World Cup Play-offs

The ball bounces, hits Henry on the hand.  Did the officials flag it?  No.

I'd of celebrated it as well and would of took England to the WC myself.  He's not a F***ing cheat, and I'm sick of that getting thrown around because it hit him on the hand.

Anyone else would of done the same if the ball hit you on the hand, you'd carry on - wasn't intentional, but the ref didn't see it?  Who cares?

The fault is with the referee and linesman on his far side, they should of saw it.

No respect lost for Henry like many people are saying, I'm sure he wasn't thinking 'hang on this will cause uproar' He did what he could to get his team (who he captains) what they needed, no different to N'Gog dive v Birmingham. Sure Henry will be gutted about what people are saying about him, but he's just led his side into the World Cup so I'm sure he won't be to bothered.

It isn't the players who enforce the rules, you take what you can and play to the whistle.

I think what he did is no better and no worse than Maradonna in 86 its called cheating.

Ya Court would you think what what Maradona did was cheating, he is still called a cheat by the English media 23 years later. Was it also instinctive when he played the ball the second time back into his path.

 Did Henry cheat the answer is yes, did he know what he was doing the answer is also yes, did he gain and unfair advantage from what he done, yes. So should he be called a cheat the answer is yes. France has qualified for a World Cup due to Henry cheating. I think this is all that is wrong with football it doesn't happen in any other sport.

 FiFA preach fair play to me this is rubbish, I think if you can get and advantage from cheating do because you'll get away with it. I think football is rotten with cheating and I also think it is a sad day for football.

Good on ya kiwis.  We are all proud of ya for taking us to our second World Cup appearance ever.  Atta boy Rory Fallon!

Now onto serious business:



"I did handball the ball but I didn't do it on purpose" - Thierry Henry

Source: http://www.skysports.com/story/0,19528,12098_5703602,00.html

Who is he kidding? He is looking directly at the ball as he does it.  I used to respect Thierry Henry but this unforgiveable.  

I am so gutted for the Irish nation.  FIFA owe it to the ENTIRE football globe to replay this match.

As dictated in FIFA law there is already a precedence for a replay with Uzbekistan vs. Bahrain:

Source: http://www.skysports.com/story/0,19528,12098_5704495,00.html

Do whats right FIFA.  Don't let the football world down.

He should have just caught it and thrown it into the net, Gallas could have missed it. Henry I don't think will be welcome in Ireland for a long long long time.

He should have just caught it and thrown it into the net, Gallas could have missed it. Henry I don't think will be welcome in Ireland for a long long long time.

I don't think Henry's great-grandkids should set foot there either.  If this stands with no replay I think any Frenchman with the last name "Henry" should just give Ireland a miss.

If this is replayed, there will be chaos in the future as every single game that has a controversial decision in has to be replayed for it to be fair.

F***ing disgrace!!!!

Another reason Thierry Henry should try and avoid going to Ireland. There is already a Facebook fansite entitled:

We Irish Hate Thierry Henry (the cheat)

60,000+ supporters so far...

http://www.facebook.com/pages/We-Irish-hate-Thierry-Henry-the-cheat/215531572576

Ya wouldn't advise him to come here any time soon and to the tw*t who gave me a neg for whinning you can go F**k yourself obviously your french because I can't imagine anyone else would have anything but sympathy for what happen, why didn't you leave your name.

sh*t happens and you move on.

I've played and watched football for an awful long time and have witnessed many, many, players handle the ball to gain advantage. Sometimes the player gets away with it, just like Henry, sometimes he gets 'blown' for it and pleads innocence, just like Keane. Let's be honest here; have you ever witnessed a player, who's clearly handled the ball, stop the play to say "Ref, i'm guilty of handling the ball, give a free kick."?

I'm not condoning what happened but I am wary of 'casting the first stone' by calling Henry a "cheat" in this instance - it can and always will come back to bite you on the ass. Football has a funny way of making people look hypocritical.

What he did was cheating, no other word for it and he has gone down in my estimation, it happens the whole time but it is just sad for a small nation like ours that it has being done to us in our biggest game in 7 years.

 Football is eventually going to have to say enough is enough because cheating at the moment is rife in football and it is tarnishing the beautiful game.

Here in Ireland a lot of people have turned there backs on the sport and are now following Rugby which doesn't seem to encourage cheating as much.

Make your own mind up, though anyone who thinks this is a valid goal is off their rocker.

Thierry Henri handball

Two offsides, and two handballs. :

Not fussed too much about International football myself, but this is terrible. Bad luck Ireland, didn't deserve to go out like that.

Debateable

Shame such a talented and world class player had to resort to that, especially someone who had been one of the more honest players in football.

What he did was cheating, no other word for it and he has gone down in my estimation, it happens the whole time but it is just sad for a small nation like ours that it has being done to us in our biggest game in 7 years.

I hear you buddy, i really do and i feel your pain but what's done is done. Bad refereeing/bad decisions are all part and parcel of the game. Think about this: if Henry had have been blown for the hand-ball he wouldn't have been called a cheat.

Time for football to introduce technology maybe?

