The outcome of the France and Ireland World Cup qualifier this past Wednesday is perfect reason for a serious riot. With the French up 1-0 in aggregate goals, Robbie Keane put the Irish up with a goal in the 32^nd minute, tying the aggregate goal totals for their two-legged qualifying round through the first tiebreaker as well, as both goals were scored by the away team.

Then in the 102^nd minute in injury time, Thierry Henry received a pass deep in Ireland’s box and chipped it to the head of William Gallas for a shocking goal to tie up the score, and putting the French up 2-1 outright in aggregate goals. Whistle blows. Game over. France is heading to the World Cup in South Africa next summer and Ireland will be heading to their local pubs to watch it on television.

But wait, was that a hand of a Frenchman that ever so smoothly knocked the ball down? Isn’t that some kind of penalty in football? Note the sarcasm, but yes! Ireland got robbed in every which way possible. I could only imagine this one is tough to swallow. If the ball sails over the end line untouched, we see an Irish win in the second leg and an eventual shootout for a berth in the tournament. I have literally never seen an easier call to make in any professional sport. This is one sport, however, that does not use video replay to make judgment calls during the course of the game. Everything is based on the human eye, leaving the floodgates open for human errors. Big ones.

Haven’t we seen this before? Argentinean Football legend Diego Maradona is the icon of what is known today as the “Hand of God” goal. In the 1986 World Cup quarterfinals against England, Maradona looked to head in his first of two goals over the reach of the English keeper, but the “header” was really a “fister”, and his goal was, well, still a goal, making it one of the most controversial moments in Football history. That is until France and Ireland: Round Two.

Sure, look at Henry as a demon, a cheat, or any other derogatory adjectives that may come to mind. I feel for the Irish team and the country, but this one is on Referee Martin Hansson. Henry was even quoted after the game saying, “I will be honest, it was a handball. But I’m not the ref. I played it, the ref allowed it. That’s a question you should ask him.”

Hansson, who is a Swedish native, was openly condemned by his homeland and it’s local newspapers. Amongst the statements: "There will be no World Cup for Ireland and I assume that Team Hansson [with Assistant’s Stefan Wittberg and Fredrik Nilsson] has also forfeited it's right to continue to take charge of major international matches. Anything else would be a further insult to the Irish nation."

Just like any other sport, the committee always wants to see the big boys duke it out for the prize. France (51 Career World Cup games: 25 W-10 D-16 L, 1 championship) would take that claim over the Republic of Ireland (13 Career World Cup games: 2 W-8 D-3 L, 0 championships). Conspiracy or not, the Irish have every reason to feel cheated simply because they were. People are calling for a rematch, which won’t ever realistically happen. The deed is unfortunately done. Not even the freshest of Guinness or Killian’s Irish Red may be able to wash out the salty taste this game left the Irish nation for quite some. On another note, if I were Mr. Hansson, I would change my P.O. Box address at earliest convenience. Expect a mass amount of hate mail heading your way.