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Ireland cheated out of World Cup by Thierry Henry handball
Thursday, 19 November 2009
France captain Thierry Henry controls the ball with his hand during the build up to the controversial goal in Paris
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Richard Dunne said last night that Thierry Henry had privately owned up to cheating after a blatant handball from the France striker set up the goal that eliminated the Republic of Ireland in the World Cup Finals play-off in Paris.
In an incident reminiscent of Diego Maradona's infamous "Hand of God" handball against England in the 1986 World Cup finals, Henry controlled a free-kick into the Ireland area twice with his hand and cut it back to William Gallas for the decisive extra-time equaliser that made the game 2-1 on aggregate to France.
The goal meant that France qualified for the World Cup finals next summer in South Africa at the expense of Ireland. Dunne, the Aston Villa and Ireland defender, said that Henry confessed to the "Hand of Frog" incident when the France captain sat next to him on the Stade de France turf at the final whistle – and said that Henry had claimed he had not meant to do it.
Dunne said: "He told us we deserved to win. How is that supposed to make me feel? It makes me feel worse. He's admitted he cheated. We should have won. He just said, 'That's it'. He just said he handled it, he didn't mean it. Looking at it, it's quite obvious he did mean it. It's there for everyone to see and they're not going to change it now. So what can we do? They're going to the World Cup and we're not. That's it."
Dunne said that the Swedish referee Martin Hansson also missed the fact that Henry was offside in the build-up to the goal. Until the France goal went in, Ireland, who lost the first leg 1-0 at Croke Park last week, were back in the tie. Robbie Keane had scored to give them a 1-0 lead on the night and take it into extra time at 1-1.
Dunne said: "The referee said he was 100 per cent that he didn't handle it and then Henry came and told us that he did. I think it's quite blatant we were cheated. It's not a difficult one to see, so that's the annoying thing.
"The linesman is in line with it and he should give offside to start with. Surely one of them can see it that he's handled it, everyone else has seen it. It's one of those that wouldn't even need a replay.
"At the stage of the game and the way it was going, it's the biggest decision I've ever suffered. We deserved to win the game, we could have scored a couple of more goals. It's one of those things. It gives them a lift and knocks the stuffing out of us. To give big decisions on that in big games is wrong. [Michel] Platini wants France there."
Giovanni Trappatoni's assistant Liam Brady also suggested there had been a conspiracy. Ireland were originally angry that countries had been seeded in the play-offs, meaning that none of the bigger nations such as France and Portugal risked drawing one another. Claiming it had been "a bad day for football", Brady said: "When it comes to the crunch, the big teams always seem to go through. With the draw, they were wanting Portugal and France to go through and they did. That's all that has to be said."
Robbie Keane said that it was typical of the decisions that go in favour of what he said were the bigger football countries. "It was an easy decision to do the seedings, wasn't it? They're all probably on the phone to Sepp Blatter [Fifa president] now, texting each other over the result. France and Germany are massive countries. There's no way in a million years there was going to be a fair draw. And it wasn't!"
Keane added: "There's no question or doubt in my mind, we won that game. The handball was so obvious. We've seen the replays, but we knew anyway from the reaction of the players."
Before then the referee had been excellent, correctly identifying that Nicolas Anelka had dived when he had attempted to take the ball around Given.
France
Lloris; Sagna, Gallas, Escude (Squillaci, 9) Evra; Lassana Diarra, Alou
Diarra, Gourcuff (Malouda, 90); Anelka, Gignac (Govou, 59), Henry.
Substitutes not used: Mandanda (gk), Remy, Sissoko, Benzema.
Republic of Ireland (click here
for player ratings)
Given; O'Shea (McShane, 65), St Ledger, Dunne, Kilbane; Lawrence, Whelan
(Gibson, 63), Andrews, Duff; Doyle, Keane. Substitutes not used: Joe Murphy
(gk), McGeady, Kelly, Hunt, Best.
Referee: M Hansson (Sweden).
2010 World Cup: The teams
Africa Algeria, Cameroon, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Nigeria, South Africa (hosts).
Asia Australia, Japan, North Korea, South Korea.
Europe England, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Netherlands, Portugal, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Switzerland.