If I were cynical I would think that Fifa didnt want Ireland in the finals but they did want France. I am not Irish so have no axe to grind but this wasnt just a league game it was a game which could have been the pinical of a career. I am really getting cheesed of with football I rarely watch any match other than Liverpool and that isn't the same as it used to be. Football used to be the game of the working man now its sold its soul and thats just how it is now.

Still devastated guys

Irish FA requests replay

Ireland hoping Henry handball will not be allowed to stand

The Football Association of Ireland has written to its French counterpart asking for the World Cup play-off to be replayed.

Republic of Ireland saw their dreams of reaching South Africa dashed in the cruellest of fashions on Wednesday, with a clear handball from Thierry Henry providing William Gallas with the opportunity to settle the contest.

A 1-1 draw on an emotional night in Paris proved to be enough for the hosts, with Nicolas Anelka's away goal from the first leg in Dublin helping to see them through.

Ireland, however, are refusing to let the issue lie, believing Henry's blatant disregard for the rules should not be allowed to go unpunished.

There have been growing calls for the contest to be replayed, to help preserve the integrity of the sport, with FAI chief executive John Delaney revealing that the French Football Federation has been contacted in regard to the prospect of re-staging the fixture at the centre of the controversy.

He said: "Video evidence proves there was a clear handball by France's Thierry Henry which led to France's goal. It was seen by millions of football fans worldwide.

"The blatantly incorrect decision by the referee to award the goal has damaged the integrity of the sport. We now call on Fifa, as the world governing body of our sport, to organise for this match to be replayed.

"The handball has been recognised by the chief commissioner, the referee observer and the match officials as well as the player himself.

Defining game
"There is precedent for the invalidation of such results by the bureau of the World Cup organising commission. They invalidated the result of a World Cup qualification game between Uzbekistan and Bahrain on the basis of a technical error. The FAI is hoping that Fifa, on behalf of football fans worldwide, act in a similar fashion so the standards of fair play are upheld.

"We have also written to the French FA today and asked them to agree to a replay.

"We have got to do what we have got to do, for the players, the management team and the supporters.

"Every time I go to a Fifa congress all I hear about is integrity and fair play. This wasn't a league match, one in 36 matches in a season, this was a defining game which the whole world was watching.

"If we are going to believe in play and integrity, this is their opportunity to step forward.

"From the French FA's point of view, they need to look at themselves and look at this situation. Thierry Henry is their captain. He is a wonderful footballer but does he want to be remembered like Maradona, does he want his legacy to be this handball?"

Fifa have confirmed that they have received the FAI request, but have refused to put a timescale on any decision.

A Fifa spokesman said: "We have received the formal request from the Football Association of Ireland regarding a replay of the match and Fifa will now look at this."

http://www.skysports.com/story/0,19528,12098_5705430,00.html

It's started already 







Seriously though, that's disgraceful from Thierry. For a superstar like that to handle the ball in that way, leaves a very bad taste in plenty of his fans mouths.

I expected him with so much class and ability, to knee the ball up from his left leg on to the head of whoever scored , not use his hand to control the ball. 

Sh*t happens and you move on.

I've played and watched football for an awful long time and have witnessed many, many, players handle the ball to gain advantage. Sometimes the player gets away with it, just like Henry, sometimes he gets 'blown' for it and pleads innocence, just like Keane. Let's be honest here; have you ever witnessed a player, who's clearly handled the ball, stop the play to say "Ref, I'm guilty of handling the ball, give a free kick."?

I'm not condoning what happened but I am wary of 'casting the first stone' by calling Henry a "cheat" in this instance - it can and always will come back to bite you on the ass. Football has a funny way of making people look hypocritical.

My thoughts exactly...

I understand and would expect most Irish fans to be devastated but from a neutral standpoint, these kind of injustices happen regularly..

My view is this...

One slow mo suggests it was an intentional hand ball but the rest of the replays didn't look as blatant.

Do we really expect a player to confront the ref and say " I cheated" given whats at stake??
Many of us claim to be that honest but are far from it..

If the boot was on the other foot and an Irish player hand balled, would he have owned up?

After the initial shock of going out like that you have to look at the chances you missed and deem them responsible for the failure to qualify..

I really really feel for the Irish and know some fans will disagree with my views but "Thats the way the cookie crumbles"...

I honestly cant see how he can sleep at night knowing just how obvious his cynical control of the ball by hand was on television. This will haunt him forever, and when France are knocked out of the world cup a massive cheer will erupt from about 10 billion people.

Every time Henry plays from here on in..... he will be booed, spat on and criticised.

You might ask the question, Is it all worthwhile?    Maybe if he won the world cup, then maybeeeeeeee

but just to get to the finals................ I am not so sure a reputation is worth shattering on that outcome

To be fair, it was about as cynical and deliberate as you could possibly get, this guy has gone from hero to zero in 2 seconds.

Knowing what he did he could have immediately gone to the ref and admitted his actions. Now, I fear even if he wanted to make it right and offer a replay he wouldn't be able to convince the French management.

I always thought this guy had a good character too, how wrong i was!!!!

All this bitching, wouldn't even be necessary had Robbie Keane scored the two chances he had in the second half.