Thierry Henry ALMOST retired… but then didn’t
“Cor… that ref, eh?”
Ever since he decided to illegally smear his warm hands all over a football during a hugely important World Cup qualifier, Thierry Henry has been desperately attempting to convince the world that, seriously, he’s just a man… albeit one who is standing arrogantly in the middle of a football pitch, demanding that the crowds adore him.
His winning-you-back techniques so far have included: consoling the Irish players by sitting with them on the pitch after the match, feigning world class sympathy. Joining the Twitter generation to tweet about how gutted he is about the time that he deliberately handled a football, then pretended that he hadn’t. Then finally demanding a replay, a few tactical hours after FIFA had rejected the idea. Oh, and now he’s been caught sniveling through an interview in L’Equipe.
The shamed French captain kicked things off by insisting that he would probably have retired from international footie, were he not such a fighter, believing that – in time – people will forgive him for practically catching the ball and throwing it onto William Gallas’ outstretched foot. He further explained his feelings of “abandonment”, and being “truly alone”, for a few days after the match.
“I should not have done it,” he said, in a moment of touching football honesty… “but frankly, it was uncontrollable”.
Ahh darn it! Just as we were mustering an ounce of sympathy.
5 responses so far
krug // November 23, 2009 at 1:37 pm
Thierry, I feel for you as what you have done is not as bad as people are making it out to be (Chris Morgan cracking Iain Hume’s skull anyone?). Unfortunately for you, you were caught out and, due to the importance of the game, more of an issue is being made out of this than should be.
This is not the first time someone has been the centre of a media shit storm (Beckham – World Cup 98, CR9 – Euro 2004 etc), and it won’t be the last. However, ther is nothing you can do about it so please just shut it and wait for this all to blow over, presumably when something equally as ‘horrific’ happens.
David // November 23, 2009 at 1:46 pm
Makes me sick – all this I am sorry business. All that he is cynically trying to do is get back his lost commercial image.
He cheated – plain and simple. Some people accept it as part of the game. Others don’t. Those who don’t have lost their respect for Henry forever. For those who do accept it, he should hold his head up and say, “it was better to cheat than lose”.
Personally as a Spurs supporter I never had any respect for Henry. As an Irishman you can guess my feelings now….
benhuggy // November 23, 2009 at 2:51 pm
Any time a team from the British Isles goes out theres always someone to take the blame for the failings of the team.
We had Beckham in 98, Referees on two separate occasions when Chelsea went out of Champions League, Ronaldo for somehow being responsible for Rooney stamping on another player, Southgate for having the audacity to miss a penalty and now this.
Ireland had plenty of chances to put that game to bed and they squandered each one. Yes Henry ‘cheated’ but there was another 210 minutes that Ireland managed one goal against a poor French side and so they don’t deserve to be going to South Africa.
John // November 23, 2009 at 5:16 pm
The sympathy for Henry is kind of surprising. He did cheat and admitted to doing it…it was worse that Beckham in 98…poor analogy there I feel. From now on, whether you agree or not, he will be remembered for this.
Mac // November 23, 2009 at 5:54 pm
@David. Being a Spud shouldn’t have had any influence of liking Thierry because of his association with Arsenal, he is argubly the greatest foreign import England has ever seen regardless of what has happened. As a Arsenal Fan myself i don’t condone what he’s done but simply defending the mans reputation AND as a Spurs fan you can relate surely having had the pioneer of the OTT dive amongst your ranks as a legend!!
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