Henry Handball Cheats Ireland Out of World Cup Place
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France knock Ireland out of World Cup with devastating Hand of Gaul.
France put Ireland out of the World Cup last night in the cruellest of fashions after Thierry Henry blatantly handled the ball before passing to team mate William Gallas who scored in extra time.
Henry’s flagrant cheating is being dubbed the “Hand of Gaul”, rivalling the infamous event at the 1986 World Cup when Maradona delivered the “Hand of God”.
The World Cup qualifying match had been dogged with controversy even before a ball had been kicked when ruling body FIFA made a late switch to seed teams in the qualifying draw rather than have a random draw. When it looked like big names such as Portugal and France could miss out on the finals in South Africa next year, FIFA pulled strings to make it easier for those teams to qualify.
Denied the chance of playing the likes of Bosnia Herzegovina or Slovenia, Ireland nevertheless approached France with a passion and determination to win. After a hard fought but disappointing 1-0 defeat at Croke Park on Saturday, Ireland needed to score at the Stade de France in order to reach the finals.
Talisman Robbie Keane did not disappoint, firing the Irish ahead on the 33rd minute after Damien Duff pulled back ball across the goal; Keane was not going to miss from 12 yards. As the game went in to extra time, Ireland had the upper hand against a French side that lacked urgency.
Then 103 minutes into the game, Thierry Henry virtually caught the ball as it came across his right side to keep it in play, delivering a killer pass to Gallas who headed home for victory. France won the game 2-1 on aggregate, breaking Irish hearts in the process.
After the game, Henry admitted to handling the ball, but said it was Swedish referee Martin Hansson’s fault for not picking up on his foul play. “I will be honest, it was a handball. But I’m not the ref. I played it. The ref allowed it,” Henry said in television interviews after the match watch on the BBC and Sky Sports.
In the other qualifiers, Portugal limped past Bosnia Herzegovina 1-0 to win 2-0 on aggregate and Greece claimed their place at South Africa with a 1-0 victory over Ukraine. There were further upsets in the qualifying rounds as Slovenia beat Russia 1-0 at home, going through on away goals and Algeria knocked out current Africa Nations Cup champions Egypt to book their place at South Africa 2010.
With such controversy rife in football, surely it is time to follow the lead of other major sports and bring in video refereeing that can adjudicate such problems. With such a system, perhaps some of these footballing mishaps would be stamped out of the game.
Gutted for Ireland, cannot believe France got away with this.
Shame for soccer.. the new WWE is FIFA
Wrestlemania FIFA
Henry deserves to be banned from football.
In this age of technology, this is worse than the Hand of God.
As an Arsenal fan I am shamed by Henry’s actions, he is not the player I thought he was.
If there is any justice France won’t make it through the group stages. Sad for Ireland.
Fucking French thieving robbing sneaky appropriating bereaving burgling cheating conning defrauding despoiling dispossessing divesting embezzling filching heisting hijacking liberating lifting looting mugging ousting pilfering pillaging pinching plundering purloining raiding ransacking relieving requisitioning sacking scrounging sticking up stripping strong-arming swindling swiping taking withholding Bastards
typical Henry
Shame !!! Shame to be French today. So sorry for the great Irish player ! I wish France could get off the first part of World Cup as they did in South Korea.
APOLOGIES TO IRISH PEOPLE from a French sport lover.
I think you’re only treated as badly as you allow yourself to be treated. The Irish Football Association and Irish public and Press should mount a sustained campaign on FIFA to deal with this disgrace.
It is the referee’s and officials’ fault for not even asking the player involved and for missing a clearly visible handball when everyone else saw it. They won’t be allowed to sweep it under the carpet if the campaign is relentless. The Irish players deserve no less for the fantastic performance they put in.
So the word is “the French must qualify.”
The ref, linesman and fourth official should all be banned, ask Neil Warnock what he thinks! FIFA should be ashamed and Blatter should at least be made to comment on it in public.
The French should feel cheated by Henry, how ashamed they must feel to get through like that. I beg all supporters who go to Africa to wear Big Foam Hands and wave when the French play.
Cheats all of them.
And I don’t even support Ireland.
Shame on FIFA for changing to seeding instead of a fair draw. Where is ‘fair play’. The world cup should be about this and not about getting the big star teams into the competition. Money is the motivation. Shame on FIFA. Video ref is needed.
Disappointed but proud Irishman
The real cheats are FIFA and they have no shame – Platini is a joke and the power he has he abuses to his own gain. Fuck you Platini.
If the powers that be at FIFA cannot see why we need a fourth official with video access then the shame is with them. What possible excuse is there? Save our beautiful game.
I guess Thierry wont be drinking in Dublin then..
I’m French and I’m so ashamed… You should definitely have won. So many French are ashamed. I wish we were not qualified…
Sorry guys
Shame on you.
Ex gooner
As a nation that could have and should have qualified for SA 2010, we CANNOT let this disgrace go by the wayside. If FIFA stood to loose money because some big name teams didn’t make it(boofuckinghoo!) then we should make them stand to loose as much in reputation through relentless campaigning. And if France aren’t afraid to face us again (and I think they are), then come forward and show some decency and guts – and accept a replay!! Cowards!!
Hypocrits
You have to HAND it to France… they were the better team. At least there won’t be as many Irish pissheads celebrating a shite team this World Cup. They’d have been knocked out in the first round anyway. Fantastic that France won!
Where’s the pride of winning by Henry? He has the cheek to celebrate this goal.
Jeez, football isn’t just about winning and this blatant cheating totally goes against the spirit of the sport.