by John Overocker

Created on: November 21, 2009

I am not a soccer fan so my interest in the rematch would be minimal. However, I think that anyone with a sense of fair play and a love of sport could appreciate this situation. If you have not yet seen the play that has caused all this commotion I'll provide a brief recap (sans any real knowledge of the game); in what appeared to be overtime, the French team managed to get the ball down the field and one French player (I think they call them Strikers (I ask for any and all input from people who know the game, go ahead and send me feedback and I'll edit this article)) standing near the Irish goal used his hand to keep the ball in bounds and then kicked it in.

Even I know a player shouldn't do that.

The referee's must have had something more important on their minds because it was obvious and deliberate. The French player later made a statement saying as much even though it didn't appear as if he wanted a rematch. This goal decided the game, which in turn decided that France and not Ireland would go to the World Cup.

As I said earlier, I have no real love for the game but I believe in sport and fair play and to allow an appearance at the World Cup to be decided by such a bad call would be criminal. More importantly, if FIFA allows the call to stand, the organizations credibility would be undermined.

If this were an American Football game, the Coach could have called for an official review and it would have been overturned on the spot. This is not a perfect system but it does lead to better games because the teams and the fans are assured that they'll have, dare I say it, due process. Is it inconvenient, of course, and it slows down the game. On the other hand the rule ensures everyone that the best team wins. This is especially important when the game is a playoff.

A replay will be time consuming and inconvenient for FIFA. It would also be the only way to ensure to both the French and Irish Fans that the best team won, and therefore, that the best teams get to compete in the World Cup. When even the opposing team admits that a play was wrong there should be no more arguments they should just replay. To push on as if nothing happened would be a huge insult to Ireland and the rest of the soccer community.

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