That old saying of 'Irish eyes are smiling' is definitely not true after Wednesday's crucial World Cup qualifying match between Ireland and France in Paris. Now it is a case of 'Irish eyes are crying' after what I can only call highway robbery.

I couldn't believe what I was watching when in extra-time Thierry Henry handled the ball before passing it to William Gallas in the Irish box to score, sending France through to South Africa after they had come away with a 1-0 victory in Ireland last Saturday.

Ireland were robbed – it is simple as that. They were going great guns after scoring earlier in the game – and then came the handball.

I couldn't believe the referee or his linesman didn't see the handball. In fact, Henry handled the ball twice in his move – once to keep it going out of play and the other to control it before passing to Gallas.

I know the Irish players and fans must be furious to go out like that – they were not that far away from a possible penalty shoot-out. What made it even worse was that the handball was not one of those where there may have been a question about whether it was deliberate or not. I don't think I have ever seen such a deliberate handball – well maybe the Hand of God in 1986!

On the other hand, so to speak, Ireland should have been ahead in Wednesday's match. They certainly had the chances. Damien Duff was one on one with the keeper and failed to come up with the goods. Defender John O'Shea had a good chance to score when he was close in on the right and then striker Robbie Keane had a couple of chances – one in particular where he went round the keeper but let the ball go out of play.

In most cases Keane would have put that away and you could see the frustration on his face after letting the ball get away from him. He had already done the hard work.

I know that South Africa will certainly miss having the huge contingent or Irish fans next summer – they are some of the most enjoyable fans to be around and always up for a laugh. It is a pity that the team will not be there.

You almost feel like the game should be replayed but that is not going to happen. All I can say is that I feel for the Irish.

While the Ireland game was a low point of the play-offs this week, there were some very wonderful and uplifting moments.

And Slovenia making it to their second World Cup ranks right up there.

Slovenia beat Russia 1-0 on Wednesday at home and qualified on away goals after a 2-2 aggregate result. It just shows how important that away goal they scored late into the game in Moscow last Saturday was.

Russia had some opportunities on Wednesday but I take my hat off to the Slovenians who must have celebrated far into the night on Wednesday. Good for them.

Slovenia's only previous World Cup appearance was seven years ago, but the team lost all three of their matches in South Korea and Japan. They will be hoping for a better outing this time.

New Zealand made it to their second World Cup after their appearance in 1982 in Spain. Here is a small country whose number one sport is rugby. But through hard work they made it, so it shows what can happen if you put the effort in. Take note Bermuda players.

I imagine the Portuguese fans in Bermuda breathed a sigh of relief after Portugal qualified after beating Bosnia and I am certainly happy for them.

You always want teams like Portugal in the World Cup. They play with great flair but I feel they will need a bit more up front next summer. The fact that they made it over the two legs without star player Ronaldo against a tough Bosnia side says something about the team. It was a gutsy performance by the Portuguese – especially playing in Bosnia where the pitch was pretty awful.

I thought Nani had a good game – he seems to play better for Portugal than for Manchester United. He made a nice pass to set up the only goal which made it very difficult for Bosnia to come back. They would have had to score three and I couldn't see that happening.

You always want the best players to play in the World Cup and for a while there during qualifying it looked questionable whether Ronaldo and Argentina's Messi would make it. Now they have and that is great for the game because not all the best players have made an appearance at the World Cup – just think of Northern Ireland's George Best and Liberia's George Wear.

Algeria is another great story. They beat Egypt on a one-off game in neutral Sudan after both teams were tied at the top of their Group C in African qualifying.

This will be their third World Cup after making it in 1982 and 1986.

The one-off game in Sudan came about after last Saturday when Egypt won in Cairo. And the scenes in Egypt were a bit of a disgrace and hopefully FIFA do something about it. Before the match, three Algerian players received facial cuts when Egyptian fans stoned Algeria's team bus. That kind of stuff should not happen. But it is the Algerian who are laughing now.

It is back to league football this weekend and one interesting match will be Manchester City playing at Liverpool.

I know I have made a few criticisms of Liverpool manager Rafa Benitez in the past and in fact one Liverpool fan, Allan Mather, wrote to the newspaper the other day disagreeing with me. Fair play. I love to see a fan with passion and Allan, I know you have passion. I wasn't trying to pick on Liverpool or Benitez but we all have opinions and that is what is great about the people like you who love the game and their team.

I have great memories of playing against Liverpool in front of the Kop. What a fantastic club and they have fantastic supporters. But I will say this, give me Bill Shankly over Rafa Benitez!