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Henry admits cheating to deny Ireland WC play-off
The Frenchman juggled the ball with his hand twice before crossing for William Gallas’ goal
France striker Thierry Henry cheerfully admitted last night that he had cheated in the build-up to the goal which denied Ireland the possibility of their first World Cup appearance in eight years. With the score at 1-0 to the Irish in Paris in extra time - 1-1 on aggregate and enough to take the game to the lottery of penalties - the Barcelona and former Arsenal great clearly used his hand twice to keep the ball in play before passing to William Gallas, who nodded the ball past Shay Given.
"I will be honest, it was a handball," Henry confirmed afterwards, "but I'm not the ref. It would have been better to do it in another way, but as I said, I'm not the ref." Ireland defender Richard Dunne said: "I think it is quite blatant that he did. It's not even a hard decision. admitted afterwards he handled it. We were cheated." The Republic's Italian boss Giovanni Trapattoni also expressed his outrage: 'I am not only disappointed, I am also sad. It is a bitter evening. It's a bitter situation. I would prefer to have gone out on penalties."
The Irish had made all the early play in a game against a clearly nervous French side, and went in at half-time with the deficit from the first leg erased after a wonderfully taken goal from Robbie Keane. There were more chances for the visitors to put the game beyond doubt, but as the game wore on France started to impose themselves and it was a ragged Ireland that saw Gallas' goal in the first half of extra time decide the play-off and knock them out of the running to go South Africa.
Fifa will be equally pleased that Portugal will be joining France in the hat for the 2010 tournament after a Cristiano Ronaldo-less side beat Bosnia-Herzegovina 1-0 in Sarajevo to consolidate their 2-0 aggregate win. Russia were shocked by minnows Slovenia, whose away goal in the 2-1 defeat in Moscow and 1-0 win last night saw them through, while Greece knocked out Ukraine thanks to a 1-0 away victory in Donetsk after the first leg had remained scoreless. ·
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Thierry Henri has cheated before in an important World Cup game.
In 2006 when France played Spain he had a tussle with Puyol, who touched him lightly with his hand on the chest. Henri went down as if he had been poleaxed clutching his face!
France were awarded a free kick, scored and won the game, Spain were eliminated from the competition. Some great YouTube video's of the event still available.
A serial cheat, I wonder how his commercial sponsors feel about having their products associated with a liar and cheat?
I sent a few minutes playing soccer on the xbox, so I guess I have the experience to be on FIFA Board?
I live in France. First we have had Z. Zidane who has defended Henry as not being a cheat now we have Yannick Noah!
Thierry Henry did cheat. I watched the game on french television and listen to french radio. All the commentators said he had cheated... I saw on BFM last night that 88% of french people thought that the qualification of the French football team was not right.
I think that at the very least Thierry Henry should be banned from any participation in the World Cup in South Africa and that the 450000 euro bonus that all players received should be given back to where ever it came from. do you know that Raymond Domenech got an 800 000 euro (not quite sure exactly how much) bonus for the french team's qualification?
The Irish FA needs to direct their appeal to the French FA for repaly cos FIFA ain't going to order one as it would set a dangerous precedence. I feel for the Irish fans and all genuine footie lovers worldwide. This cannot stand.
Oscar
A few years back Arsenal won an FA cup tie against Sheff Utd in controversial fashion. No cheating, or rules broken, just an unwritten code of 'gentlemanly' conduct was ignored, and Arsenal scored to win the tie. Afterwards Wenger offered and gave a replay. Simple solution, and France should do the same.
Matiki is wrong he does not play for any English club he plays for Real Madrid (I think). In any event what he did was very wrong he should be banned from all Fifa competitions and the game should be ordered to be replayed. There is plenty of time before the world cup finals to do that. But the bigger picture is that this incident has made it even more obvious for either additional officials like in American football or electronic capturing of the play from all angles of the field. This can not happen again the Irish team has been cheated out of a place in the world cup and France have been disgraced.
By the way David Matiki, it was not the fault of the Ref he has only one pair of eyes. Henry handled it not once but twice, I would be so ashamed. Disqualify that team, that way it would be less likely to happen again! THAT WAS NOT A WIN.
Absolutely disgraceful, he should be ashamed of himself and should be banned from playing. What example is this to set before children???
He is saying he can only win if he CHEATS. So it's o.k. for everyone to cheat!!!
cheating is not a common thing in football, he should not be punished, if anyone should be blame it should be the ref. there have been similar cases in the pass were ref and there lineman overlook some crucial calls that should have turn the Game around for the openent but lie. i think ref should be check.
Another football disgrace. Doesn't this man play for some English club? and will that club punish him/get rid of him? Such a successful cheat must be worth a premium to the sort of clubs which go in for this disgusting practice.
What is the position of a person who on a Pools entry would have won money but for this foul changing the result? Can he sue the player/linesman/club? I do hope so.