The Irish FA has renewed its bid for a rematch following Henry’s statement that a replay would be the “fairest solution”. The Irish FA also asked the French Football Federation and both nations’ captain’s to join in the bid.
Earlier, FIFA, the world governing body ruled out any hopes of a rematch.
FIFA said in a statement:
“FIFA has replied to the request made by the Football Association of Ireland to replay the 2010 FIFA World Cup play-off match held on 18 November 2009 between France and the Republic of Ireland in Paris. In the reply, FIFA states that the result of the match cannot be changed and the match cannot be replayed. As is clearly mentioned in the Laws of the Game, during matches, decisions are taken by the referee and these decisions are final.”
The FIFA source told Press Association Sport:
“There is no way the game can replayed. To do so would cause absolute chaos for football. If it was replayed then every match in the future would also be subject to these calls for a replay any time a referee misses an incident. FIFA’s rules are absolutely clear. Law 5 states that a referee’s decision on points of fact are final. That is the end of it. You cannot replay the match on this basis. You have to have a rule that says the referee’s judgement is always right.”
France captain Thierry Henry has admitted that Ireland deserve to have qualified for the World Cup and that the fairest solution would be to replay their controversial play-off. He said:
“Naturally I feel embarrassed at the way that we won and feel extremely sorry for the Irish who definitely deserve to be in South Africa. Of course the fairest solution would be to replay the game but it is not in my control. I have said at the time and I will say again that yes I handled the ball. I am not a cheat and never have been. It was an instinctive reaction to a ball that was coming extremely fast in a crowded penalty area. As a footballer you do not have the luxury of the television to slow the pace of the ball down 100 times to be able to make a conscious decision. People are viewing a slow motion version of what happened and not what I or any other footballer faces in the game. If people look at it in full speed you will see that it was an instinctive reaction. It is impossible to be anything other than that. I have never denied that the ball was controlled with my hand. I told the Irish players, the referee and the media this after the game. There is little more I can do apart from admit that the ball had contact with my hand leading up to our equalising goal and I feel very sorry for the Irish.”
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