In a move reminiscent of Diego Armando Maradona's "Hand of God" goal in the 1986 FIFA World Cup Quarter Finals, the French team's Thierry Henry has managed to qualify his team to the FIFA 2010 World Cup by playing handball, at the expense of Ireland's team.

While we are aware of the saying that all's fair in love and war, soccer should be held to higher standards. FIFA's refusal to move into the 21st century and allow instant replays to be used by judges, as they are in other sports, e.g. American Football, clearly sets the atmosphere for shameful events like these.

We applaud the French fans who have loudly voiced their embarrassment at how their team qualified and their support for the Irish team and fans. That's very heartening. What is disquieting is FIFA's refusal to disallow the result and schedule a replay of the match, despite the obvious justice of doing so. Hopefully enough of an uproar will be made by everyone who loves soccer, and FIFA will be forced to modernize the game and set higher standards, even if it will be in the future and too late to benefit the victim this time around.

It's worth mentioning, as yet another disturbing aspect of this incident, that although French fans are almost unanimously chagrined by the play and its consequences, the French team itself seems almost proud of itself, with Henry himself admitting the handling, but saying the responsibility for seeing the incident fell to the match official. If we are to agree with Henry's statement, then it is up to FIFA to make sure match officials have all the tools and technology to make immediate decisions based on facts. It is up to us fans to be loud and make sure our displeasure is noticed by FIFA. Let's not allow this incident to be forgotten except for the mandatory article hidden deep inside Wikipedia, like Maradona's.