AP

ZURICH – FIFA ruled out the possibility of replaying the disputed France-Ireland World Cup qualifier on Friday, rejecting an Irish appeal to stage the playoff again after Thierry Henry handled the ball to set up the deciding goal in extra time.

“In the reply, FIFA states that the result of the match cannot be changed and the match cannot be replayed,” FIFA said in a statement. “As is clearly mentioned in the Laws of the Game, during matches, decisions are taken by the referee and these decisions are final.”

Henry used his left hand to keep the ball from going out of play, then passed to William Gallas, who headed in the decisive goal. At the time of Henry’s unpunished handball, the match was 17 minutes from reaching a penalty shootout.

The match at Stade de France ended in a 1-1 draw, enough to qualify France for next year’s World Cup in South Africa 2-1 on aggregate after the 1998 world champions won the first leg of the playoff in Dublin 1-0.

Henry admitted later that he handled the ball, but Swedish referee Martin Hansson did not spot the infraction.

In Dublin on Friday, the Football Association of Ireland said it received FIFA’s reply rejecting a replay. The FAI said its management board would meet to consider the matter later Friday.

Irish Prime Minister Brian Cowen said he would raise the issue with French President Nicolas Sarkozy at a meeting of the 27 EU leaders in Brussels.

FIFA did order Uzbekistan and Bahrain to replay a World Cup qualifying match in 2005 following a referee’s critical error. However, there is no precedent to order a replay because of second-guessing a referee’s judgment on the field.

Irish lawmaker Joe McHugh said France should follow the 1999 precedent set by Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger, a Frenchman who volunteered to replay a match in England’s FA Cup after the Gunners won on an unfair goal.

Rivalry is a big issue for these two teams who face each other in a knockout tie to see who progresses to the World Cup, after Egypt beat them previously 2-0 with a header from Emad Moteab’s deep into injury time forcing the rematch.

Algeria knew they could still qualify for the World Cup if they lost 1-0 to the Egyptians, but when Amr Zaki fired them ahead, it seemed to be too late for them to claim another. Then deep in injury time, Moteab’s header forced the rematch that will now take place in Sudan tonight.

The rivalry between the two nations dates back to 1990, when the Algeria players hurled plant pots into the crowd after losing out on a place for the 1990 World Cup in Italy to the Egyptians. After the matchup, more chaos ensued, with Algerian striker Lakhdar Balloumi convicted and sentenced to prison after gouging an Egyptian doctor’s eye out with a broken bottle.

It seems as though the Egyptians retaliated last Saturday, when the Algerian team bus was attacked, and windows were smashed with the players having to be treated with minor cuts to the face. Egypt deny this claim by saying that the Algerians feigned the attack themselves by smashing the windows of it’s own team bus.

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