With little moments of inspiration and woeful errors throughout the game, one might have thought this was a Championship game. On this evidence, a 2-2 draw between Liverpool and Manchester City was a fair result. Despite a combined spending of almost £400m, there was little evidence that either side has the quality that merits Champions League football next season. Click to continue reading...

First, a confession: I kind of love Ipswich Town manager and former Ireland captain Roy Keane. (Even though he terrifies me.) But I was glad it wasn't my cell phone going off in the middle of a press conference this week. Because let's face it: the man is a bit...oh, [...] Click to continue reading...

Liverpool came from behind to draw 2-2 with Man City at Anfield today.In a scoreless first half, Liverpool lost Daniel Agger and Ryan Babel through injuries.The game came to life on 50mins when Martin Skrtel converted a Steven Gerrard free kick to give Liverpool the lead against a defensive City side. Click to continue reading...

When football pundits discuss Carlos Tevez, they often talk about his "work rate" and his "eye for the ball." At times, though, the words "work rate" can morph into a backhanded compliment as if those pundits are really saying, "He's rubbish as a goal scorer, but boy, he sure works hard, doesn't he?

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Below is a list of teams with some quality players which will unfortunately miss the World Cup next summer:

Ireland- The Irish team may not be the most talented to miss out on qualification but certainly was unjustly eliminated by France. The Ireland squad is not as deep as other but has talented players such as Aiden McGeady who plays as a winger and/or forward for Celtic.

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Ireland have been forced to admit defeat in their efforts to be granted a replay of their World Cup play-off clash with France.
Having seen FIFA reject their appeals to have the second leg of the tie replayed because of Thierry Henry's handball in the run-up to William Gallas' decisive goal, the Football Association of Ireland, backed by both French skipper Henry and Ireland captain Robbie Keane, had turned to the French Football Federation. Click to continue reading...

Post match comments from Stephen Ireland:

"Looking back at the end of the season we'll probably see it as a good point but we feel a bit robbed," Ireland said.
"We played well, we went ahead but conceded too early. It was very unfortunate but it could have been worse."
As for City's recent habit of drawing too many games, Ireland added: "It's unfortunate we've drawn those games but I think last year we were losing them, so I think it is a positive and it's onwards and upwards or us now.

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By now everyone who has any connection to Ireland has had their say about the handball. Prime Ministers, footballers including our own human wind turbine, and, on the Today programme yesterday morning, A Rich Irish Bloke Who No One has Heard Of. Â My neighbour's Irish setter is in mourning. That must be why he was [. Click to continue reading...

Football's latest controversy not only lies solely in the hands of Thierry Henry (excuse the pun), but could well be crucial in the development of technology within the game. As Rob asked in his recent post on the incident, what's it going to take for the authorities to realise technology is required? Click to continue reading...

Every man and his dog has been asked what they think of Thierry Henry disgraceful cheating this week which denied Ireland a place in the World Cup.

Eric Cantona is the latest to give his opinion on Henry and seems to imply if he had been playing, and if was Irish, he would have kicked the shit out of the smarmy twat.

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I've decided that today's Cut of the Day will actually be a medley. Today, you will hear nothing but songs from South Park episodes. And why? Because I'm easily amused like that. The first one is dedicated to the L.A. Galaxy and Real Salt Lake...Let's flip the channel to ESPN for both a preview of Sunday's final and a stroll down MLS Cup memory lane. Click to continue reading...

"Fergie: We Understand Ireland Pain After Chelsea Game" was originally published at The Republik of Mancunia. Click to continue reading...

The thing that we all knew happened: Henry is a fraud. However, in the tradition of French smooth frauds he is someone who made it into an art; in his country the books about thieves are popular.

But the ‘hand' is not the only thing that makes Henry what he is; it is simply incredible how people in England or football fans in general forget all the things this man did.

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Spain regain top slot in this month's Fifa world rankings. Brazil are second followed by the Netherlands, Italy and Portugal. England are in 9th place. Argentina are 8th.
France are in 7th after Thierry Henry handed them victory in their World Cup play off encounter with Ireland in Paris. Cameroon are the highest African team in 11th. Click to continue reading...

Surf on over to Mgoblog, where Brian's sorrow at the University of Michigan's football season is intertwined with that of Ireland's fall to France. Click to continue reading...

Ireland manager Giovanni Trapattoni has vented his fury at FIFA in an interview with Gazzetta dello Sport.
'I would like to know what have I done to (Sepp) Blatter,' Trapattoni said. 'If he explains it to me at least I would be calm.
'I often go to schools and speak of fair play. Click to continue reading...

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...

Napoli president Aurelio De Laurentiis has given the world another clue regarding his plans for Liverpool defender Andrea Dossena, indicating that a move could take place.
De Laurentiis, who is in Milan for the Lega Calcio general assembly, has uncovered part of his agenda for the January transfer window. Click to continue reading...

