Good guy Thiery Henry's halo slipped tonight as he helped to cheat Ireland out of a place in the World Cup Finals.
Robbie Keane's first half goal had levelled the scores and taken the game into extra-time in the Stade de France when Henry lent a hand to proceedings.
With two minutes left in the first half of extra-time a cross deep into the Irish box was controlled twice by Henry's hand before he stabbed the ball across goal for William Gallas to bundle the ball into the net.
Shay Given was furious at being robbed by Henry with Damien Duff booked for his protests to the Swedish officials.
Referee Martin Hansson generally had a good match but missing Henry's double handball is unforgivable.
How Fifa react to this mistake will be interesting, surely Hansson can't be rewarded, like Henry, with a trip to South Africa to officiate at the finals.
A few minutes before the handball incident Hannson again demonstrated his lack of judgement as Nicolas Anelka threw himself to the ground Eduardo style in an attempt to win a penalty off Given.
The mindset in these situations has you believing that it was a good decision not to award a penalty but perhaps if Anelka had been booked Henry might have thought twice before handling as he created Gallas's goal.
Aiden McGeady was thrown on in place of Liam Lawrence for the second period of extra-time but was unable to make a decisive intervention.
The fall out from the game will be long and loud but it won't alter the fact that France and not Ireland will be in next month's World Cup draw.
Michel Platini's views will be interesting on the controversy, the need for video evidence at showpiece games was highlighted tonight while the experiment of 'goal-line' assistants in the Europa Cup could have prevented tonight's injustice.
The bottom line however is that the highest standards are required from top players, officials should be no different.
Officials that can't see the ball being handled TWICE within six yards of the goal-line shouldn't be allowed near parks football never mind World Cup play-offs.
The World Cup Finals are a goldmine for players with commercial deals matching and surpassing their football earnings, any company wishing to use the Henry image to push their sales next summer can expect a backlash from Ireland and beyond.
No doubt Henry's PR people will swing into action highlighting his wonderful work for charity but the image of him cheating his way to the World Cup Finals will be impossible to replace.
Wednesday 18 November 2009
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2 comments:
I agree with the criticism of the ref but not Henry as much. It was for the ref to call, and for the ref to disallow the goal, not Henry. He handled the ball, the ref allowed the play to go on, so he played on. Couldn't expect him to say "oops, sorry, I handled the ball" and stop the play himself. No player -- not you, not me, not Keane -- would have done that, so I think we need to get off our high horse about how evil Henry is. The problem is with the ref and with Fifa/Uefa being against video technology.
I largely agree, Henry has an image as a good guy however but in reality he is as low as any footballing cheat, someone who will do anything to cheat his way to a result. Fair enough that's his professionalism/desperation.
The referee should never resurface outside of Sweden, on radio Kevin Killbane has just said that the referee told him 'I saw it and it wasn't handball, 100%'.
Lets see Henry the next time there is a 'Fair Play' campaign and hear what Platini and Blatter have to say.
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