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France 'cheated' Republic of Ireland out of World Cup spot - Sean St Ledger
Irishman feeling Blue after 'Hand of Frog'...
19 Nov 2009 06:05:01
By Adithya Ananth
Republic of Ireland defender Sean St Ledger believes that his side were "cheated" by France of a place in the World Cup finals.
The Irishmen dominated for a vast majority of the game and took the lead in the first half, owing to a goal from Robbie Keane. But a questionable equaliser in extra-time saw their hopes dashed.
A free-kick from Florent Malouda saw Les Bleus captain Thierry Henry blatantly handle the ball before setting up William Gallas for what would be the deciding goal that saw Raymond Domenech's side book a ticket to South Africa.
"We got robbed, you can tell by the boys' reaction it hit his hand blatantly," St Ledger told Sky Sports News.
"We feel cheated - we were the better team over the two legs, every football fan in the stadium will say we were the better team tonight.
"It's cost a lot of us our dreams - as a boy I used to dream of playing in the World Cup, and now I'm not."
Following the heartbreak, the 24-year-old called for video technology to be introduced into the game, so as to prevent such controversial incidents from occurring in the future.
"I don't understand why we haven't got replays in this day and age," he said.
"You can get replays within 10, 30 seconds and it would have helped today."
The Preston North End player - who is currently on loan with Middlesbrough - did not begrudge Henry for handling the ball, as he believes that the stakes were too high for any player to own up to an error on his part.
"He's said it hit his hand accidentally but if you look at it you can clearly see it hits his hand twice," he continued.
"I'm not sure [Henry's reputation] has been tarnished - it doesn't look great but he's got his team to the World Cup finals.
"If it had been one of our team we'd have probably done the same.
"The blame doesn't necessarily fall on him but he's handled it, everyone can see it around the world."
Giovanni Trapattoni's men lost only one game throughout their quest to compete in the 2010 World Cup, which came in the form of a 1-0 loss to France in the first leg of the playoffs.
Republic of Ireland defender Sean St Ledger believes that his side were "cheated" by France of a place in the World Cup finals.
| Bet: | Returns: | Hungary £26.00 | Draw £32.00 | Ireland £25.00 |
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| Bet: | Returns: | Hungary £29.00 | Draw £32.00 | Ireland £25.00 |
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| Bet: | Returns: | Hungary £28.00 | Draw £32.50 | Ireland £25.00 |
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| Bet: | Returns: | Hungary £29.00 | Draw £33.00 | Ireland £24.00 |
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| Bet: | Returns: | Hungary £28.50 | Draw £31.00 | Ireland £23.50 |
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The Irishmen dominated for a vast majority of the game and took the lead in the first half, owing to a goal from Robbie Keane. But a questionable equaliser in extra-time saw their hopes dashed.
A free-kick from Florent Malouda saw Les Bleus captain Thierry Henry blatantly handle the ball before setting up William Gallas for what would be the deciding goal that saw Raymond Domenech's side book a ticket to South Africa.
"We got robbed, you can tell by the boys' reaction it hit his hand blatantly," St Ledger told Sky Sports News.
"We feel cheated - we were the better team over the two legs, every football fan in the stadium will say we were the better team tonight.
"It's cost a lot of us our dreams - as a boy I used to dream of playing in the World Cup, and now I'm not."
Following the heartbreak, the 24-year-old called for video technology to be introduced into the game, so as to prevent such controversial incidents from occurring in the future.
"I don't understand why we haven't got replays in this day and age," he said.
"You can get replays within 10, 30 seconds and it would have helped today."
The Preston North End player - who is currently on loan with Middlesbrough - did not begrudge Henry for handling the ball, as he believes that the stakes were too high for any player to own up to an error on his part.
"He's said it hit his hand accidentally but if you look at it you can clearly see it hits his hand twice," he continued.
"I'm not sure [Henry's reputation] has been tarnished - it doesn't look great but he's got his team to the World Cup finals.
"If it had been one of our team we'd have probably done the same.
"The blame doesn't necessarily fall on him but he's handled it, everyone can see it around the world."
Giovanni Trapattoni's men lost only one game throughout their quest to compete in the 2010 World Cup, which came in the form of a 1-0 loss to France in the first leg of the playoffs.
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