Soccer:Any lingering hopes of Fifa acceding to the FAI's request for inclusion at next summer's World Cup were finally put to bed this afternoon as Liam Brady turned his ire on Sepp Blatter, branding the Fifa president an "embarrassment" and a "loose cannon".
Clearly upset with the manner in which the Fifa head brought the FAI plea into the public domain – Blatter played it for laughs at a conference yesterday, jokingly telling the audience that the FAI had “humbly” asked for a 33rd place at the finals – Brady hit back this afternoon.
The Republic of Ireland assistant manager insisted that the FAI request had been a private matter and that Irish officials knew the request was likely to be dismissed. That Blatter chose to reveal all, much to the FAI’s embarrassment, shocked Brady.
“He’s a bit of a loose cannon. He’s an embarrassment to Fifa,” Brady said today. “I think when we asked for that we knew there was very little chance of that happening.
“We asked because we wanted to have them respond in a measured way, and see what they had to say. After all Mr Blatter was responsible for the (match) official.
“He didn’t say anything about the appalling mistake the official made to miss a blatant handball.”
“I’m afraid Mr Blatter is a law unto himself,” Brady added. “I thought it was very disrespectful how he presented this fact.
“He’s currently ignored most of the controversial things that went on that evening. He never had anything to say about that at all, like (Thierry) Henry’s behaviour after scoring the goal and how that stands within his campaign to have fair play within the game.
“Henry celebrates as if he’s done nothing wrong. Is that fair play? Hardly. But Mr Blatter chose to talk about the request to be considered as the 33rd team.”
Fifa are still due to discus the FAI appeal at an emergency session of the executive committee in Cape Town tomorrow.
Nevertheless, Fifa general secretary Jerome Valcke told a news conference today that Ireland should not entertain hopes of being given an extra place.
"I wouldn't say it's a nonsense but it is impossible," Valcke said. "There's no hope to give that there will be any more than 32 teams at the World Cup in South Africa".
Valcke said that, as Ireland had made an official request, the matter would have to go before the committee in Cape Town. But he said Blatter had told the FAI very clearly they had no chance of success.
Valcke said there would be too many organisational problems to overcome and that other teams who felt penalised by wrong refereeing decisions could also come forward and make similar claims.
"We had 853 qualifying matches," Valcke said. "It's sad that we are talking about just one game."
The plan to have five referees at every match of next summer’s finals, meanwhile, is likely to be given the green light at tomorrow’s meeting. That system is being trialled in this season’s Europa League.
There have also been suggestions that Thierry Henry may face disciplinary action from the executive committee for his handball in the build-up to William Gallas decisive goal in last month’s play-off. That cannot be ruled out but there is no precedent for such an action.
