Ireland claims it was robbed of World Cup spot

The Republic of Ireland is claiming it has been cheated out of World Cup spot after Henry's handled cross led to the goal that allowed France to progress.

Ireland equalized during the game with a fantastic goal from Robbie Keane to level the scores on aggregate. But in the first period of extra time, France snatched the lead with a controversial goal from William Gallas. The Swedish referee Martin Hansson failed to spot the handball that occurred before Henry crossed the ball for Gallas to score. The Irish players and manger Giovanni Trapattoni were furious at the referee and captain Richard Dunne claimed, "We were cheated tonight." Manger Trapattoni said:

It's a bitter situation. I would prefer to have gone out on penalties. I am sad because the referee had time to ask the linesman. I am sure he should have, and he could have confirmed it was handball.

Player Kevin Kilbane has expressed his feeling for a reply against France after the events last night. Kilbane said:

You see for yourself he's hand-balled it once and it's still going out of play so he's handled it again to make sure it doesn't go out of play.

Former Ireland International Jason McAteer also blasted last night's officials and called for the introduction of more officials behind the goal to make these decisions correctly. McAteer told Sky Sports:

There's always going to be human error but the referee's do need assistance. There's diving that we are talking about at the minute, I think another referee behind the goal is a good idea.

Lots of players have called for added technology to aid the referees.