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Two things became implicitly clear last Wednesday night; firstly that football needs to implement the omniscience of television replay and secondly that the World Cup means more than any other tournament in the game. By a mile.

Ireland, bullish and confident in the Stade de France, deserved more. They were the better side over two legs and probably should have sown up the tie before the end of 90 minutes – Robbie Keane and Damien Duff both had clear opportunities to force a French surrender – and negate any controversy. Even before Thierry’s trickery, Shay Given had survived a penalty scare that, from first viewing from my sofa, seemed a certain penalty but, upon reflection and more importantly television replay, appeared to be a dive. Verdict? No penalty (and also no booking for Anelka troublingly).

But what if the ref had pointed to the spot? We’ve certainly all seen them given, we’ve undoubtedly seen vociferous home crowds influence decisions before and we’ve definitely seen the ‘bigger’ teams favoured in qualifying games. Any doubts towards the governing bodies favouritism of the perennial footballing powers was allayed with the seeding of the playoffs, not on the teams qualifying record, but to their quasi-arbitrary FIFA world ranking. In the quiet words of the Virgin Mary, Come again?

All of which contributed to the glowing praise from commentators and fans for the referee’s performance through to the first final whistle, a regard only enhanced by his waving away of any French protests when Anelka raced through on goal and was sent flying – apparently by his own imagination rather than any contact.

Then the handball. Referee and linesman unsighted to one of the most blatant hand-to-ball incidents you could imagine – Henry not only handled, he caressed the ball to his foot as if placing it on a tee – and suddenly the ball was in the net, Gallas was veering away in celebration and half the Irish team turned murderous eyes and limbs to the referee.

The simple fact is, football executives have become acceptant that football is an imperfect game. The question of penalty decisions, handballs, added time, sending offs and the old favourite issue of whether the ball has crossed the line congest the airwaves for hours every weekend, detracting from the actual product we all adore so much…football in case you weren’t sure Mr. Blatter.

‘It all evens out over the course of a season.’ Not true. Ask Robbie Keane. Ask Shay Given. Ask Richard Dunne. And this is just one incident in the gross history of either poor or unaided officiating. Refs are better than ever, but the game is so fast, the stakes so high and the media so ferocious that a single error can cost a team millions, a manager his job, a town it’s wealth and a fan his health.

The answer? Well, how about TV replays just on penalty-box decisions? How about goal-line technology? How about the managerial ability to challenge a major decision twice a game, with reference to television evidence? There are numerous options but ostensibly little momentum for change. Football is the largest sport in the world, it should start acting like it.

Ok, rant over. To be fair I was actually quite lenient, should have caught me last week. Not pretty. Regardless, the unfortunate facts are that the soon-to-be-fabled hand of Henry denied Ireland in the extra period and they will not be amongst the 32 teams contesting the World Cup in South Africa. And nor will a number of other European middleweights. With all due respect to Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Costa Rica, New Zealand and Ecuador, the most missed teams at next summer’s spectacular are all on this continent; The Czech Republic, Russia, Sweden, Turkey, Ukraine and Croatia will all join the Irish as envious spectators and we all know how that feels. Doesn’t that list look like a perpetual list of major tournament dark horses? Just saying…

So no Ibrahimovic, no Modric, no Arshavin and no Keane. But here’s a few who will be there; Lampard, Gerrrard, Rooney, Terry, Cole…feels good doesn’t it?

But first, the pesky Champions League….

Debrecen v Liverpool

With Chelsea, United and Arsenal all either assured of qualification or as good as, Liverpool will be the focus of English eyes this week. Well, actually, one eye will be on events at the Ferenc Stadium the other on the Artemio Franchi where Fiorentina attempt to finish off the Reds with victory over Lyon.

Liverpool were comfortable winners over the Hungarians last time out but only managed a single goal, have scored just 3 in 4 games in the Champions League and are without Torres and Babel on Tuesday night. Steven Gerrard, still struggling with a groin injury, will likely play as Bentiez’ charges attempt to maintain their interest in the competition they won in 2005 and were losing finalists in 2007. Of course, they have performed the unlikely/impossible before.

Things are far from rosy for the Reds right now but they should hold up their end of the survival bargain and beat a plucky Debrecen. 2-1 to Liverpool ahead of the Merseyside derby this weekend.

Fiorentina v Lyon

What will Lyon do? Already qualified, the French side sit will be keen to impress after only winning once in their past 5 outings and slipping to third in Ligue 1. In Europe, Lisandro’s late equaliser at home to Liverpool ensured qualification but they will need a result to ensure they remain top of the group entering the final round of games and, with the likes of Arsenal, Chelsea, Man Utd, Sevilla, Inter and A.C Milan as current group leaders and possible opponents for a second placed team (Bordeaux lead Group A but would not face Lyon in the knockout stages due to their shared nationality), Lyon would be well served in retaining their top rank.

Fiorentina, beaten 1-0 at the Stade Gerland on match day 1, have been inconsistent as of late, beaten 3-2 at home by a resurgent Parma side at the weekend and out of a coveted Champions League qualifying spot. Victory, and with it qualification, for them would be a real fillip ahead of games against both Milan teams over the coming weeks.

La Viola will be tough to beat at home – Sporting Lisbon managed a 1-1 draw there in the qualifying round but Fiorentina have handsomely beaten Liverpool and Debrecen since – but will be feeling the pressures to perform. Lyon, fairly dire against Liverpool, should play better and have much more experience in Europe. I say they keep interesting and hold Fiorentina to a score draw, 1-1.

Barcelona v Inter Milan

Arguably the biggest game of the midweek fixtures as Barca and Inter meet in the Catalan capital with the loser in serious jeopardy of joining the likes of Bayern Munich and Liverpool on the European scrap heap known as the Europa League. Ok, so that’s unconfirmed, but it would be stunning to see 3 of the favourites fall at the formality of the group stage.

The pair drew in Milan but its Barcelona’s defeat at the Nou Camp to Rubin Kazan that makes their position so desperate. Kazan, recently crowned Russian champions, know that victory at home to Dinamo Kiev, themselves still very much in this group, would mean they only need a point in the San Siro on match day 6 to qualify and, in doing so, knock out one of Europe’s super heavyweights.

Inter, very, very late victors in the Ukraine, sit top of Serie A and are in typical Mourinho-driven form; powerful, tactically aware and suffocating. In spite of that, their usual defensive strength has been somewhat suspect as of late. For Barca, they remain unbeaten domestically yet still trail rivals Real by a point. In Europe, their usual free-scoring potency has eluded them; just 3 goals in 4 games and just one in two games against Russian debutants Kazan. And the latest news is that Leo Messi may well miss the game and El Clasico against Real on Sunday night. Could be a bad week for the reigning European Champions.

A draw right? Hmmm probably, but I’d quite like to see Barca steal it and set up a fascinating final group of fixtures in Group F. 1-0 to Barca.