The 32 Teams of the 2010 World Cup

I’ll be cheering for Portugal and Argentina!!

Cool WC history stat Chris. It came down to today’s Costa Rican and Irish matches too.

I believe.

france shouldnt even b mentioned, lets see what FIFA says on there website about the hand ball

FIFA.com “the key moment” ha, please!!

France 1-1 Republic of Ireland (first leg 1-0)
Goals: William Gallas 103 (France); Robbie Keane 32 (Republic of Ireland)

The story of the game
Hosts France were kept completely quiet in the first half by an Ireland team burning with passion, conviction and the desire to battle for every ball. Robbie Keane’s strike not long after the half-hour was just reward for the efforts the visitors had put in and it took heroics from France goalkeeper Hugo Lloris to limit the damage to one goal. Les Bleus came into the contest after the break but remained vulnerable to Irish attacks, meaning the tie had to be resolved in extra time, when William Gallas equalised to send his team through to their fourth consecutive finals.

The key moment
After 180 hard-fought minutes, the fate of both teams was decided by a moment of drama in extra time. The outcome remained in the balance until the very last second, and when the final whistle was blown the disappointed Irish could hold their heads up high.

The man of the match
France have long been looking for a successor to Fabien Barthez and they have found the perfect candidate in Hugo Lloris. In this game, as in the opening leg, the Lyon No1 bolstered his burgeoning reputation with a string of top-class saves.

I was only thinking from a time standpoint (Uruguay – CR was one hour later), but that’s true, Johnny. Everyone else was set in stone.

Go NZ! Sorry to the 31 other teams, but now we know we’re allowed to use our hands we’re going to send our rugby side to SA to guarantee victory!

I’m not so sure your rugby side would do too well, it’s been ages since you even won the rugby world cup.

“And perhaps what’s a bit special is the 32 include every single World Cup winner in history, precisely due to the Uruguayan stand.”

I can do you one better. This is the first World Cup in history not to feature a new country. All countries that qualified have played in the World Cup before, for the first time ever.

Note that according to FIFA (and Wikipedia), Serbia inherits Serbia & Montenegro as Slovakia inherits the Czechoslovakia record.

‘This is the first World Cup in history not to feature a new country. All countries that qualified have played in the World Cup before, for the first time ever.’
Jose, good observation. I have never realised it myself.

Awesome…. I’m hoping an African team goes far… my friend says that no matter what African nation advances; the entire continent will rally with support. Should be cool

I don’t know if that should be called “THE HAND OF GOD”,similar situation transpired in 1966 in a game between Argentina and English,same technique was used..shame to anybody who celebrated that goal!!..i propose that french players should play with their hands tied behind in SA next year..Henry! go show case your talent in Rugby.

Does that mean the Czechoslovakia’s record in inherited by both Czech Republic and Slovakia? I suppose that makes sense. Not relevant to this World Cup anymore but is USSR’s record inherited by all former Soviet republics though or just Russia as the biggest??

Any player in world football would have done the same thing in the same situation. If getting your nation to the world cup means using your hand, so be it. Its been a part of football for so long, and its only because our media is so obsessed with finding a pantomime villain that it has become such big news. If this match was not against ireland and the exaggeration prone british media were not watching, i would bet you it would not have been such big big big news.

In fact if henry was rooney, and france were england. It would not have been news at all.

anon, EXACTLY! If Henry were not French, there would be criticism but not at the intense, vitriolic level that’s going on right now. If he were Italian or British or anyone else, people would be condemning him but not at this level of hatred.

sandrahn: I suspect if he were Italian, or perish the thought, Argentinian, the vitriol would be even worse – after all those nation’s players have a far worse reputation for cheating than the French do.

I agree with Hideo, if he were Argentinian or Italian the British media would go into a frenzy on a never before seen scale. Its amusing just thinking about it tbh. looool

All Henry has done wrong compared to all the other players who cheat regularly, was that he got away with it. Robbie Keane handled to try to gain an advantage last night but didn’t get away with it. So yes Henry cheated, but so has every other player at some point.

The real culprits from last night are the linesman and referee, and FIFA for sticking their heads in the sand about video replays.

Go USA/BRAZIL !!!!

USA/ARGENTINA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

MEXICO/SPAIN!

