As we approach Friday's draw for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, FIFA will be discussing a few issues on Wednesday, including...
The Republic of Ireland's request that a 33rd spot be created for them to compete in the 32 team tournament. There was more chance of a replay against France than FIFA adding a 33rd team to the competition.
* The World Cup has 8 groups of 4 teams, in the round-robin format, with 16 countries (top two in each group) qualifying for the knockout stages.
* The schedule for the tournament is tight, and adding an extra team would be a major inconvenience.
* A 33rd team would also make it unfair on the two teams that progress from the group of five. Being forced to play an extra match would reduce the chances of a country from this larger group progressing to the final.
Ireland, it's not gonna happen.
On Wednesday FIFA will also consider how to punish Thierry Henry for his controversial handball against the Republic of Ireland. They will consider sanctions against Henry but they did not say whether the player could be banned - a ban may require a rule change. Any punishment from this rule change will probably only apply to future infringements.
Sepp Blatter
, the president of FIFA, added that goal-line technology and extra match officials (one behind each goal) would be considered for the South Africa finals.
However if FIFA recommend any changes, they will still have to go before football's rule-making international board in Zurich in March for a final decision. Typical, let it drag on for another 4 months. And at that meeting they'll decide they need more time to think about it, before arranging one last rule change meeting the night before the tournament starts.