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peter · Posted: Fri Nov 20, 2009 11:00 am Post subject: Sarkozy apologises to Ireland

French President Nicolas Sarkozy apologised to Irish Prime Minister Brian Cowen for France's controversial victory over Ireland in their World Cup play-off on Wednesday, but would not agree to a replay.
Cowen raised the issue of replaying the match with his French counterpart at a European Union summit in Brussels on Thursday after French captain Thierry Henry admitted he handled the ball in the build-up to William Gallas' winning goal in Paris.

More ... http://uk.news.yahoo.com/22/20091120/tts-uk-soccer-world-ireland-politics-ca02f96.html
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peter · Posted: Fri Nov 20, 2009 4:26 pm Post subject:

How would you fare ?
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dmu · ***** Joined: 28 Oct 2008 Posts: 100

[quote="peter"]French President Nicolas Sarkozy apologised to Irish Prime Minister Brian Cowen for France's controversial victory over Ireland in their World Cup play-off on Wednesday, but would not agree to a replay.
Cowen raised the issue of replaying the match with his French counterpart at a European Union summit in Brussels on Thursday after French captain Thierry Henry admitted he handled the ball in the build-up to William Gallas' winning goal in Paris.

More ... [url]http://uk.news.yahoo.com/22/20091120/tts-uk-soccer-world-ireland-politics-ca02f96.html[/url][/quote]

I haven't read the French report, but would guess that Pres. Sarkozy actually said that "il regrettait" the situation. This turned into "how sorry he was", which led to "apologizing". Poor translation in the headline.
Brian Cowen's counterpart is in fact François Fillon, the French PM.
At least two mistakes in a report, which in other circumstances might lead to a diplomatic incident and at the very least makes me very wary of what the media say (and what's Henry's "hand of God" got to do with politics, anyway?)