Furious Keane attacks Fifa over seeding issue

Published on Thursday 19 November 2009 23:02

ROBBIE Keane has launched a scathing attack on football's governing bodies after the Republic of Ireland's World Cup dreams were shattered in Paris.

The 29-year-old Tottenham striker's anger at Fifa's belated decision to seed the play-off draw, which put the Irish at a disadvantage, was compounded by the controversial extra-time goal which saw France scrape through 2-1 on aggregate.

Keane said: "It's an easy decision to do the seedings, isn't it? They are all probably clapping hands, (Uefa President Michel] Platini sitting up there on the phone to (Fifa President] Sepp Blatter, probably texting each other, delighted with the result.

"There was no way in a million years it was going to be a fair draw – and it wasn't."

Keane added: "I'm devastated, to be honest with you. It's very hard to speak now because of the way we played.

"We thoroughly deserved to win the game, there's no question about that, but clearly they got away with it at the end with the handball. You could see by the reaction of the players, (goalkeeper] Shay (Given] especially. He was two yards away from it, and you don't get a reaction like that unless he is sure it's a handball. He (Henry] almost caught it and actually ran into the net with it."

Swedish referee Martin Hansson later insisted Henry had controlled the ball with his chest, but Keane and his team-mates were in little doubt that the Frenchman had handled.

The 1-1 draw in Paris extended Ireland's run on the road to six competitive games without defeat, including their trip to world champions Italy – indeed, the only reverse in the 12 matches they played in qualification was the one they suffered in Dublin at the weekend when Nicolas Anelka's goal gave France a 1-0 aggregate lead.

Keane said: "We are developing into a top team, and we need to continue that now and bring more younger players through.

"We can keep our heads up because of the manner in which we played. As captain, I am very proud to be a apart of this team and gutted we didn't make it."