Sarkozy apologises to Ireland, dismisses replay

Ireland's soccer team manger Giovanni Trapattoni holds a press conference at the Football Association of Ireland  headquarters in Abbottstown, Dublin   on  November 19. (AP Photo)

BRUSSELS, November 20 (Reuters): French President Nicolas Sarkozy apologised to Irish Prime Minister Brian Cowen for France's controversial victory over Ireland in their World Cup play-off on Wednesday, but would not agree to a replay. Cowen raised the issue of replaying the match with his French counterpart at a European Union summit in Brussels on Thursday after French captain Thierry Henry admitted he handled the ball in the build-up to William Gallas' winning goal in Paris. Sarkozy said he was sympathetic to Ireland's position, but could not support Cowen's call for restaging the game. "I told Brian Cowen how sorry I was for them," Sarkozy told reporters. "But don't ask me to substitute myself for the referee, or the French football authorities, or the European football authorities: leave me right where I am." Cowen earlier backed an appeal by the Football Association of Ireland to soccer's world governing body FIFA to have the game replayed.
"Yes, I do (support the FAI). Our minister of sport will write to FIFA in support of that complaint and look for a re-match," he said. The FAI have asked FIFA to order a replay of the controversial World Cup playoff against France.
Irish soccer authorities said the extra time goal at the Stade de France, which gave France a 2-1 aggregate win and dominated news bulletins in Ireland all day, as well as being discussed in parliament, had damaged the integrity of the sport. Citing a decision to invalidate the result of a World Cup qualifier between Uzbekistan and Bahrain in 2005 as a precedent, FAI chief executive John
Delaney said he was not calling for a replay simply out of principle.

FIFA refuses Irish request for replay

LONDON, November 20 (AFP): Football's world ruling body FIFA on Friday officially turned down a request from the Irish football authorities to stage a replay of their controversial World Cup playoff defeat to France. A statement on FIFA's website said: "FIFA has today, 20 November 2009, replied to the request made by the Football Association of Ireland (FAI) to replay the 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa 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." France qualified for the 2010 World Cup by winning the two-leg tie 2-1 on aggregate on Wednesday, although there has been outrage and claims of cheating after a blatant Thierry Henry handball led to France's decisive equaliser.
However the French football authorities maintain that the referee, Swede Martin Hansson, and not Henry is to blame. FIFA's statement added: "As is clearly mentioned in the Laws of the Game, during matches, decisions are taken by the referee and these decisions are final."