North, Central America and Caribbean Honduras, Mexico, United States.
Oceania New Zealand.
South America Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Paraguay, Uruguay/Costa Rica (second leg played last night)
Finals Draw Friday 4 December, Cape Town
Finals Friday 11 June - Sunday 11 July 2010
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483 Comments
Thierry Henry is a cheat & that's the end of it!
If this had happened to England or France it would be a different story all together! I'm not a believer in bringing technology into the game, but this is a totally differen't matter. This sort of blatent cheating would not happen in ANY other sport so why do we let it happen in football?? The least the FA should do is ban Thierry Henry from playing in this years World Cup & slap him with a large fine! Who cares if he is sorry? I know I don't & I know that the Irish definitely dont!
Posted by Lee Whitworth | 05.02.10, 09:28 GMT
"Belfast is in Northern Ireland- a region in the United Kingdom. deal with it."
Who denied this? Nevertheless, it's also located on the island known as IRELAND, while over 40 per cent of the region of NI considers themselves Irish like everyone else and supports the Irish soccer team.
No wonder you're bored mate, it would seem that you live in your own world entirely devoid of reality.
Posted by Dublin | 07.12.09, 11:33 GMT
For goodness sakes... when will the roi supporters finally get it into their heads that the refs decision is final. They aint going nowhere and their pleading to be the 33rd team and then wanting to settle for a trophy of some kind instead wont wash with fifa at all. Not everything in life is fair, remember maradonnas hand of god ... similar situation but same outcome.
Dry ya eyes lads...
Posted by bb | 04.12.09, 18:30 GMT
Belfast is in Northern Ireland- a region in the United Kingdom. deal with it. god you're boring Dublin.
Posted by bored | 04.12.09, 13:23 GMT
"To all you french who are posting here. For BELFAST Telegraph read NORTHERN IRELAND"
Apologies to all those French (and other international) posters for this neanderthal, as you can see, there are still a number of geographically illiterate people out there who don't realize that Belfast is in Ireland. They're the same kind of people who claim that Northern Ireland, a region that is under United Kingdom control, is in "Britain" (sic).
Ignorez-le, le pauvre con ne se rend pas compte que tout le monde se fout de sa gueule. Merci a vous tous pour votre soutien et bonne chance en 2010.
Posted by Dublin | 03.12.09, 16:11 GMT
To all you french who are posting here. For BELFAST Telegraph read NORTHERN IRELAND.
If RoI had qualified in the same manner there would have been no cry from the Southerners to replay the match
Posted by Gaz | 03.12.09, 15:20 GMT
So, all that mess means that, from now, Irish football players will never, never cheat again ? Just to prove that cheat is a French habit and that all Irishmen are spotless ? Wake up sons of James Joyce, it is time to forget your hangover...
Posted by Raskol, New Caledonia | 27.11.09, 10:26 GMT
With a tongue firmly in the cheek, I announced that I was never going on holiday to France ever again.
Hearing the comments from French people on here gives me a lot of respect for them. Well done guys and good luck in South Africa. I will probably be in a caravan in France!
Posted by Steve S | 25.11.09, 11:17 GMT
Bouic- "I have never seen a pro footballer tell the referee he has committed a foul..."
Robbie Fowler came close when he admitted that a tackle was not a penalty after the referee had awarded it. As I recall he was roundly vilified for his actions by many.
LS
Posted by Laura Sales | 23.11.09, 19:48 GMT
As an Irishman I´d like to say thank you to all those English people who have come out in support of ROI after this woeful treatment at the hands of FIFA and its cronies. I sincerely hope that France come up against England in the group stages and that England hammer them. Come on England!
Posted by robin | 23.11.09, 17:35 GMT
Very sorry for Henry's hand. We were ridiculous on the field and Henry made that act moreover. You know we have lost our identity in our country and the result is here today because of money and only money. You've got valors and honor. You fight with your football team and even it's hard too to live in Ireland i can say you it's worse in France today...