Guest Post by Matt - US Soccer Daily After the France-Ireland game on Wednesday, I knew exactly what I wanted to write about. The swirling amalgam of anger, frustration, and disappointment made me...

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Even the most die-hard Roy Keane supporter will surely have been left dismayed following the Ipswich Town manager's rant over France's midweek winner in that World Club qualifying second-leg play-off. The infamous "hand of Henry" goal led to Ireland's elimination and not surprisingly comparisons have been made with Maradona's 1986 "hand of god" goal. Click to continue reading...

Right then, whilst I'm here I might as well sort this shit out.

First things first, I WANT the game to be replayed. Having said that it would be an absolute travesty if FIFA ordered a rematch of the game, as it would set an extremely dangerous precedent in football whereby the result on the pitch isn't final.

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Oh man, I twisted the holy hell out of my ankle last night. Came down from a jump halfway on someone else's foot in the last minute of the game. Suddenly, my four flights of stairs up aren't so charming...#1 - Landon Donovan is your MLS MVP. He also won Goal of the Year. Somehow, he was beaten out for Save of the Year by Pat Onstad. Click to continue reading...

OK, after taking this week off to mostly just troll other blogs and not comment too much on MLS or soccer in general after letting last week's loss sink in, I do have some thoughts on a rash of topics:
(But before I begin, I have to tell you my favorite lines from anyone about events so far this week. Click to continue reading...

A bit of conjecture here. The injury news is looking a bit more positive but that might not be what could be worrying Arsene Wenger now.

He has to get William Gallas and Bacary Sagna to refocus on club football after the Ireland France odyssey. Gallas of course was one of the principal characters in the France farce and might be in for some stick with fans with Irish national players in their club like City and Aston Villa.

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Thierry Henry's legacy will never be the same. Like when Brett Favre started his rope-a-dope with retirement.
Both will forever be honored greats, but each will have a little negativity added to their reputations.
There were all sorts of stories on the wire yesterday regarding Le Hand. Click to continue reading...

Thank God, it's over! This was truly the interlull from hell. Not only was our best current player injured for almost two months, but our best former player has been branded "a cheat" and "a liar." I have refrained from covering and incessantly commenting on this whole affair because I am just absolutely sick to death of the British media.

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Sports pundits and fans are going full tilt at Thierry Henry calling him a "cheat", "morally reprehensible", "unsportsmanlike", "a snake oil salesman".

Richard Williams crosses that line when as a Brit he forgives Maradona's hand of God goal saying it amounts to breeding.

"To rank the incident in Paris alongside Diego Maradona's "Hand of God" in 1986 is misleading.

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It´s official FIFA has rejected the call to replay the France vs Ireland World Cup 2010 qualifying match which was won by France afterThierry Henry handballed twice in the last moments to allowteam-mate Gallas to score the qualifying goal.As expected the "blacklash" has been Worldwide with responses fromall around the global. Click to continue reading...

Image via Wikipedia A board meeting this afternoon called by Ireland's FAI has been called to discuss request for replace of the Playoff with France. However it has been announced recently that FIFA have rejected their earlier request. In a response to a request made by the FAI yesterday, the world governing body have ruled that [. Click to continue reading...

Two things to talk about this morning that affect my entire sports weekend. First, let me say that I am very glad that my wife (who is going on a mission trip to a far-off land for about a week) is not flying through France or Ireland to get there because right now someone is probably screaming their head off in the streets of Ireland.

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Controversy surrounded France's qualification for the World Cup against Ireland. So much that French president Nicolas Sarkozy apologized while the Irish have demanded that the match should be replayed (this was rejected by FIFA).The problem is France's equalizer in extra time (that brought France ahead 2-1 on aggregate, and gave them the spot in South Africa) where Thierry Henry is clearly seen Click to continue reading...

Image via Wikipedia The Irish Justice Minister had already asked Football's Highest Governing Body, FIFA for a replay match for the World Cup qualification after the controversial incident of Thierry Henry handling the ball in the Irish penalty zone before passing the ball to teammate William Gallas who headed home. Click to continue reading...

My introduction to Daniele De Rossi was the vicious elbow that he threw at Brian McBride, leaving his face bloody in the USA vs Italy match in the 2006 World Cup. It left a negative impression of him but here is De Rossi doing something rare in football nowadays, acknowledging that he used his hand to score a goal against Serie side Messina.

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They Think It's All Over... considers Ireland's appeal to replay their match against France. Do they have a chance? And what would it mean for football? Click to continue reading...

Its not just the Egyptian and Algerian governments having a holy go at each other.

The replay request is now being echoed in the upper echelons of the Irish government as Brian Cowen, the Irish PM is now suggesting that he will approach the French premier Nickolas Sarkozy to discuss a replay and circumvent FIFA's objections.

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