Fours years ago it was cheating but still the rules haven't changed!
On the twenty first of November two thousand and nine, a game of football was played by two nations to see which one would go through to the World Cup finals. Both teams had put in four years of hard graft and it was winner takes all. So with the game a draw and in extra time, one of the game's most naturally gifted players, a 'goal machine', doesn't only hand ball it once, but twice, and twice it wasn't seen by the officials, yet everyone in the ground and watching worldwide did!
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Republic of Ireland defender Richard Dunne said he felt "cheated" of a World Cup place after his team's 2-1 aggregate loss to France in Paris.
French striker Thierry Henry handled the ball in the build up to William Gallas's decisive extra-time goal earning a 1-1 draw on the night. Dunne said: "Henry admitted afterwards he handled it, but it doesn't make me feel any better. We were cheated." Henry added: "I will be honest it was a handball but I'm not the referee." Remarkably, Henry sat down on the pitch with Dunne after the final whistle and said afterwards he admitted the handball to the Irish defender. "I told Dunne," Henry said. "He said the same to me, 'you're not the ref'. That's why the players did not come to me, that's why they went to the referee. "You can clearly see the opportunity. Sebastien Squillaci went to jump for the ball with two Irish players and I'm behind him. The next thing I know the ball hit my hand, my arm even. It was right in front of me, I played it. "The ref allowed it and that's a question you should ask him." The Barcelona striker clearly handled the ball to stop it going out of play and then prodded it across goal for Gallas to nod home in the 104th minute. That left Ireland little time to reply having taken an early lead through Robbie Keane's strike after 33 minutes.
"Fifa will probably be happy," added Dunne. "Yet again the big decisions have gone for the bigger team. "There has to be a case for matches of this importance for a fourth official to look at replays and get the calls right." https://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/internationals/8367420.stm |
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This is what is written in Wikipedia about the incident;
'The French team struggled during the 2010 FIFA World Cup qualifiers and finished second in their group behindSerbia. During the play-offs against the Republic of Ireland, Henry was involved in a controversy in the second leg of the game at the Stade de France on 18 November 2009. With the aggregate score tied at 1–1 and the game in extra time, he used his hand twice to control the ball before delivering a cross to William Gallas who scored the winner.[73]This sparked a barrage of criticism against the Frenchman, while national team coach Raymond Domenech and Arsenal manager Arsène Wenger defended him.[74][75] The Football Association of Ireland lodged a formal complaint with FIFA, seeking a replay of the game, which FIFA declined.[76] Henry said that he contemplated retiring from international football after the reactions to the incident,[77] but maintained that he was not a "cheat"; hours after FIFA had ruled out a replay, he stated that "the fairest solution would be to replay the game".[78] FIFA President Sepp Blatter described the incident as "blatant unfair play" and announced an inquiry into how such incidents could be avoided in future, and added that the incident would be investigated by the Disciplinary Committee.[79] Blatter also said Henry told him that his family had been threatened in the aftermath of the incident.[80] In January 2010, FIFA announced that there was no legal basis to sanction Henry.[81]
Henry did not feature in the starting line-up for France at the 2010 FIFA World Cup. France drew in their first game against Uruguay, and lost 2–0 in their second against Mexico. The team was thrown into disarray when Nicolas Anelka was expelled from the team, and captain Patrice Evra led a team protest by refusing to train.[82] In the finalgroup game against host-nation South Africa in which Henry came on as a second-half substitute, France lost 2–1 and were eliminated from the tournament. He then announced his retirement from international football, having won 123 caps and scored 51 goals for Les Bleus'
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thierry_Henry
What really gets me, he really is such a good player; you don't become Arsenal's leading goalscorer of all time just by luck. But no matter what he says, he is a cheat!
It's the same when Maradona scored with his hand against England, everyone but the referee and the linesmen could see he used his hand, but according to the Argentine legend, it was 'the hand of God', what complete and utter rubbish!
So let's step ahead to the World Cup finals of two thousand and fourteen and it's a clear 'handball', but the officials are blinded by sunlight all at the same time and give the goal. What can the team that's been cheated do about it?
Sadly it's a one word answer; nothing!
France are again through to the World Cup finals but it appears officials are still missing some of the basic rules of the game. I suppose at least it's not handball, but it's still cheating.
Ashley Young is often, and rightly, accused of 'diving' and gets it in the neck in the press. Two goals that changed the course of World Cup history and it seems FIFA think it's all right.I just hope it does not happen, but if it does they will look silly again but it won't be the first time and I doubt it will be the last!
Michel Platini is the President of UEFA so maybe France have to be in the World Cup or it would look bad on him? Either way, cheaters or cheating cannot be seen to win, so far they are.
Written by Paul Moore, a football fan.