Posted by jj | 23.11.09, 10:24 GMT
what goes round comes round all you irish supporters laughed at maradonnas hand of god now same thing has happened to you . took a long time but now i,m laughin lmao
Posted by jim bennett | 23.11.09, 04:27 GMT
Longlife to Irish soccer. I'm French and so happy to read other French support lines to a replay match. We dont deserve to qualify this way. It's seems a majority of us Frogs want a fair replay. How can we put pressure for that?
Posted by jahan, Rennes | 22.11.09, 21:33 GMT
Ireland has had a tough time of it from us French. First of all our President refused to accept your "No" to the Lisbon Treaty (which his own citizens had also rejected). As a minnow-state you had to vote again until you said yes. Then FIFA decides to overule your clear victory in the qualification for the football World Cup. I'm afraid this is a taste of things to come. Inrernational federal institutions have been created over our heads to impose the will of BIG states over the tiddlers. Sounds like imperialism? Yes, but YOU voted for it! Don't say you were not warned.
Posted by Paul Henri Cadier | 22.11.09, 19:14 GMT
Hello ! I'm french.
I'm ashamed that France has been qualificated. Ireland had to go to World Wie Cup and not France.
Lots of French people agree to play the match again.
Fifa has to be ashamed f it and also the french fooball federation.
Irish players and irish public have been very fairplay. They must be proud of it !
alain
Posted by Guédon Alain , Laval | 21.11.09, 17:59 GMT
Hi everybody,
I'm French and don't think we are proud of this. Most of us feel ashamed by the behaviour of our team and their managers.
The French team has no coach and no tactics. Your team really deserves to win. I really want us to replay this game.
Football - especially French football - forgets its fundamental worths : respect, fair-play, honesty, courage. Nowaday, it's only a matter of grand. But what can we do to improve this ? We are so powerless. Maybe we should ask the FIFA to allow video reccording referring like in Rugby.
French football was bearable so far and with Henrys hand it's a shadow of its former self.
I can assure you a lot of French will support you for you to replay the match.
We really appreciate Irish people and hate the behaviour of our team. We really apologize.
Best regards
Vive l'équipe d'Irlande !!
Posted by Vivian Houzelot,. Lyon | 21.11.09, 14:21 GMT
say to Robbie Keane do you remenber irland georgie OK
Posted by pattfcn, paris | 21.11.09, 10:43 GMT
If the Thierry Henri goal had been rightly disallowed, that was not the end of the game. Penalty shoot out would have followed to decide the qualifier and there is no way to say that Eire would have qualified on penalties.
Let us say that the ref and assistants are the only ones to blame.
I have never seen a pro footballer tell the referee that he has committed a foul specially when it comes to diving, off-sides and ball handling. Thierry Henri has committed a fault which has not been sanctioned. That happens very often in all soccer matches.
Posted by Bouic, Poste de Flacq | 21.11.09, 08:06 GMT
Robbie Keane said that it was typical of the decisions that go in favour of what he said were the bigger football countries.
Robbie Keane ne doit pas se souvenir du match Irelande Georgie et du premier but Irlandais. La tricherie et la démagogie sont aujourd'hui la marque du football moderne. C'est triste mais révélateur de ce qu'est devenu le football.
La france ne méritait pas d'aller à la coupe du monde, soit. Mais à quand une réforme de l'arbitrage et la vidéo comme au rugby? C'est plutôt cette question qui devrait être posée. Avec la vidéo, le but de Gallas était invalidé, le pénalty de l'irlande contre la Géorgie n'aurait pas été sifflé non plus. Désolé pour l'équipe d'Irlande, vous méritiez sur ce match d'aller en afrique du sud, mais désolé aussi de lire des déclarations de joueurs qui retrouvent leur vertue lorsqu'ils sont lésés et oublient de parler lorsqu'un fait de jeu tourne en leur faveur. Triste football.
Posted by Eric | 21.11.09, 07:47 GMT
Henry is a disgrace to himself, to Barcelona and to France. He pontificates about fair play and racism. He and his coach have shamed football. You are in the same cheating league as Maradona. You will share his disgrace. Shame on you! I feel sorry for young kids who looked up to you. You are a role model for the cheat. I will be supporting England in the World Cup.
Posted by Henry Gibson | 21.11.09, 00:32 GMT
483 Comments