There’s only one thing on my mind since last night and it’s not difficult to work out what. ‘Robbed’, ‘a disgrace’, ‘cheating b*stards’. I’m kind of numb, I think half the country is. We know and will always know that we are no footballing heavyweights. Trapatonni has done his best with a limited panel of players and they almost got us to South Africa. Every Irish player who set foot on that pitch last gave it their all.
Then there’s Thierry Henry. A blatant hand ball, not once but twice, meant he was able to cross the ball for Gallas to score the winner in extra time. The pub rose as one to decry it. I can still see the ref raising his hand to indicate the goal. Furious, I flung a tirade of foul language at the tele. Henry is quoted as saying the hand ball wasn’t intentional. That’s BS in fairness. The footage shows him scooping the ball with his left hand. Richard Williams over at the Guardian puts it well when he says that:
Henry had two options. He could pretend that he had not broken the most basic law of outfield play. Or he could take the opportunity to neutralise the effect of his reflexes. To erase an error. To right a wrong. To be a man.
It’s been pointed out that Henry would have been vilified by his team mates and likely his nation had he gone to the referee. Instead, having celebrated the goal and since clarified that he’s not the referee, Henry will have a permanent stain on both his character and playing career. Sad really. I wouldn’t think that referee Martin Hansson or his linesmen will be heading south next summer like the French.
Yes, we should have had the game sewn up earlier with the amount of chances we had but we didn’t deserve to lose like that. No team does. There can be no better case for a video referee at high profile games. I knew sitting almost 800km away in Dublin that he’d handballed it but both referee and linesman don’t have a facility available to them to check within 10/20 seconds of the incident. Will FIFA and UEFA take any action? I doubt it. The FAI is to lodge a complaint with FIFA looking for a replay but Trappatoni didn’t seem convinced it would happen at this afternoons press conference.
This story probably can’t go away quick enough for FIFA. I’m hoping something comes of it, whatever that may be.
I tip my hat to: Blot’s - Handballgate: a Nation in Mourning and Ronan’s epic - On the Main: An Epic Tragedy in Six Halves
“we should have had the game sewn up earlier with the amount of chances we had”
Hmm. According to the stats, we had less possession, half as many shots, half as many shots on target, won half as many corners, and had a notably worse pass completion rate than France. That hardly gives us any claim to being the better team on the night, to be fair.
@Anto: It’s been said before but you can prove anything with statistics.
The French acknowledged the fact that we played very well throughout the game. We definitely had the better of the chances to my mind with Damien Duffs one on one coming to mind in particular.
@Anto @Anto - Bizarro world we’re living in. seems like you’re talking to yourself.
We had more chances, just because we didn’t get them on target means the stats don’t show them. But we had plenty of chances to score.
Aside from that, wonderful piece Anto. Fair play. (That’s just what we need. fair Play)
Nicely done Anto. It’s the moral and social implications of Henry’s action that I worry about. What message does it send to kids when one of their idols cheats to win and gets away with it?
Its a sad day for Ireland.
Niall - the moral is, if the ref doesn’t see it it’s not my fault. You can apply this to any situation in life.
I think the whole Thierry mess sums up the sport for me. Over the years I’ve never seen an ounce of sportsmanlike behaviour. It’s just a bunch of overpaid underachievers prancing around a pitch for 90 minutes (or a bit more).
I’ve heard it many times over the years that football is a gentleman’s game played by hooligans, and rugby is a hooligans’ game played by gentlemen. There seems to be something in this. Football is a very superficial sport - it looks pretty, but deep down it’s just thugs kicking a ball about.
Whether it be the riots connected with the sport, the constant faked injuries, the sick amount of money involved in the game or moments like Henry’s dishonourable conduct, the whole game is a travesty. I will not watch another 90 minutes of it for 4 years at least.
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