International Football 18 November 2009

France handed World Cup place

France 0 Republic of Ireland 1 (1-1 aet) World Cup play-off (Paris 18 November 2009)
A valiant display by the Republic of Ireland gave them a 1-0 win in Paris to take the match to extra time, but they lost out to a controversial goal helped on by the hand of Henry. Ireland took the lead in the 33rd minute when Duff pulled the ball back from the by-line for Keane to slot home, and could have sealed the match just past the hour-mark when Duff burst forward with Bacary Sanga hot in his pursuit but Lloris dived to his right to deny the Irishman and keep French hopes alive. Robbie Keane got past the French keeper in the 73rd minute but overran the ball, and with France failing to trouble Given in the Ireland goal the two teams ended the 90 minutes equal on aggregate and needed extra time to decide the outcome of the match. With 13 minutes of the first period gone, Thierry Henry controlled the ball with his hand before poking it across the face of goal for Gallas to head over the line and send France to the World Cup finals.

Galas scores amidst Irish appeals for handball

In other play-off matches Slovenia's late first leg away goal in Russia proved decisive as the Russians who ended the match with 9 men were beaten 1-0 by a 44th minute Dedic goal and failed to reach the World Cup under the guidance of Guus Hiddink. Bosnia & Herzegovina failed to impress at home as Portugal repeated their 1-0 first-leg win to go through, and Greece caused an upset with a 1-0 win in Ukraine after a goalless first leg. Egypt, who had scored a goal 5 minutes into stoppage time to defeat Algeria 2-0 in Cairo on Saturday and force a replay in Sudan, faced their north African rivals in a volatile atmosphere and were silenced in Algerian jubilation when Yahia hammered the ball in off the bar from a tight angle 5 minutes before the interval to break Egyptian hearts and send Algeria to the World Cup for the first time since 1982. Uruguay completed the list of participants drawing 1-1 at home to Costa Rica, but winning 2-1 on Aggregate.

In the Asian Cup qualifiers Uzbekistan qualified with a 3-1 victory in Malaysia and were joined by Syria who drew 0-0 at home to Vietnam. Singapore shocked Thailand 1-0 in Bangkok while Bahrain beat Yemen 4-0 at home and Japan enjoyed the same result in Hong Kong.
Among friendly matches Lukas Podolski scored both goals for Germany to salvage a draw at home to the Ivory Coast while the Dutch were held to a goalless draw at home to Paraguay. Spain hammered Austria 5-1 in Vienna, and 3 goals early in the 2nd half in Denmark gave the Danes a 3-1 win over the USA, while a single goal in Italy was the difference between the world champions and Sweden.