The world soccer's governing body Fifa should order replays of matches where "cheating" affects the outcome, a senior French government minister said today.
In an interview with France's RTL radio, France's economy minister Christine Lagarde said: "I'm obviously very glad the team is in the World Cup, but I find it sad to qualify by cheating.
"And I think that Fifa would do well to look at the rules because I think it would be good, in such circumstances, to decide maybe to replay the match.
"Firstly, we should respect the referee, secondly, we respect the rules but if the rules are bad, they have to be challenged," Ms Lagarde said.
France sealed their place at the 2010 World Cup finals with a 1-1 draw against Ireland in Paris on Wednesday after striker Thierry Henry handled the ball in the build-up to their goal.
The Football Association of Ireland (FAI) has called for Fifa to order a replay and while French president Nicolas Sarkozy has apologised to Taoiseach Brian Cowen for the controversial win, he would not agree to a replay.
The FAI said there was a precedent for a replay to be staged, citing a decision to invalidate the result of a World Cup qualifier between Uzbekistan and Bahrain in 2005 on the basis of a technical error by the referee.
