The question about whether or not France deserve to be taking part in the 2010 edition of the World Cup in South Africa has not been asked for such a long time, at least among the non-Irish in this world. However, with the World Cup in less than a month away from the time of writing, and also the fact that personally I have yet to present my case and perspective on this issue, I feel that this is the appropriate time to answer those big questions regarding the World Cup prior to the much anticipated opening match between the hosts South Africa and Mexico. Thus, despite seemingly to be the other way round, I dare say that France actually fully deserve their spot in the competition despite the widespread condemnation due to the nature of how their spot was clinched at the expense of the gallant Republic of Ireland and the reasons why will be covered in the following paragraphs.
The first reason why France deserve their spot in the upcoming World Cup is simply because of the time honored rule from FIFA regarding the referee's decisions in a football match. To be precise, it is about the very rule that no matter what, the referee's decisions in a match are final. There have been many well documented and hotly debated huge football incidents regarding referee's decisions in the past which are still disputed and begrudged even until this very day. I will just take arguably two of the most prominent of such incidents which are Geoff Hurst's infamous “phantom goal” which resulted in England winning their first and so far only World Cup every in 1996 on home soil at the expense of Germany and of course the “Hand of God” goal by Diego Maradona which arguably the knockout blow to England in the 1986's World Cup and of course a huge catalyst of Argentina winning that year's edition of the World Cup.
Therefore, just by taking a look at those two incidents, it could be seen that it is futile to debate all those incidents even in the decades after those incidents actually occurred. We have seen thousands of complaints from the German and English players who were undermined in the respective incidents, we have seen the replays of those incidents so many times that the replay is totally ingrained in our memories such that we are able to play out the exact video right in our minds. But one thing remains. The respective goals have stood until today. Referee's decisions are final. Period. So, it's pretty much the same for the incident when Thierry Henry swatted the ball for William Gallas to score which in turn swatting his country all the way to South Africa while swatting Ireland out of commission. No matter how the Irish want to debate this issue until we have introduced football to the aliens in the space and when we are able to host Mars United to play a friendly game, the decision will never be overturned and yes, this argument comes to a full circle, the referee's decision is final. Even if Thierry Henry had carried the ball with his hands, rugby style, all the way to beyond Shay Given's goal-line, and IF the referee allowed it, that's a goal, and nothing can ever change that, not even millions of Shillelagh blows on the referee's or Henry's head will be able to change anything, let alone the result of the match.
The second reason why France deserves to be in South Africa next month is pertaining to how FIFA made a very controversial rule change for the play-off stage of the UEFA World Cup qualifying campaign. The rule change was that FIFA suddenly decided to seed the teams who were in the playoffs according to their FIFA ranking. The reason for the controversy surrounding this decision is mainly due to the rather surprising conclusion in the various groups of the qualification campaign in which the football powerhouses such as France, Portugal, and even Russia didn't manage to top their groups and thus had to negotiate a potentially tricky random fixtures in the playoffs. But the rule change guaranteed that these powerhouses won't be facing one another. This sent the football conspiracy theorists to work overtime and concluded that this was all a conspiracy by FIFA to get as many top teams as possible in the World Cup while of course culling the “undesirable” teams as far as sponsorship and attendance issues are concerned. Had there been no rule change at all, we would have seen two top teams against each other, for example France vs Portugal and thus one of those teams would have to miss this year's World Cup. In the end, Portugal faced Bosnia-Herzegovina while France faced Republic of Ireland for the very clash which ignited debates such as what is being discussed in this article. In the end, both France and Portugal qualified. The only instance of the smaller teams defying the controversial rule change is only Slovenia as they managed to beat Guus Hiddink's fancied Russian team.
Well, if we look at this rule change objectively, it is indeed makes a whole world of sense for FIFA to try their best (according to the conspiracy theories at least) to get France and Portugal among other top teams to be in the World Cup for the aforementioned sponsorship and attendance issues. Picture this, it would be a disaster for sponsors such as NIKE and Adidas just to name two if players under contracts with them such as Thierry Henry and Cristiano Ronaldo are to miss the competition. It would be an utter disaster as far as profits are concerned. Besides sponsorship issues, we have to look at the attendance and gate receipt issues. How can one expect the South African populace and tourists from all over the world to pay a huge sum of money to go to the various South African cities where the matches are held to look at teams which an average fan would struggle to name just three squad members? (with all due respects to the teams). Even if one points out at Bosnian and Irish stars such as Hasan Salihamidzic, Vedad Ibisevic, Robbie Keane, and Shay Given, people would certainly prefer to see players such as Thierry Henry, Cristiano Ronaldo, Hugo Lloris, and Simao. I mean, the latter four players would put more bums on the seats of the South African stadiums. Again, it would be an utter disaster if the first World Cup on African soil is to fail due to poor attendance? The sight of the empty stadiums will be such a shameful sight for FIFA's top brass and also for South Africans and even for the world as a whole for that matter! Thus, it doesn't matter if the conspiracy theories are true or not, the fact that France is a team filled with the who's who in football and also perhaps the very fact that France has a better prospect in the competition in providing stern challenges that even Ireland (sorry Ireland fans) in the competition and thus, let's just be objective and harden our hearts, but yes, France deserves to be in the competition when we look at the economic reasons, (sponsorship and attendance) as well as in terms of the competition's pedigree as a whole. (the fact that France can potentially go further than Ireland and Bosnia-Herzegovina for instance and thus provide quality matches instead of thrashings).
