Football (Soccer to those across the pond)

[chopper]

clearly the referee did not know the rules on sunday: therefore the match must be replayed, with chelsea forced to play in slippers. blindfolded. in a different stadium.

[pyan]

Well, Ace and 99% of Scots football fans have good news, apparently...

George Burley has been sacked as manager of Scotland after a poor sequence of results.

The 53-year-old former Ipswich and Hearts boss leaves the post after 22 months, along with assistants, Terry Butcher and Paul Hegarty.

Mind you, it was probably inevitable, after this:

Burley, who was contracted to 2012, was given a vote of confidence after a dismal World Cup qualifying campaign.

BBC SPORT | Football | Internationals | Burley sacked as Scotland manager

[The Ace]

Naaah, he's still alive.

OK, Ally McLeod springs to mind as making a total a**e of himself, but at least he had some success first.

[The Ace]

Update;

Two newspapers have so far denied that Walter Smith is in the running for the Scotland job.

While his managerial abilities are beyond question, he already walked out when offered the Rangers job in the first place.

We aren't desperate enough to need a traitor in charge of the national side.

[pyan]

I heard that Craig Levein was in the running - I wonder what Seph's opinion of that is?...

[The Ace]

Probably unprintable.

[Connavar]

What did you guys think of Ireland getting cheated ?


I think its disgusting, another proof of how corrupt the beautiful game has got. Players will do anything to win and the refs cant stop them.....

[Lenny]

Welllll... the ref made a bad decision. The Irish players in the vicinity saw it, the world behind their TV sets saw it, and Henry has admitted that he did it, but the ref wasn't paying attention.

It's less a case of "the refs can't stop them" and more "the ref and his linesmen are blind".

Even with as much uproar as there is about it, I doubt anything will happen - France will be there in 2010, and the Irish will have to try again in four years. It would be nice if a replay on neutral ground was announced, but the chances of that are probably quite low.

[Winters_Sorrow]

Anyone who ever watched football during the 80s would dispute the term "beautiful game"...

But yes, shocking example of foul play and he's rightly getting hammered in the press because of it. Really felt heartsick for the Ireland players who were out on their feet and put up a valiant show. They may still have gone out during the penalty shoot-out of course, but to exit with such a dubious winning goal has to leave a sour taste in the mouth.

Henry's not exactly getting much support from his countrymen either. If any good comes out of this, it should be that this is the match which finally convinces FIFA & UEFA to have the balls to implement video-technology (or some equivalent) into the game. A goal scored stops play anyway so a 5 minute pause to make sure that the player didn't handle it/no offsides/ball crossed the line would do nothing more to stop the game than the large amount of timewasting and bogus injuries which players do in a winning position at any rate.

I'm actually a little more interested (sorry) in the seeding for the WC draw. Like the controversy over the seeding for the playoffs, in which FIFA moved the goalposts massively unfairly after it became clear that so-called big teams were in danger of not qualifying, they have not released details of how they will sort out the 'pots' of teams for organising the group phase. So I smell another stitch-up brewing.

On a related note, I think it's about time the cosy heirarchy of FIFA was broken up anyway. Most of their members have held their seats in virtual dictatorship for years, supported by (and supporting) their little toadies and mutual back-slappers and milking the world of football for ever penny whilst falsely claiming to be moral guardians of the "spectacle of sport". Well no doubt Blatter & Platini are making spectacles of themselves...or maybe it just rhymes with spectacles.

Just as an FYI, Blatter has been the head of FIFA since 1998 and these are some of the wonderful initiatives made under his watch.
a) "Silver Goal" replacing the "Golden Goal" - so instead of the game finishing right away after it was scored, it finished at the end of the half of extra time in which it happened. This rule is no longer enforced.
b) Since 2002 the winner of the World Cup no longer has the automatic right to defend their title. Still valid, and still bonkers.
c) No rescinding of red cards, even when made in error. Tellingly it says that "a referees judgement must be seen as final and that mistakes are part of the game". The English FA refuse to follow this rule for straight red card offenses, allowing the player or club a hearing to challenge incorrect dismissals.
d) Players are now booked if they remove their shirt in celebration. Another prize-winning rule change under the heading of "pointless"
e) No football matches played 2500ft above sea level. Rather unfair for those countries who happen to live at that height but Brazil and France don't so it must be unfair

[Connavar]

The ref can make mistakes that's okay but its not okay the Platini and co are so late to have extra refs. Its no point to football if you can exploit,cheat because the ref cant see you from his position.

Important World Cup games shouldnt be won because Henry,his like are willing to cheat to win.

[mosaix]

Originally Posted by Lenny

Welllll... the ref made a bad decision. The Irish players in the vicinity saw it, the world behind their TV sets saw it, and Henry has admitted that he did it, but the ref wasn't paying attention.

I disagree with you there Lenny. You can't make decision about something you didn't see, good or bad. And even though Henry admitted it, refs aren't allowed to take a players word about something they didn't see for themselves.

As for the 'world' seeing it on their TVs, the key is that they saw it several times from the camera angle chosen by the program editor to give the best view. The 'world' might have a different opinion if they'd seen it only once, fleetingly, from an obscured view - just like the ref has to.

But that's not to say I don't think Henry is a cheat. Going to the ref after the goal is a waste of time. Henry should have kicked the ball into touch, instead of passing it, if he really didn't want to take advantage of handling the ball.

It's a shame that after years of playing magnificent, beautiful football Henry will be best remembered for cheating in a World Cup play-off.

Something must be done but blaming the ref isn't right. He can only operate with the laws laid down.

[Weasel Soup]

Mosiax, I hope that is not the case for Henry. That being all he is remembered for, but the there was another French star....

[mosaix]

Originally Posted by Weasel Soup

Mosiax, I hope that is not the case for Henry. That being all he is remembered for, but the there was another French star....

I agree WS. He was a magnificent player. When he was an Arsenal player he came to Eastlands and scored a wonderful goal against Manchester City, he just strolled through our defence. The entire stadium stood an applauded him - City and Arsenal fans alike.

I think, in part, it is that it was Henry that did this that there is such outrage.

[thesoothsayer]

As an Arsenal fan, and being neither Irish nor French, I think it was extremely fortunate for France, but very unfortunate for Henry and Ireland that the goal was allowed to stand. His image has been irreparably tarnished because of this incident and Ireland have been knocked out of the WC in controversial circumstances.

Incidents like this happen almost every week, but most of the time, the perpetrators are spotted by the referee and are penalised for it, so there's no big outcry about it influencing the results. Don't think he's any worse compared to any other player, but I've never really thought he was a saint either.

I'm not going to blame the referee for failing to spot this. I do think that the FIFA needs to start using modern technology if it doesn't want to see more incidents such as these, though. Cameras are now placed at all angles of the stadium, so almost every incident is caught on camera, and every refereeing mistake is spotted and emphasized. Incidents that might have been missed previously will probably not be now.

[Quokka]

At this point the spectators both at the ground and on tv are seeing replays (from mulitiple angles) seconds after they happen so it's probably harder to be a ref now then ever before but until things do change what happened is a part of football and I can't see anyway FIFA could allow a replay without opening a can of worms and probbaly court cases, either with this match or by setting the precedent.

Even if they risk some teething problems bring on the video ref or equivilent, enough other sports have succeeded and it's just a question of when at this stage. As mentioned before I think there's a bigger question as to how FIFA can change the rules by seeding the second chance group only weeks before the games start.

BTW congrats to New Zealand on making the WC!