FRANCE/….?!

lets flip the coin on this one, if ireland got the goal using a hand ball, dont u think that there would of been a replay of the game by now?????? or at least an “official” announcement by FIFA, corruption rules FIFA from the top to the bottom

Definitely not. If this had been flipped FIFA would have had the same reaction. Stop looking for conspiracies where there aren’t any. Anyway, the only effect that would have is instead of “Thierry Henry and France are scumbag cheaters who deserve to be banned”, the English speaking press would turn a blind eye.

if u believe that they would let france out of the world cup over a hand ball ur crazy, its ireland, and FIFA doesnt care if ireland makes it or doesnt, but france is where the money at, france would make FIFA more money than ireland, its not a conspiracy its a fact

at the last world cup blatter didnt even present the world cup to italy, why u may ask? cuz france lost!

there hasnt been a mention on the website of this “hand of fraud” y not??

corruption is everywhere and as wu-tang once said “C.R.E.A.M.”

Go USA/Any African team!

alex- France has missed numerous World Cups and Fifa did not intervene to keep them in. The match wouldn’t have been replayed no matter who the handball was on.

ya but france missed all those world cups before they won in 98 and the euro in 00, so now france is considered a world power in football. but before 98 they never really weree, so i can see FIFA wanting to keep one of their world powers in the WC, and tbh the tournament would not be the same no matter how much we all hate the french lol

If Brazil had lost a World Cup berth to Fiji due to a blatant handball, in some sort of crazy CONMEBOL/OFC playoff, then NO the game would still have not been replayed. People can’t get it through their head how stupid a precedent it would create to replay a match over a referee’s *missed* call.

Jeez, fans are going to drag this out up until the World Cup final, aren’t they? “Argh, [insert my country] got knocked out by France who shouldn’t even have been there, grrrrr.”

Excellent commentary here:

http://arsenal.vitalfootball.co.uk/article.asp?a=516781

Excerpt: “The FAI this week begged and pleaded with FIFA to ‘uphold the integrity of the game’ by giving them a replay. Strangely enough, when Ireland beat Georgia at Croke Park earlier in the Qualifying campaign courtesy of some incorrect officiating, I don`t recall them offering Georgia a replay. When Damien Duff dived for a penalty in the 2002 World Cup I`m not sure I recall the same media or FAI uproar. I`m also not sure why the FAI have demanded Thierry Henry apologise for his handball on Wednesday night, yet have somehow not asked Robbie Keane to do likewise- Keane, you will remember was twice penalised for deliberate handball in the match. Is it only intent to cheat when you get away with it?”

If Ireland are so pure and morally superior to France, then why didn’t the FAI offer to replay their game v. Georgia?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jf9fx4ipF4Q

Keane deliberately catches the ball with his hand and somehow gets a penalty.

This is all about hypocritical, selective moral outrage. When it’s done to “us” then it’s just cheating, immoral and the perpetrators should stand up, own up to it, tell the referee and agree to a reply.

When we do it to “them,” well, it’s just one of those things.

Great quotes from Roy Keane:

“Keane pointed out that controversial decisions also went Ireland’s way in the qualifying campaign, not least a harsh penalty award against Georgia which helped them claim a 2-1 qualifying win in February. ‘Ireland had their chances in the two games [against France], and they never took them,’ he said. ‘But it’s the usual FAI reaction – ‘We’ve been robbed, the honesty of the game.’ There was one match against Georgia where Ireland got a penalty and it was one of the worst decisions I’ve ever seen which changed the whole course of the game. I don’t remember the FAI after the game saying we should give them a replay.”

Talking about France’s winner, Keane laid the blame on Ireland’s defence rather than Henry, who handled the ball before crossing for William Gallas to head in. “I’d focus on why they didn’t clear it,” he said. “I’d be more annoyed with my defenders and my goalkeeper than Thierry Henry. How can you let the ball bounce in your six-yard box? How can you let Thierry Henry get goal-side of you? If the ball goes into the six-yard box, where the hell is my goalkeeper?”.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2009/nov/20/roy-keane-ireland-thierry-henry

shane – matty is exactly right, since they won the world cup (which is debated till this date), they are in the “elite” club of soccer, its amazing how france barely qualified but yet there still considered a contender for the world cup

I LOVE ROY KEANE……FINALLY SOMEBODY MANS UP AND STOPS WHINING

Deleted – Daryl

Deleted – Daryl

“From the streets of Niger to New York and London to Lebanon the world is united in their outrage over how France won the game”

Meh, we’re mostly over it.

All football fans should go right on over to Bobby McMahon’s brilliant commentary on the foxsoccer.com website. McMahon is a Scottish expat living in Canada who works for Fox Soccer Channel. He’s far more level-headed and informed than any of the pundits in England.

It starts out like this:

The “Henry Incident” has provided an opportunity for outlandish stereo-typing and xenophobia. Opportunists have embraced a platform from which to moralize while others see the chance to advocate the red herring solution of video replay. (When Tony Cascarino lectures on ethics and fair play and isn’t laughed out of town then the apocalypse must be at hand.)

