Everyone is having their s(pr)ay about the already notorious Thierry Henry incident. That his act was abominably unethical is undisputed; the more significant fallout from his brazen piece of gamesmanship is likely to be yet more discussion about the issue of video assistance for referees.
To clear the ground first: the calls for a replay of the match are essentially unfounded. 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...

We continue to edge closer to United related news, but this was too difficult to pass up. When the King speaks we have to listen:

"I think that Raymond Domenech is the worst coach in French football since Louis XVI. If it was up to me, I'd put (Bordeaux coach) Laurent Blanc in charge of the France team," the former Manchester United hero continued.

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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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Redknapp sets sights on high profile wing wizard.

Spurs and Portsmouth both want to sign Marseille's Hatem Ben Arfa who has fallen out with Didier Deschamps and his shiny black leather jacket. Ben Arfa has accused Deschamps of "breaking his balls". Deschamps says he didn't break his balls, they were already broken and actually he was only trying to fix them and he may have slightly chipped one while he was doing it but it's not his fault if his balls are actually quite badly made and frankly quite cheap in the first place.

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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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The games didn't really have everything, did they? The results did some upsets, some heroics, a few of the expected teams going in but outside of the one game which forced a playoff (Egypt 2 Algeria 0), some of these games were completely zapped of the necessary drama.

(Not, of course, that one played in the Stade de France.

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Il padrino francese

Raymond Domenech è un uomo felice.

Resiste sulla panchina della nazionale francese ormai da cinque anni, non vincendo nulla, vivendo sull'alloro di una finale persa a Berlino contro l'eterna nemica Italia, complice anche una sconsiderata capocciata del mulo Zidane, che lo ha consegnato definitivamente al titolo di vice campione del mondo.

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The hard luck of the Irish

It will come as scant consolation to Ireland, their backroom staff, their players and their massive support (which probably now includes the whole known world outside the borders of France), that maybe this latest travesty could be the death knell to all those who believe that 'honest' mistakes are part and parcel of the game.

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Without getting into a great deal of opinion, or any at all for that matter there's surely plenty of that floating about it would probably be prudent to look into the words on each side of the divide from those who were there, at the game and directly impacted. (What with it being one of the most controversial games in World Cup Qualifying history and all.

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Image via Wikipedia The presence of Giovanni Trapattoni continued to grow even at the Stadio de France and things were turning to be dramatic during the first half as Ireland scored in about the 32nd minute to show that they were in the groove and it reflected the score line predicted by Trapattoni the earlier [. Click to continue reading...

Das war ein Wunder.

Raymond Domenech, Nationaltrainer von Frankreich, nach dem skandalösen mit der Hand vorbereiteten entscheidenden Treffer in der WM-Qualifikation gegen die Iren.

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En la narración de ESPN buscaban englobar en una frase lo que pasaba en el encuentro entre Francia vs Irlanda, en donde la mano de Henry ponía a los franceses en la siguiente fase.

"La main de Dieu" (según mi traducción) o "La Mano de Dios versión 2009" es como a mi parecer puedo llamar a este acto que intencional o no resulto perjudicial para Irlanda y benéfico para Francia.

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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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From Soccer America The final six teams in the 32-team World Cup 2010 field will be determined today four in Europe, one in South America/Concacaf and one in Africa necessitated by the tie between Egypt and Algeria in their qualifying group. For a look at all six games, with television information and predictions .

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(Editors note: This entry is from Richard Farley, who will soon have SB Nation's new World Cup blog up and running. Here's a great example of what you can expect regularly)

Wednesday, we will see the field for the 2010 World Cup field completed, with invitations to be handed-out after the six matches spanning Africa, Europe, South America and (by extension) Central America.

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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. � 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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It took 20 seconds to shatter the France's march to the 1994 World Cup. In the 90' minute Emil Kostadinov lashed a ball past Bernard Lama to win the game for Bulgaria, 2-1 and shatter French hopes for qualifying for the 1994 World Cup. David Ginola could have run out the clock but his errant cross led to the Kostadinov disaster.

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Saturday's demoralizing one-nil home loss to France in the first leg of their� World Cup play-off sees the� Republic of Ireland� facing an uphill task to reach next summer's showpiece. As French fans start booking their flights to South Africa, the Irish faithful are left praying for a miracle.

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Its all pretty confusing but it seems that Raymond Domenech was complaining that they were really playing the English B squad. Or some bowdlerized version which of course even if untrue is used to motivate your players. Which is what got Richard Dunne all bent out of shape. He had been using Domenech as comedy material before the match.

