FIFA says Ireland will not be invited into the World Cup as a 33rd team even though Thierry Henry's handball helped France eliminate the Irish in a playoff. FIFA secretary general Jerome Valcke said it was “impossible” to change the structure of the tournament and that it would open FIFA to a host of other complaints of teams that felt they were cheated during qualifying. FIFA president Sepp Blatter said Monday that the Irish had written to football's world governing body asking to be let into the 2010 tournament in South Africa because of Henry's handball. “We have to be clear that Ireland will not be invited to play at the 2010 World Cup,” Valcke said at a press conference here ahead of the draw Friday. “There was a request made by the Irish FA when we met them in Zurich a few days ago. “They asked the question but the FIFA president was very clear in saying it was impossible because if we did so then why not Costa Rica and others? “We told them that because they were making a special request that we would bring it to the attention of the FIFA executive committee members and it is what we will do tomorrow. “But you can imagine what it would mean, I would not say it's a nonsense, but it is impossible. There is no hope at all that there will be more than 32 teams at the 2010 World Cup in South Africa,” he added. The way Blatter revealed the Irish request to be a 33rd team to the world's media was attacked Tuesday by Ireland assistant manager Liam Brady, who described the FIFA boss as “an embarrassment”. Brady said the Football Association of Ireland (FAI) had expected FIFA to consider the matter in private. The draw takes place Friday at 7:00 P.M. (1800 GMT), with the 90-minute ceremony. Charlize Theron to be leading lady in World Cup draw South African actress Charlize Theron has landed the leading lady's role in Friday's draw for next year's World Cup Finals in her home country, FIFA announced Tuesday. Theron will be joint host of the 90-minute show to be televised live to an estimated global audience of more than two hundred million people in 200 countries. She will join FIFA general secretary Jerome Valcke to host the procedure of placing the 32 finalists into eight groups of four teams for the tournament which runs from June 11 to July 11. The show will include an African musical spectacular, including gospel and jazz. A host of sporting celebrities will also take part in the draw including Ethiopia's Olympic champion runner Haile Gebrselassie, England midfielder David Beckham, South Africa footballer Matthew Booth and cricketer Makhaya Ntini and the host country's rugby World Cup captain John Smit.
