UNBELIEVABLE, JEFF
Hand of God Part Deux: Thierry Henry cheats his way to World Cup 2010
Looks like they do prosper, kids.
What to do now? So far, The Spoiler has heard: ‘ban Henry from the World Cup’, ‘ban France from the World Cup’, ‘replay the fixture’, and a whole lot of rude words directed at Thierry Henry – mainly all on TalkSPORT.
Thoughts below … try to keep them clean
Nov
19
30 responses so far
John Swaine // November 19, 2009 at 10:38 am
‘Ey Bobby! What is ze French for ‘Handball’?
Philippe // November 19, 2009 at 10:40 am
Well, what will Arsène say…
krug // November 19, 2009 at 11:03 am
I’m sorry but if Robbie Keane was in Henry’s position theres no doubt in my mind that he would have done the same thing. It’s part of football and, to be honest, if it were me, I would do it everytime.
Mike // November 19, 2009 at 12:19 pm
I agree with Krug. If you were playing in a world cup play off for a spot in the finals you’d do anything to get through – Henry is no worse in my book than people that dive to win penalties or get away with blatant fouls. People should really be asking questions of the linesman who had a clear view of the incident and missed it.
V // November 19, 2009 at 12:27 pm
dunno if i could live with it to be honest
fourstar // November 19, 2009 at 1:31 pm
What the hell does it have to do with Arsene any more? He plays for Barcelona!
Some you win, some you lose. And it’s not like any Irish player has ever dived, cheated, feigned injury or handled the ball is it?
MattyDub // November 19, 2009 at 1:33 pm
you see the way he went and hugged Dunne at the end. shades of guilt, but he will be fine once june arrives…
Kofly // November 19, 2009 at 1:39 pm
Krug, Mike and Fourstar are all idiots, no Irish player cheated to get the team to the world cup, the Irish team simply out played the French and they needed to cheat to qualify, not one football fan should justify what Henry has done!
Philippe // November 19, 2009 at 1:39 pm
Di Canio would have done something else.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B7lnoiOmGLY&
andy // November 19, 2009 at 1:49 pm
Kofly – take a chill pill. There is pretty much not a single football match that is played in its entirety without somebody trying to con the ref and while on this occasion the Irish clearly deserved better luck, the Henry handball was not morally worse than any other of those instances of cheating.
fourstar // November 19, 2009 at 1:51 pm
Thanks for your opinion, Kofly. However, I think you’ll find I wasn’t justifying his actions, merely pointing out that it was only another incident of cheating in a game riddled with it. This happened to be a higher profile act with a more important outcome.
Philippe // November 19, 2009 at 2:08 pm
C’mon McRib, such a cheap excuse
Philippe // November 19, 2009 at 2:09 pm
C’mon McRib, such a cheap excuse
McRib // November 19, 2009 at 2:10 pm
Would Di Canio have done that in extra time of a world cup play-off?
There’s a saying that footballers get drilled into them from a very young age – “play to the whistle”. That’s what Henry did.
He didn’t cheat because he didn’t do it intentionally, and it’s not his job to referee the game. Imagine if he’d stopped because of the hand-ball. His manager, team mates and the entire French public would have crucified him.
verm // November 19, 2009 at 2:23 pm
the ball bounced up towards his hand, the second touch was clearly intentional, however, if it had not bounced up there and hit him first he would have never had the reaction to slap it the second time, krug is right, put keane in the same spot, with a chance to put his country in the world cup finals and he does it also
krug // November 19, 2009 at 2:50 pm
Did anyone see Robbie Keane, not once but twice, attempt to use his hand to control the ball and have a shot. Now correct me if I’m wrong kofly but isn’t that an attempt to cheat in order to get his team to the world cup? Thought so.
Anyway I would much rather watch Anelka, Henry et al at the World Cup next year than Hunt, McShane, Kilbane etc.
McRib // November 19, 2009 at 3:27 pm
@Philippe
Cheap excuse? 3 points for West Ham is not comparable to a place at the World Cup for your country.
Anyway, just because Di Canio committed one laudable act of sportsmanship doesn’t mean that he would have done something else in the same situation. I can think of an equally unsporting act that he committed – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9TFVuHrwgyY
Bokolis // November 19, 2009 at 4:14 pm
I can’t say I’m excited to see (strikethrough) the CAF get a 7th (/strikethrough) (strikethrough) the frogs (/strikethrough) (strikethrough) African colony (/strikethrough) French go through, but that’s the way to cookie crumbles, boys.