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Easily the greatest penalty shootout celebration in history. (0.20) Fabio Capello is not such a hit in Spain. (La Liga Loca) The dam is breaking in Manchester. (EPL Talk) Raymond Domenech: not so smart. (The Spoiler) Amaral writes a nice, though curious, parting letter. (SoccerLens) Robin van Persie to get mystery placenta juice treatments. Click to continue reading...

Surpresas propriamente não houve, mas seguramente que o resultado mais surpreendente foi o empate da Ucrânia na Grécia. A Rússia com um golo sofrido em casa, terminou o jogo em apuros, não tendo sofrido o empate, a poucos minutos do fim, devido a uma excelente defesa do seu guarda-redes. A França venceu a Rep. Click to continue reading...

Yo se los venía diciendo desde que salió el sorteo para los repechajes. Las selecciones importantes no quedarán mal y calificaran a la Copa del Mundo.

Y eso es precisamente lo que sucedió el día de hoy en los repechajes europeos, en donde Francia, Portugal, Rusia y Ucrania se colocaron un poco más cerca de la justa mundalista a celebrarse en Sudáfrica 2010.

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The matches to watch after you realize- AHHH LOOK OUT GARETH BARRY THE FLYING GIANT IS GOING TO NINJA KICK YOU!!!

Saturday

Russia v Slovenia at Luzhniki Stadium The beginning of the end of the long, drawn out process that is World Cup qualifying is finally here with the first leg of the playoff fixtures.

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(*it's the opposite of Offside Rewind)

FRANCK FIFE/AFP/Getty

Rather than looking back at the week that was, let's look forward to this weekend's World Cup qualifying games by linking up all the WorldCupBlog previews.

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Ireland captain Robbie Keane has urged the team to become national heroes by beating France in the World Cup play-off.
Giovanni Trapattoni's side host France at Croke Park on Saturday before Wednesday's return leg in Paris.
"If you look on paper, they have got world-class players all over the pitch," said Keane. Click to continue reading...

As the world of football continues to mourn the suicide of German goalkeeper Robert Enke on Tuesday and the crippling depression that led to it, mentally challenged French national team manager Raymond Domenech had this to say in his Friday press conference:

"People can say what they want, when they want.

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Caught Offside has the following breaking transfer rumours,
Liverpool Linked with Move for £8m Dazzling Brazilian Playmaker Hernanes
Liverpool to Make Shock £12m January Raid for Cole: Intelligent Bit of Business
Liverpool Could Sign £13m Playmaker Rafael Van der Vaart
I had expressed my wish list previously during the August 31 transfer deadline and Liverpool are reportedly willing to splash the cash to get Brazilian midfield schemer, Hernanes. Click to continue reading...

With 23 nations already qualified for World Cup 2010, there are just nine places in South Africa still up for grabs. Three of those will be decided when African qualifying concludes next Wednesday. But that's a separate post. The six other qualifiers will be decided by playoffs, starting tomorrow.

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The long, two-year road to South Africa has finally come to a conclusion. So far, 23 teams, including host South Africa, have qualified for the World Cup (here's a list of 2010 world cup teams).

Four will be known after the Nov. 14 matches, while the remaining five will be known after Nov.

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Ma se l'irlandese Dunne ha risposto per le rime, l'italiano Giovanni Trapattoni non se l'è presa più di tanto per le dichiarazioni di Domenech. Al quale ha ribadito il massimo (e reciproco) rispetto, ma ha anche lanciato, nel suo special English, la sfida: "La Francia ha giocatori straordinari, ma questo non basta questo nel calcio. Click to continue reading...

The play-off draw was by no means easy on Republic of Ireland and they have only FIFA officials to thank to for pitting them against underperforming but still very strong France side. This is obviously going to be most interesting duel in the World Cup play-offs and while we have no doubts both sets of players will be extremely motivated, it is the coaches that have the power to win this game for their team.

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In a week's time we will know a near complete list of the nations who will be competing to lift the World Cup in South Africa.� The first legs take place on November 14, with the second legs on the 18th.� The African nations qualification process takes a little longer, so I'll be focusing on the Republic of Ireland Vs France, Bosnia-Herz Vs Portugal, Russia Vs Slovenia and Greece Vs Ukraine.

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Using the squad that Raymond Domenech has picked for the World Cup play-offs, Goal.com's Robin Bairner has picked his starting XI to send France to South Africa. In addition, he has selected a wildcard player to keep an eye on...
The wildcard... Click to continue reading...

This weekend will make and break the careers of some coaches and players. The European play-offs which will begin on Saturday the 14th November and conclude on the following Wednesday, will definitely be a must win for the likes of France, Portugal and Russia.

A world cup without the reigning world player of the year Cristiano Ronaldo is simply unimaginable.

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