Thought I'd start a football blog, we might keep this going until 2010.....England doing well....did not see the match or even the goals....I'd like Michael owen back in the squad though....and I think Peter Crouch would make a very good substitute...remember against Argentina in Geneva a few years ago....with Michael Owen and some very good movements on and off the ball...they caused havoc.....did see Scotland's missed chance....that could be very costly losing those 2 points !.

Yes an extratime replay behind closed doors is the only right decision at this moment and Fifa are going to end up with egg on their faces if they don't do something about it......then they are going to on about fairplay and all that crap....they are setting a great example here !.

fifa got what they want ...france go through

France should set an example by offering rather than being ordered to replay the extratime....I would expect England to do the same in the same circumstances.

RFyou are dreamingTrig is spot on!

Somebody has to rock the boat or wait to I get in front of goal against Brazil in the world cup final and the ball comes towards my hand with 30 seconds on the clock and...

.. yep he's dreaming all right -):

....I headed it in...goal !....we won !.....apart from this, there are quite a lot of big countries that have been knocked out : Russia, Ukraine, Czech Republic, Sweden, Egypt and a few more...

The trouble with playing some of the very talented latin sides is that they will resort to bad tactics if the game doesn't go their way ...tripping, shirt pulling, arms round attacking players..etc...In the event of England winning against one of these sides next summer, our players will have to be on their guards for this sort of happening....look at the match against Argentina in 1986...no way they were going to get past that very good England defense and we all know what happened next !.

All this focus on uefa/fifa/ref etc.

At the end of the day Henry (same old Arsenal) cheated - he should have been man enough to admit it at the time (ie during the match).

A world cup final ban s/b the punishment imo

Football over the years has caused many debatesreferees are there to uphold the games rules and see fair play but as with all the rules and laws in our lifethey have been designed to suit the chooses few in their superior positions contentious decisions happen in every match and annoy fansArgentinean fans were happy in 1986...England fans were notwe have the technology to put a stop to these vital decision being called wrongly by an amateurbut choose otherwiseI could referee any premier league football match other than West Hamand supposedly not have a biasnot true!I watched many gamesif a team is not playing ball so to speakor a player may be kicking lumps out of the oppositionor a manager screaming at the fourth officialor come to thatany minor irritantI would naturally want the other side to winif I was in a position to give vital decisions I would probably have around half a dozen opportunities in a match to give penaltiesdisallow goalsor send players offand with no retributionfinally the point of moralityevery football fan outside Argentina remembers that short arse little fu*ker 8 inches shorter than Shiltonwinning the balldo we remember he was on of the greats?do we remember Argentina went on to win the World Cup?.I remember him for the wrong reasons.Thierry Henrywas it worth it?

Fifa are a disgrace...in fact they are encouraging cheating....sad for the irish who had a great chance until then......anyway the best thing for them is to boycott anything french......apart for a few essential items ...like ..their wine, cheese, motorways, food, women....euhh..and electricity...and a few extra items which I can't think of right now ...oh ! also the french players in the premiership.....

Michael Schumacher may have been let off by his own governing bodybut there was non greater at cheating.I wont be ruling out BMW Bosch.Pilsener and sausages

Trains, sunshine,skiing trips,..perfume.....this little list has taken coco to the next level hasn't it....perhaps we better forget the boycott thing.....

Well the FFF have not exactly covered themselves in glory over refusing to replay that game, fairplay has gone right out the window so next time Fifa mention it : they can go to hell....handball is a must now, part of the game....it just gets worse in this world doesn't it, too many corrupt creepies in charge of things right across the board, if I was England I would not count on the french vote for the world cup bid.....if it doesn't suit them they will sabotage it !.

Imo most people are missing the initial fundamental point - Henry cheated, he knew it and could have confessed to it there and then.

Focus the honesty/integrity debate on players and perhaps we'll see improvements. Equally post-match focus the bans (lengthy) on individual cheats and the game will soon change for the better

Ironic that Di canio was decent and man enough to demonstrate integrity and fair play at Highbury, only for yet another one of their sons to forget the lesson and cheat on such a huge scale.

1 year ban for Henry please

Sepp Blatter calls emergency Fifa meeting after Ireland's controversial defeat

Fifa may have refused Ireland's request to replay their World Cup play-off with France after Thierry Henry's controversial "handball" goal settled the match, but the governing body will discuss the match at an extraordinary general meeting in Cape Town next week.

Thierry Henry considered quitting international football over cheat storm

Lame excuses - all learnt from those hours spent in "evening classes" with his old boss at the library

To you and me though - A CHEAT

Joeif we banned every footballer that has cheatedthere would not be a single club that could field a team Saturdaythe rules of the game favour those that cheat the mostThierry Henry risked with a split second decision handballthere could have only been two possible outcomeshis infringement was spotted by an officialand he gets sent off with a concluding small ban.or he gets away with breaking the rules and France find themselves in the World Cuphis governing body gave him those two choices.where do you think the blame lies?
I am a football puristI am not blind to achievements made by other clubs that I may not otherwise supportArsene Wenger is the only non-British manager to win the Double in Englandthis he achieved in 1998 and 2002... In 2004 he became the only manager in FA Premier League history to go through the entire season without defeatand I doubt if that will ever be matched againa master's degree in Economicswhich is just as wellas he has a fraction of the finance the upper echelon have access tooand just to prove he is not racisthe speaks six languages.which helps with the Arsenal team talk?simply the best Manager in the World!Parisians asideI find the French by and large have high moral standards

If you want to solve a problem you need to get to the root of it.

Too many people/media/experts focus on officials who by and large imo try to give the correct decision as they see it, only to be pilloried and castigated when they get it wrong (by those with the benefit of numerous camera angles, and slow motion replays).

Fundamentally, if players did not cheat and could demonstrate the honesty and integrity as shown by the likes of Di Canio, then we would not be debating refeerinf performances or the need for a 4th official/camera validation etc.

Managers could help by encouraging honesty and integrity and your mistaken view of Wenger (the only manager to repeatedly not see the fouls and cheating of his own team, only to exagerate those of their opponents) does not help.

As a CFC fan, I can respect Sir Alex, O'Neil, Moyes, etc but Wenger - you've got to be joking.

And btw - in Arsenals unbeaten season they were extremely fortuitous several times over, most notably at Portsmouth I recall. Perhaps your hero could have shown some integrity there ?