darron gibson

DANNY Simpson shared the sense of injustice felt by fellow Old Trafford graduates Darron Gibson and Paul McShane after Ireland's heartbreaking World Cup exit – but he still reckons most footballers would follow Thierry Henry's lead. The on-loan Newcastle United defender sent his commiserations to Gibson after witnessing Henry knock the brave Irish out with a "blatant" handball, and admits that France's victory was tainted by the striker's unsavoury gamesmanship. But he stopped short of saying that he  

Joy for one United player in Paris inevitably meant agony for others as the World Cup qualifying campaign reached a dramatic climax on Wednesday night. Patrice Evra and his fellow Frenchmen squeezed through to next summer's finals in South Africa, at the expense of Darron Gibson , John O'Shea and the Republic of Ireland, thanks to a controversial extra-time goal scored by Arsenal's William Gallas. The creator of the decisive strike, Barcelona forward Thierry Henry, clearly handled the ball in the buil  

Joy for one United player in Paris inevitably meant agony for others as the World Cup qualifying campaign reached a dramatic climax on Wednesday night. Patrice Evra and his fellow Frenchmen squeezed through to next summer's finals in South Africa, at the expense of Darron Gibson, John O'Shea and the Republic of Ireland, thanks to a controversial extra-time goal scored by Arsenal captain William Gallas. The creator of the decisive strike, Barcelona forward Thierry Henry, clearly handled the ball in the  

Giovanni Trapattoni has pulled no late surprises from the hat by naming the same starting XI that went down 1-0 last Saturday for tonight's second leg of the World Cup play-off at Stade de France. French coach Raymond Domenech has made just the one change, bringing in Sevilla centre half Julien Escude for the injured Eric Abidal. The 30-year-old has played three games in qualifying, two alongside Gallas, and gets the nod ahead of Sevilla team-mate Sebastien Squillaci.  

HE has been described as a Ferrari which just needs to get out of the garage a little more often. He was the man summoned from the bench by Giovanni Trapattoni in Bari back in April, tasked with carving open the world champions' defence. And Alex Ferguson has long preached his belief that he has the potential to be Manchester United's next great creative midfielder.

You could see even from the age of seven, eight or nine that he had that star quality in terms of his passing and his getting about the pitch and having good feet and an eye for goal   -John Cunningham

 

It was first blood to Patrice Evra and Nani in the World Cup qualifying play-offs on Saturday as France and Portugal both recorded victories in the first leg ties.  

Several United players are on international duty over the coming days – but the stakes are highest for four in particular.  

Four of United's players will battle it out over the next week to make the 2010 World Cup finals in South Africa next summer via the play-offs.  

IF Ireland are to beat France , as Giovanni Trapattoni continually stressed last week, the players will have to believe they can do it.