Ireland blunder ref hammered back in Sweden

Swedish referee Martin Hansson has been condemned in his homeland for missing the France handball which dumped the Republic of Ireland out of next years World Cup.

Hansson's blunder – and Thierry Henry's dishonesty - were the major talking points afterwards but Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet laid the blame squarely at the official's door.

Their story said: "There are approximately 80million Irishmen around the world. We guarantee they all feel pretty bad today.

"But I sincerely hope there are three Swedes that feel even worse.

"They are Martin Hansson and (referee's assistants) Stefan Wittberg and Fredrik Nilsson."

They concluded by adding: "There will be no World Cup for Ireland and I assume that Team Hansson has also forfeited it's right to continue to take charge of major international matches.

"Anything else would be a further insult to the Irish nation."