Bedlam in Africa, & THAT handball - what a week in football

Phhheewwww.......what a week it's been in football.

Firstly, there was bedlam & turmoil in North Africa, courtesy of the qualifiers between Egypt & Algeria. The 2 nations have a deep history of animosity & mutual loathing, so the qualifier in Cairo on 14/11/2009 was filled with tension. To add further fuel to the fire, Algeria's team bus in Cairo was attacked, & there were allegations that Egyptian security had disappeared to allow the home fans to stone the visiting team bus.

Going into the Cairo match, Egypt were 3 points behind Algeria & needed to win by a 3 goal margin to overtake Algeria & go straight to the World Cup. Algeria would go through if they win, draw or lose by no more than 1 goal margin. A 2 goal win by Egypt would mean playoff in a neutral venue. Algeria was losing 1-0 & looked set to book their tickets to South Africa, when Egypt dramatically scored the vital second goal deep into stoppage time. That sealed a 2-0 win to Egypt, which meant both teams are level on points, goal difference & goals scored. A playoff in neutral venue was needed to decide who goes to the World Cup. So near & yet so far for Algeria.

So the tension continued into the playoff on 18/11/2009. Algeria preferred Tunisia as the neutral venue, believing that the Tunisian public would side for them against Egypt. Egypt preferred nearby Sudan & got their wish. The momentum looked to be in Egypt's favour. But Algeria stunned their more fancied arch-rivals with a 1-0 win, & so seal a place in the World Cup finals for the first time since 1986.

And then, there is the handball by Thierry Henry in the lead up to France's decisive equalising goal in Paris against Ireland which allowed them to qualify for the World Cup. The French finished second in their World Cup qualifying group European zone, & so enter a two-legged playoff against Ireland (who also finished second in their group) for a spot in the World Cup.

France won the first 1-0 in Dublin. In the second leg, Ireland was leading 1-0 after the normal 90 minutes. So the game went to extra-time, & just 7 minutes from the end, Henry controlled the ball with his hand before setting up France's equaliser. That goal proved to be decisive, for the match finished 1-1 & allowed France to qualify 2-1 on aggregate. It was claimed that any professional in Henry's position (with so much at stake) would have done the same thing as Henry did. It was also claimed that it was up to the match officials to spot the handball & disallow the goal. They didn't, so the goal stood, & therefore denied Ireland the chance to take the match to a penalty shoot-out - which would have happened had France's equaliser been disallowed & had Ireland retained their 1 goal lead to the end of extra-time.

Henry's handball controversy created massive headlines in the Irish & British press (who were quick to sympathise with Ireland), with headlines like "The Hand of Henry", "Le Hand of God" & "Le Hand of Fraud" flashing out prominently. Most French fans were embarrassed by Henry's actions. But at the end of the day, France are going to the World Cup, despite some ordinary performance in the qualifying matches.

Someone once said a week is a long time in football. Well, this has been one hell of a football week!