Stop whinging or you will face consequences

The FAI are at serious risk of becoming a global laughing stock. Their most recent stunt to request an extra place at the World Cup is absolutely absurd. I have every sympathy for the manner in which the Irish left the competition but this is just one step too far. I know there has been more column space forHenry’s handball than Katie Price’s assets recently, but this one has me all riled up…

What really gets to me is that even before the handball incident the match was level – so how can a team go through to the World Cup Finals on a draw? What’s to say Ireland would have won if it had gone to a shoot-out? Or if France, with such quality as Anelka and Henry, wouldn’t have bagged one past the nervy defence late on anyway?

The idea of an extra team at the World Cup is not possible, not viable. And if the Irish FA don’t stop whinging about it soon then they could put any future qualification hopes at risk because FIFA are beginning to get fed up.

Sepp Blatter humoured them by saying he would “take the idea to the committee”, but let’s face it there was never a chance in hell that FIFA would put an extra team in the World Cup. It has a formula – an even amount of teams for a reason. An extra team would have thrown everything up in the air meaning byes here and there, extra matches being played. It would become a mess.

The Irish quite rightly got the hump about their exit – but get over it. This sort of thing happens all the time in football and there ain’t nothing you can do about it. You didn’t see Hull calling for a replay or points to be awarded when they lost to Burnley recently because of TWO terrible decisions (a penalty that never was and Geovanni’s free kick being disallowed). And that game was incredibly important to Hull and their manager who was staring unemployment in the face.

You can bet your life that the Irish FA would have been straight on the case if Chile had been thrown out of the World Cup too.

I think this time your luck is out boys. You lost. It was unfair, but it happened – France are going to the World Cup and, although he did cheat, Henry is still a great player.

Harry Hesp

December 1, 2009