to write a preview of the Bafana Bafana vs Jamaica match in Bloemfontein this evening, I thought I would just go and see what the online experts say.

Kickoff.com Bafana's One problem is Two Shoes

Former Bafana Bafana midfielder John "Shoes" Moshoeu says that while South Africa has not been doing very well in their last few international games, all is not yet lost.

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For a couple of years, it looked as if "100 Greatest" or "50 Greatest" television programmes might just eat up the whole of the schedules in Britain. Channels gave over whole evenings to raiding their archives and there was hardly a subject that they didn't broach. The results, perhaps predictably, were often mixed but occasionally they got it just about right and this is what happened with "The 100 Greatest World Cup Moments".

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by JAMES CURTIS It would seem the November injury curse stretches beyond just Arsenal playing staff. This dreaded plague is now spreading among Arsenal fans too as I write this with a fractured leg, sustained over the same weekend as Van Persie ruptured his ankle ligaments playing for the Dutch against Italy.

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Scotland's 0-3 defeat to Wales at the weekend has all but sealed Burley's fate, however, and reports from Bonnie Scotland state George will soon be on the dole. But who would replace Burley? And are Scotland's failures really a management issue? Graeme Souness may have just crossed himself off a few Christmas card lists as he told the press he wouldn't want the Scotland job primarily because the country has produced no talent to work with. Click to continue reading...

Class Act FIFA has banned Argentina Manager Diego Maradona from football from Nov 15- Jan 15 following his outburst post 1-0 victory over Uruguay last month. The stress of World Cup Qualification proved a bit much for Diego and although his nation had just won their spot in South Africa, he opened up in a lewd tirade [. Click to continue reading...

Meet Darrinho Darren Bent ensures his return to international football was a success by switching his allegiance from England to Brazil. He may well bite his nails: OTP reckons the good people of Umbro won't be overly impressed by his choice of clothing.

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The title of ‘most repugnant man in world football' isn't hotly contested. Anyone remotely aware of FIFA Vice-President Jack Warner knows that he'd have got to keep any trophy years ago, and that he'd keep it anyway, even if he was supposed to give it back. To sum up his football administration career, he's a ticket tout and swindler an arrogant, ignorant, thuggish, loutish, borderline racist, dictatorial, political failure.

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Jamaica Coach, Tappa Whitmore

Even though the media may be reporting that Jamaica has picked a media strength team for its international friendly against Bafana Bafana in Bloemfontein on Tuesday, this is going to be no walkover for the South African National Team.

According to the Reggaeboyz website, Jamaica coach, Tappa Whitmore said his players had worked hard and well together in training and that this game was an opportunity to show that they can compete with anybody.

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Argentina were thoroughly outclassed by the European champions on Saturday night in the Vicente Calderón, losing 2-1. Xabi Alonso scored twice for the home side, the second a late penalty, whilst Lionel Messi got a temporary equaliser also from the spot after just over an hour. I wasn't in the best shape last night, hence [. Click to continue reading...

England's preparations for next year's World Cup in South Africa got off to a slow start yesterday as they were confidently beaten by the World No.1 side Brazil. Nilmar's 47th minute header was enough to see off the challenge of Fabio Capello's men. Admittedly it was a second string England side, but one that still consisted [. Click to continue reading...

Coming in late last night, a little tipsy, I noticed a friend had emailed me a link to a Youtube clip of Van Persie going off injured after a tackle by Giorgio Chiellini.
If you watch the video, Chiellini does little wrong. Robin bursts into the box and he comes across to cut it out - whilst my original reaction (below) was to blame him, I don't think this is fair. Click to continue reading...

Carlos Alberto Parreira began his second tenure as Bafana Bafana coach with a 0-0 draw against Japan in their international friendly encounter at the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium in Port Elizabeth on Saturday.

Bafana Bafana Didn't Lose

But Bafana Bafana didn't lose!

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Most of you have probably already seen this, but Robin van Persie tore an ankle ligament today, an injury which will keep him up for around 2 months..

What, you may ask, super-important match was he playing in to take on such an injury? Was it the World Cup? Nope. The European championships?

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Just a brief post to say the above. International football is frothy warm urine compared to the clear red cabernet sauvignon of the champions league. Bring on the end of the inter-lull. Click to continue reading...

It has taken twenty-eight years, but New Zealand are back on the global stage in world football. Their 1-0 win against Bahrain this morning saw them through to the World Cup finals next summer. A record crowd for a football match in the country of over 35,000 packed out The Westpac Stadium in Wellington.

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Video goal highlights from the Brazil vs England international football friendly in Doha, Qatar on November 14, 2009, Saturday. Game kicks off at 17.00 GMT. Wayne Rooney is set to captain England in the absence of John Terry. Brazil vs England highlights and team lineups to be updated. Related posts:4-0 England Slovakia goals- Highlights All the [. Click to continue reading...

It's a busy weekend of futbol, as the MLS Conference Finals take place and the final places in the 2010 FIFA World Cup will begin to become more clear. CONCACAF 4th placers Costa Rica will host Uruguay tomorrow night, and the first leg of the UEFA playoffs will take place. The U.S. National Team, complete with our captain Jimmy Conrad, will play Slovakia tomorrow morning at 9 a. Click to continue reading...

Not yet, Trapa. Hope is alive and well. The Republic of Ireland and France will face each other in the first leg of their competition for a place in South Africa in 2010 tomorrow at Croke Park in Dublin. Being that it's my birthday and I'm Irish by heritage, I think it's only fitting that fate allows [. Click to continue reading...

Carlos Alberto Parreira, Bafana Bafana Coach

Bafana Bafana coach Carlos Parreira is optimistic about his team's success against Japan. Bafana Bafana take on Japan in a friendly international match at the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium in Port Elizabeth on Saturday.

And a Port Elizabeth Sangoma, Puseletso "Nkomiyahlaba" Maropane', has predicted that Bafana Bafana will win by 2 –O.

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Please chime in on this, as I'm sure there will be much debate. Ken Gude of the Huffington Post says that 2009 is the year that soccer arrived in America. Not because of Pele or Beckham, but because of mainstream media (read ESPN) upping the ante on soccer coverage. He also cites the continued success of the sport at the youth level and, consequently, improved play on the field by our Men's National Team. Click to continue reading...

Argentines Abroad is delayed slightly this week by the Monday night fixture bumping the normal domestic coverage a day on, and the fact I've been writing an article for another site (more of which later in the week). That's useful in some ways because the Copa del Rey in Spain has ensured there's action to [. Click to continue reading...

ESPN has launched a new world soccer rating system, the Soccer Power Index (SPI for short). See this as an RPI of sorts for the world of international football. They take some interesting things into account, such as performance of an international player on the club level. If Clint Dempsey scores a game-winner against Man United for Fulham, that helps the USA's SPI. Click to continue reading...