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Ireland lobby FIFA for replay

19 Nov 2009 - 15:33:24

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The Football Association of Ireland has called for the Republic of Ireland's controversial World Cup play-off against France to be replayed after lodging a complaint with FIFA.

The Republic saw their dreams of playing in South Africa next summer ended in heart-breaking fashion in Paris on Wednesday night.

France captain Thierry Henry handled the ball before setting up team-mate William Gallas for the extra-time equaliser which saw France progress to the finals via a 2-1 aggregate victory.

"The blatantly incorrect decision by the referee to award the goal has damaged the integrity of the sport and we now call on FIFA, as the world governing body for our sport, to organise for this match to be replayed," read an FAI statement.

"There is precedent for the invalidation of such results. In 2005, the Bureau of the Fifa World Cup organising committee reached a decision to invalidate the result of a World Cup qualification match between Uzbekistan and Bahrain on the basis of a 'technical error by the referee of the match'.

"The Football Association of Ireland is hoping that FIFA and its Disciplinary Committee will, on behalf of football fans worldwide, act in a similar fashion so that the standards of fair play and integrity can be protected."

However, Republic of Ireland manager Giovanni Trapattoni does not expect to be granted a replay.

The Italian coach was angry that the goal in the 1-1 draw was allowed to stand and has asked FIFA to explain why they selected Martin Hansson to referee the game.

However, he does anticipate a second bite of the cherry for his demoralised side.

"When a referee decides a game has finished I know it is impossible to replay the game," he said earlier.

"This situation has to give a chance to who is responsible to rethink. It can be repeated in the future and we have to stop it."