The third and last reason for the day is also a bitter pill to swallow for the Irish, but let's all face it with our objective glasses, as what I would expect for anyone reading the previous paragraph. It is true that the one particular goal which resulted from the infamous handball was the sucker punch which destroyed all hopes of the Irish to go to the World Cup. But why? It's of course due to the fact that the Irish had first lost 1-0 in Dublin on the first leg of the tie and had a mountain to climb for the second leg in Paris. Robbie Keane managed to score one goal to bring the aggregate to 1-1 and to extra time. That's when the Hand of Henry assist ruined everything. But would it have been such a decisive incident had Ireland were 4-0 up for instance in that match, or if that seems too much, a 3-0 advantage from the first leg in Dublin? The extra time would not have happened and it is likely that the incident would not have happened. Of course it would not be right on my part to keep asking the what if questions, which I believe have been asked countless of times before, even until today. But that's what it is. Had Ireland managed to take their chances well, especially if they had managed to make full use of their home advantage in the first leg, not even two of such goals would prove to be so detrimental. But then again, we have to realize that the playoffs are never easy, not even after the aforementioned FIFA rule change and thus sometimes it takes just one goal, one mishap, one wrong referee decision to turn things around, and that's what happened, just like the two incidents in 1966 and 1986 mentioned above. Thus, based on the results alone over two legs. France deserves to go through as they managed to “hold off” Ireland in the two legs, especially in the 2nd leg after Robbie Keane's early goal in the match to stay in contention and won it, even if the assist to the winning goal wasn't a legitimate one.
Despite all of the reasons mentioned above regarding how France deserve their spot, it is pertinent that we should not immediately conclude that France totally, fully deserve their spot in the competition. It is because, no matter what, what Henry had done in the match was such a disgraceful act. It was obviously a blatant act not only to keep the ball from going out of the playing field for a goal kick, but also to launch the ball right on William Gallas' path, who is one of the French players in the Irish penalty box. Even though this is a football era in which the stakes are so high that the end justifies the means more often than not, and also in Henry's personal perspective that if France doesn't qualify, he might have played his last World Cup match in 2006 final, which didn't end that well for the French. But still, Thierry Henry is a world class superstar playing in world class matches beamed to a global audience, and there are kids who adore him as an idol and treat him as their role model. If that's the kind of example that he is setting on the pitch, it is saddening to see that the kids would think that it is okay to cheat their way to victory as long as they can win matches for their team, which is a wrong idea which might translate to other fields if they do not play football such as in their school examinations and even in the business world that they might end up as the next Nick Leeson and other irresponsible CEOs which might not only ruin a company but also ruin the whole world's economy as evident in the recent global financial crisis. But then again, football is not a philanthropic work, at least not today, and thus attaining goals, whether collective ones (bringing one's country to the World Cup) or individual ones (Henry's wish to play in one more World Cup for example) are at the top of the agenda, and I am afraid, in modern football at least, morality and even caring for the kids' affected moral values is nowhere near the top or even on the priority list itself...
In conclusion, no matter how many liters of Irish tears and also desperate attempts by the Irish to overturn the result, such as when they go as far as appealing to FIFA to include them as the competition's 33rd team, we have to see from the combination of the reasons stated above from how the referee's decision is final, how FIFA, the sponsors, and even the footballing world as a whole would benefit from France's inclusion in the World Cup, and also not forgetting the fact that the Irish failed to stamp their mark in the two matches to kill the tie off so that they are guaranteed a spot without heart stopping moments such as Henry's handball to ruin everything contribute to the fact that France deserve to be in the World Cup to entertain all of us. Although again the Irish and other detractors might wish for France to do another 2002 and exit the World Cup unceremoniously, I would beg to differ. I even dare say that since I have tipped Argentina (another team expected to go out early) to win this World Cup, and France, like Argentina is a team who have struggled a lot in the qualification campaign, and we know that teams that struggle in the qualification campaign tend to go far. Of course I am not that superstitious as to say that this is the only factor, but there are other factors which is totally out of the discussion in this particular occasion. In a nutshell, I am not ruling out the final consisting of a match between France and Argentina in this edition's World Cup! Therefore, I might even write another article in two months' time about whether France deserves to be in the final or even deserve to win the cup in the event that they do!
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