Once Again Ireland Wants In The 2010 World Cup...

...And once again they have been denied. In November Ireland and France tied in second leg of winner goes to the World Cup two match series. A stoppage time goal by France's Theirry Henry tied the game and allowed France to win the series on aggregate. The problem is Henry's game tying goal was littered with violations that were missed and went uncalled by game referees. To keep the ball in play Henry committed a handball, and then passed the ball to a France striker who was offsides. After the match Ireland attempted to file a formal protest with FIFA, Soccer's international governing board. The protest was quickly denied, and Ireland's World Cup dream seemed more like a pipe dream...Until yesterday when ESPN.com learned that Ireland had asked FIFA to include them in the World Cup as a 33rd team. What was shocking was that it was believed FIFA was apparently "seriously considering this option." Well they were, until this morning when FIFA told Ireland that it would be "impossible" for them to be included as a 33rd team.

After a lot of soul searching I have to say I sadly agree with this decision. There is no excuse for how poorly the refs managed the end of this game...But as FIFA says it would be truly "impossible" for them to be included as a 33rd team. Any ruling handed down from FIFA that allowed Ireland into the World Cup would have set a horrible precedent. If FIFA had granted Ireland's initial protest, and disallowed Henry's goal it would have sent the message that any game result could be changed after the game...That would have triggered a domino effect that the game might never be able to recover from. Any team that felt they were slighted by a ref's call during game play would feel entitled to a protest. In the end the refs were wrong... Ireland should be in the World Cup right now, and in a perfect world they would be. Problem is we don't live in a perfect world, and no one can expect to be perfect all the time...that includes soccer referees. What can be learned from this is that some form of instant replay should be included in any and every sport played worldwide.