Henry was trying to show the lads a thing or two about Gaelic Football.
Andy Capp // November 19, 2009 at 4:28 pm
All footballers cheat.. no doubt about it.. no one can dare say that no fooballer hasn’t cheated throughout their whole carrer!! get over it.
Yes Ireland were robbed but they had plenty of chances to finish off a lacklusture french squad..
@Phillipe, what does Arsene Wenger have to do with this?? Henry doesn’t wear an Arsenal jersey week in and week out!!
John // November 19, 2009 at 5:40 pm
I am surprised by the calmness of some…this is not ok. This is a clear penalty and should not be allowed to happen. The fact that it is such a high profile incident makes it more improtant. The question is, will FIFA care becuase this is the outcome they wanted in the first place.
Everyone is talking about hypothetical situations and this is the real problem. To dismiss it would be wrong. I think it shows that smaller countries who are not Germany or France are never going to really make it again to the World Cup, and that is sad.
Mike // November 19, 2009 at 5:44 pm
Kofly: No Irish player to cheated to get to the world cup, but then again they aren’t in the finals are they. Plus, I bet they would have if the situation presented themselves…
I agree Ireland were the better team but they didn’t make enough of their chances and French keeper Loris had a very good game…
Chris // November 19, 2009 at 8:11 pm
We know the goal should not stand. Lets replay the second leg. Let it be in France again if it has to. If the French win they get to South Africa cleanly. If the Irish win so be it. With financial stakes so high it will not happen but a little honesty and justice in the sport would be nice to see once in a while. I already dread having to watch a million replays of this come summer.
fourstar // November 19, 2009 at 8:34 pm
Chris, with all due respect, as many commenters have pointed out this kind of thing happens in every single match. Perhaps not a handball goal, but a professional foul, or a sneaky shirt pull, or feigning injury, or overreacting to get a player booked or any number of other offences. This was blatant and decisive, but it was missed by the officials. That’s how the cookie crumbles, it’s part of the game. Players shouldn’t cheat but they do, each of them is desperate to gain that tiny advantage over their opponents which could mean – and clearly did – the difference between winning and losing.
If you replayed every game where a player sought to gain an advantage unfairly, a season would take about 125 years. Referees get loads of stuff right, and the odd thing wrong, and the odd thing VERY wrong. This was one of those. I’m sorry for the Irish, but off it goes down in World Cup history with Maradona, Rivaldo, Schumacher, etc.
Jose // November 20, 2009 at 12:36 am
It should be replayed (won’t be despite Irish protest), but the person’s most at fault here are the ref who should get suspended a game perhaps, and above all Blatter. All he has to do is add 2 more officials on the pitch, allow instant replay, and allow the ref to stop the game clock like in every other sport which uses a clock on this planet. Allows everyone how much time’s left so no more mystical 10 minute stoppage time scenarios, and can clamp down on time wasting. But…
berry // November 20, 2009 at 10:30 am
Damien Duff: “if it was up the other end Robbie or I would have tried it”. Dont feel sorry for them they’re all as bad as eachother.
Keane got away with a blatant handball to get back into the game against georgia. Get over it, what he did is no worse than diving which happened all game from both sides.
McRib // November 20, 2009 at 10:58 am
@John “This is a clear penalty”
So not only should the goal have been ruled out, it should have been a penalty to Ireland as well?!
k-d // November 20, 2009 at 1:02 pm
just because it’s “part and parcel” of the game so far doesn’t mean it should be condoned/accepted. what are we? pre-historic animals?? i can agree that this kind of thing, albeit on a more minor scale, like a sneaky shirt pull or injury feign happens all the time; but you can make the argument that it’s less magnified over the course of a season. This is a major tournament with no opportunities for unfairness to even itself out. Moreover it’s a fine line regarding stuff like shirt pulls. Diving and handballs are clear infractions.
berry // November 20, 2009 at 1:27 pm
was owen condoned for diving against argentina all those moons ago? or gerrard in the champions league final?
they were equally big games. all these people going off one one are typical blinkered football fans feeling hard done by but unwilling to accept their own players do it.
fourstar // November 20, 2009 at 3:13 pm
k-d and everyone: I think you should all read this…
http://www.twohundredpercent.net/?p=2865
Nuff said.
Dennis // December 6, 2009 at 1:11 am
What should have happened if the referee had seen the two deliberate handballs by Henry could have easily been a red card offence, but some of you would still say a yellow card would you not, strange because he did cheat, and cheating should be a red card offence
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