Barthez to miss game against Ireland

Fabien Barthez has had his ban for spitting at a referee extended until the end of 2005, which means the controversial French goalkeeper will miss the vital Group Four World Cup qualifier against the Republic of Ireland on September 7th.

Barthez, a World Cup winner in 1998, still hopes, however, to play for France at next year's World Cup.

"I will go on, no matter what," he told Radio France. "I want to be at the 2006 World Cup. I will fight, and on the pitch because it is where I'm my strongest. So I will fight on the pitch as soon as I'm back."

Barthez ( 33) was reported for spitting at Moroccan referee Abdellah El Achiri during a friendly between Wydad Casablanca and Marseille in February and was banned for six months, three of them suspended, on April 22th.

A brawl erupted on the pitch after Marseille defender Frederic Dehu was sent off and the match was abandoned with 10 minutes left. Barthez, who had been substituted, came off the bench and confronted the referee.

The FFF appealed against the suspension handed down by its own disciplinary committee, saying it wanted a tougher punishment. According to federation rules, Barthez could have been banned for up to a year.

"The appeals committee has handed Fabien Barthez a ban until December 31th," the French soccer federation said on Friday.

The sanction would be cut to October 15th if the French international agreed to do community work, the statement said.

Barthez is now certain to miss France's last four qualifying games for the 2006 World Cup. The French play their last qualifier against Cyprus at the Stade de France on October 12th.

Meanwhile, Gary Breen looks to be a major doubt for Ireland's two World Cup qualifiers at the start of next month after sustaining a knee injury during Sunderland's 1-0 win over Stoke City last weekend.

The 31-year-old limped out of the game and has since had a scan, which shows damage to the media ligament.

A club spokesman said yesterday, "The injury will need a few weeks of treatment and rehabilitation." He added, perhaps a little ominously, that the club expect Breen to be fit for the start of next season.

"It happened when I mishit a shot against Stoke and I felt something was wrong straight away," said Breen. "It's a disappointing way to end the season."

The former Coventry and West Ham defender, who has 62 caps but has not been an automatic choice under Brian Kerr, has refused to rule himself out of the international games and, with Richard Dunne already ruled out, it remains possible he will be available as cover.

Shay Given, meanwhile, now looks certain to feature in the Republic's matches despite his club manager, Graeme Souness, expressing the wish that he would rest a hip problem that caused him considerable problems over the later part of the season.