I’m sorry but I’m going to have to hijack this post! Ireland just lost to France after extra time. Ireland played the game of the campaign to win 0-1 after normal time. Several Irish players had the game of their lives. Now Thierry Henry dubiously assisted a goal in extra time. I’ve always like Henry until tonight. It wasn’t enough that FIFA had to seed the draws, their referees let Henry get away with this disgrace. Now I know I’m incredibly biased (and gutted) but I hope you guys can make up your own opinion. Thierry Henry, you disgust me.
I know that it’s pointless, but I needed to have a rant. Also Henry had the cheek to look Irish players in the eye after the game. Words can’t describe.
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Sorry, Nick. That’s rough. I am sure it is that much worse that it was in extra time. And it wasn’t like it just hit his arm…after the first touch, he tapped it back with his hand. That was pretty egregious.
Sorry for your pain Nick, but if there is anything that I have learned from football over the years is that you live and die by the sword. I have personally been on both sides of the issue when we got robbed and were angry and dismayed but other times we have benefited from dubious calls and we were just glad that we got the break and are able to move on.
Having said that, a couple of things to keep in mind:
- 99.9% of the times the refs get those calls. It was just unlucky for the Irish that it was missed this time, regardless if Henry did it on purpose or not
- goals are scored not earned, and because Ireland failed to score in the numerous changes they had, they put themselves in a position to let the game be decided by external circumstances. You see it happen all the time
But that is soccer. The hand of god will always be seen differently by the English and Argentinians. The latter ones hail Diego for it to this day and they will not excuse him for doing it.
In the end, the higher the stakes, the more it hurts. It will pass man. Maybe next time.
Cheers
-> Frenchy are cheats? what’s new?
And some people here told me Barca players had CLASS……………….during CL Finals
YEA RIGHT !
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=haHPpS4_kNY
Let’s boycott Gillette razors.
http://www.alastaircampbell.org/blog.php?id=264
Henry said in interviews this morning that it did hit his hand but that it was not deliberate! Yeah right! The whole country is talking about it this morning, radio, tv, all the papers. It’s hard to explain for you guys in America or elsewhere. Literally everybody on the whole island is talking about it!
Of course there are conspiracy theories flying around, was FIFA ever going to let us qualify. I mean our side contained players from Stoke, Blackburn and Fulham whilst France’s contained Real Madrid, Barcelona and Chelsea! I don’t really buy into it, I hope it’s not true but there is a small doubt at the back of everyones minds.
I agree with Pico, have to move on. I’m very proud of the way the lads played last night, did the country proud!
I haven’t watched it yet, since it is blocked at work, but this looks interesting:
http://www.goal.com/en/news/12/spain/2009/11/19/1634778/video-villarreal-real-valladolid-the-paella-pals
@kqql,
These things have a very interesting ways of evening out in the end. Everybody remembers ‘the hand of god’ incident (the English have not stopped complaining about it for 24 years now), but before that the Argentinians had their own version with what they called ‘the robbery of the century’ in 1966 at the hands of the English. Look it up.
Your assertion about the last Champions League is interesting also. If you remember, Guss’ 2002 Korean team benefited tremendously from poor officiating in not just one, or two, but possibly three games, and after the game against Spain he denounced the opposite coach by saying that instead of complaining about the referee’s culpability, that coach should look at himself in the mirror first. So what is the first thing Guss did after Chelsea lost to Barcelona? He blamed the referees! See how things even out?
Like I said in my original post, in football you live by the sword and you die by it too.
Cheers
what i’m ashamed of is henry’s nonplussed attitude. the lack of role models in society these days is appalling. i might be a random guy playing in the park, but if i commit a blatant handball, i self-enforce. what was stopping henry from, say, letting the ball run out of bounds? or even better, telling the ref it wasn’t a goal and playing on?
that’s where victory and ego come at any cost. at least show some sympathy after the game. no, instead make a mockery of the sport. poster OTF told me afterwards, soccer is the sport where cheating decides games the most. it’s an embarrassment that the sport cannot self-police: diving, handballs, out of bounds, etc. nothing too complicated really.
and yes, ireland should have put away the game long before. but at least let qualification be decided by a cracker like algeria’s yahia scored against egypt. not a fraud by a team that doesn’t deserve to be in south africa.
i never liked like henry but coz barca are one of my 2 favorite teams i was ok with him. but i remember him at arsenal teh arrogance n teh attitude this guy had was just plain stinking of shit. @ pico is absolutely right its more like karma what goes around comes around.
lots of interesting articles about this:
richard dunne says henry knows he’s a cheat- http://www.goal.com/en-us/news/67/world-cup/2009/11/19/1634389/richard-dunne-thierry-henry-admitted-to-me-he-cheated
more to my point about ethics- http://www.goal.com/en-us/news/67/world-cup/2009/11/19/1634371/world-cup-comment-fifa-must-save-role-models-from-cheating
The whole thing was the first item in the Dail ( our equivalent of parliament) this morning. Our minister for justice demanded it be replayed. The FAI have submitted an official complaint to FIFA.
On facebook there is a group for the game to be replayed. It was set up exactly 24 hours ago and it nearly has 140,000 members. It’s crazy. All I want at the moment is an official statement from FIFA and Henry, if he said it to Dunne (see sids link) then he can say to a country!
fifa = run by cowards or prove me otherwise
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FNJndFpgTEI
Nice song …from DUBLIN 98
and here’s an irish view. it’s hard to disagree with anything, but that doesn’t really help.
http://goal.com/en-us/news/67/world-cup/2009/11/19/1635261/irish-angle-after-blaming-thierry-henry-consider-our-own
Oh come on. If a player tackles someone too hard are they supposed to go up to the ref and ask for a yellow? Until FIFA starts requiring self-reporting, it’s not Henry’s job to turn himself in. His job is to score goals, and to continue playing until the whistle blows.
On a related note, I heard an amusing news story on the radio the other morning about the game:
L’Equiqe’s headline – “Hand of God”
Irish Times’ headline – “Armed Robbery”
@MCA: there’s a clear difference between a judgment call (a hard tackle) and blatant cheating (controlling and then playing the ball with your hand). and i didn’t say henry had to do it, i just said it shows how unimportant values are in football these days.
and now henry says the fairest solution would be a replay. good thing he did so after FIFA already turned the request down:
http://www.goal.com/en-us/news/67/world-cup/2009/11/20/1636686/thierry-henry-a-replay-would-be-fair-for-ireland-and-france
Fair play to Henry, he put his hand up (pun very much intended) and took the blame. It took a lot of balls to do that.
nick u r being easy on henry. he could have told da ref, like pazzini-italy did vs holand of hand ball. of course no value now. he’s saving da image , nothing more. still a cheater
Pires ashamed of Henry’s actions
Villarreal playmaker Robert Pires has expressed his shame at fellow countryman and former Arsenal team-mate Thierry Henry’ blatant handball against the Republic of Ireland in their World Cup play-off.
“How can you be pleased with qualifying like this,” the 36 year-old added.
“But I do believe that this thing he did will follow him forever, wherever he goes.”
http://www.extrafootie.co.uk/news/article/31325