IRISH ROBBED

(Image taken from Soccernet)

Things did not look good for the Republic of Ireland. Beaten 1-0 at Croke Park in the 1st leg, the chances of getting to South Africa were slim. Still, Geovanni Trappatoni's men made their way to the Stade de France for a World Cup UEFA qualifying playoff 2nd leg tie. Admittedly the pressure was all on France, non-qualification for them was simply unthinkable. Relations between the two teams were also iffy due to a rumble at the end of the first game. The Irish fielded an unchanged starting XI for this match and the French only made one change to their lineup. 90 minutes to decide who would get one of the last tickets to the big tournament.

Well the French came right at the Irish from the start but the Irish defence was able to dodge the bullets and hold firm. After that, they started to give the French defence headaches and Les Bleus found themselves panicing on multiple occasions. Then the Irish stunned us all. In the 33rd minute Duff crossed to Keane and the Spurs assasin slotted the ball into the French net. That quietened the French crowd who had been hoping for better from their team. The French in turn tried to find an equaliser but with the Irish now the louder set of fans, came up empty before half time. Somehow the Irish were back from the dead. 45 minutes to decide the tie.

The men in green looked like grabbing a second early on in the second half but an easy-looking opportunity was blasted into row Z. The Irish got another good chance early on but again that went begging and the French fans resorted to booing their own team. The French did eventually get their act together but their efforts were relatively weak, Nicolas Anelka looking the most likely to hit the net but it was nothing the Irish defence couldn't handle. The whistle blew on an awesome Irish performance. Slight problem, there was still work to be done. The aggregate score was 1-1 and level on away goals. The Irish had just done enough to buy themselves an extra 30 minutes.

France had the first real opportunity of extra time but it proved to be way off target. The Irish weren't rested on their laurels but it did seem as though the French were starting to get their act together, yet they still needed a goal. The French kept attacking however and eventually they struck paydirt though surely not in the way any of them would have wanted. In the 104th minute Thierry Henry looked to have handballed before setting up William Gallas to score from close range. Dodgy as hell but the goal was given and realistically, there's not much FIFA are going to do about it. In the meantime, the pressure was back on the Irish to score again.

The Irish put some fresh legs on in the 2nd half and started in on the attack again. Ultimately though that was the French cue to go all hands to the pump and the home defence did their job. The Irish attack faded away for a while. Instead the French looked to get a second, more legit goal but ultimately were kept out. In the dying minutes the Irish made one last charge for which even Given got involved. It came to nothing and the French played out the clock. Raymond Dommenech celebrated the result but I'm not sure who else did. The Republic of Ireland have missed out on another tournament and this time in the cruellest way possible. France are going to South Africa.

Elsewhere, Portugal beat Bosnia 1-0 at the Olympic Stadium(Sarejevo) to secure themselves a spot in South Africa despite having a rough time of qualifying. A bigger surprise was Greece beating Ukraine 1-0 at the Olympic Stadium(Kiev) to reach South Africa and their first World Cup since '94. Arguably the biggest shock of them all though was Slovenia beating Russia 1-0 at the Petrol Arena allowing the small Balkan country to reach South Africa and it's first World Cup since '02. Overall, a qualifying tournament that has already had it's share of shocks has just gone even further into the twilight zone. Looks like Russia's efforts in Euro 2008 were just a flash in the pan afterall.

Further afield, well the African group stages were still to be tidied up. As it turned out, Cameroon won Group A, Nigeria won Group B and Algeria won Group C. All three countries are off to South Africa, for Algeria it's their first World Cup since 1986! As for the intercontinental playoffs, well in the battle of the tiddlers, New Zealand beat Bahrain 1-0 on aggregate to make it to South Africa and reach their first World Cup since 1982! Uruguay beat Costa Rica 2-1 on aggregate to reach South Africa, the original World Cup winners back in the back time having missed out last time around. The 2010 World Cup certainly has an eclectic set of qualifiers.

And here they all are:

Denmark

Switzerland

Slovakia

Germany

Spain

England

Serbia

Italy

Netherlands

Cameroon

Nigeria

Algeria

Ghana

Ivory Coast

South Africa

Japan

Australia

South Korea

North Korea

USA

Mexico

Honduras

Brazil

Paraguay

Chille

Argentina

France

Portugal

Greece

Slovenia

New Zealand

Uruguay

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