Certainly the goal should have been disallowed and the Republic of Ireland and their fans have a right to be aggrieved and to feel badly let down. The officials got the call wrong – either through not seeing the play or wrongly interpreting Henry’s actions. However, the debate was quickly hijacked and rapidly distorted. The hijackers seem to fall into three categories.

….

Then goes on with this:

The final clique is the “Henry is a cheat” bandwagon-jumpers. (Is is just a coincidence that such a high percentage of video proponents also seem quick to besmirch Henry? Perhaps it comes from watching replay after replay is super-slow-mo and the V-Js have forgotten that the game is played in real time.)

Cheating surely requires premeditation. From the time the ball skips off the turf to the time it leaves Henry’s hand it can be no longer than one second. Essentially Henry had to deal with the following in that miniscule amount of time. The game was in extra time, he was traveling at a good clip towards the Irish goal, the ball was skipping off a greasy surface and heading towards him at an angle.

To “cheat” Henry would have had to act with a level of premeditation that would be nothing short of superhuman. (This is not supporting the notion that Henry did not commit a foul – there is no direct requirement for intent – by the conventional meaning – in the laws of the game. Undoubtedly the goal should not have been allowed to stand.)

But surely it is a case of a player reacting in a way that is quiet natural given the circumstances and in particular the time available. A defender on the goal line and with a ball blasted at him within arm’s length will almost always move his hand towards the ball. In both instances it is an instinct fine tuned through thousands of hours of practice and playing.

To label Henry a cheat in such circumstances requires us to cast a wide net over almost everyone who has ever played the game. Handball – cheat, pushing off a defender- cheat, picking a defender at a corner kick – cheat, moving ten yards up the touchline for a throw-in – cheat.

That leaves us with the failure by Henry to admit to the referee that the ball stuck his arm and hand. The French captain is taking a roasting for that as well. The laws of the game do not require self policing by players but that can be written in if the powers-that-be see the advantages of such a system.

We could then look forward to the day when a defender admits to a referee that he did in fact trip the opponent and insist on being sent off. Or in the absence of such a change can we look forward to the same level of indignant protests that we have seen and heard in the last 24-hours the next time a defender fails to own up to a wrong-doing?
————

Read the whole thing: http://community.foxsports.com/bobbymcmahon/blog/2009/11/19/the_thierry_henry_incident_#comments

Great read. Let me just comment on the last two paragraphs. Self policing will never happen unless you are this woman:
http://www.wsaw.com/home/headlines/67750367.html

“Self policing” needs to be initiated by the referee.

I second Dustin Lau:

By Dustin Lau | November 20th, 2009 at 7:09 am

Simple. Suspend him for 5 games. Let’s see how they do without him.
Regardless of whether it’s happened before, that’s not the point. The point is, it needs to stop happening.

If there aren’t going to be video replays, then the referees must ask the player if he dived/handballed/cheated.

If the player admits to it, freekick given, punishment meted out, game goes on.

If the player lies and is found to have lied with video evidence, automatic 6 game suspension.

Would players still cheat? If they think they can get away with it, yes.
But would they think twice if it means they might miss the whole world cup? Probably.

Either way, at least some small measure of justice is done, even if it can’t change the result.

Posted from Singapore

http://www.worldcupblog.org/world-cup-2010/thierry-henry-handballs-france-into-world-cup-2010-would-you-have-done-the-same.html

Africa Cup of Nations Angola 2010 Draw Held
http://malawi.worldcupblog.org/team-news/africa-cup-of-nations-angola-2010-draw-held.html

hav you seen the defnseman for Hofstra, rich Martinez, Played 4 yrs as starter… just rec’d honarable mention all american honors, Played for the puerto rico World Cup Team… He is a beast!!! a sleeper first rounder

until they put a screen as a forth official like they do in rugby no rematch…

and if they do rematch they should replay all the games where refs had made a mistake alot of poeple have money on these games..

yes to tv screens as a forth official

go henry it was a classic

GO Algeriaaaaaa! algeria will win and defend the african world cup. after all it is in african and its only right that an african win it ;-)) woooooooooooooooohooooooooooo 1 2 3 viva algerie!! peace!

rooting for USA, Ivory Coast is my sleeper, Spain probably to win

uruguay will win with forlan and suarez sikills

All of u know that NEW ZELAND is going to snap all of u.

they got the skillz that killz

i bet anyone $10 that brazil wont make it to the top 16

you are all american talkin about football u havnt a clue cum on england