It was soul destroying watching a crestfallen Damien Duff come to terms with the enormity of what had happened in extra time at the Stade de France last night.
The Fulham winger was outstanding in the second leg of the Republic’s World Cup qualifying play-off and made a mockery of the idea that his career was in decline since his Newcastle days. A terrific assist for Robbie Keane’s goal also gave the lie to the myth that he hasn’t got any pace and Duff might have scored a second away goal had it not been for excellent goalkeeping for Hugo Lloris.
There’s very little you can say about Thierry Henry’s attempts at volleyball which succeeded in propelling the ball towards William Gallas for the French winner. A man worshipped by kids around the world has sullied his reputation beyond repair. Those Gillette ads aren’t so charming now.
It’s as clear a case of cheating as you ever likely to see. While it didn’t rob Ireland of a place at the World Cup, it certainly dramatically altered the contest. The Irish had played so well and to lose to such slight of hand must be particularly galling. Any chance of a replay must be extremely remote, though. It would be interesting to see what Messrs. Plantini and Blatter have to say about this, especially after the seedings furore.
i know it was a handball, but to say he “sullied his reputation beyond repair” is a bit harsh. any player would’ve done the same thing, even Duff would’ve. henry didn’t even raise his arm, and in the split second he had to react, he kept the ball in play.
but, it should’ve been called, no doubt. so should the offside, on the initial flick-on.
tough loss.
Ireland got screwed. That being said, don’t get sucked into “blaming” Henry like it was an intentional act, you’re better than that Dan. We see this sort of thing all the time and usually it’s not an issue cause it usually gets called. I’m sure “cheating” didn’t even pop into his head…there wasn’t even enough time to think that far ahead.
I agree with Jason. The key point, as has been said elsewhere, is that currently FIFA turns a blind eye to this kind of event. There is no honest discussion around diving or mistakes. Video Technology needs to be considered and I think the NFL’s system of two chances to use it per game per team is a good one. Maybe one chance a game per team to lessen stoppage time. It’s quite ridiculous that in the minute and 30 seconds after the goal when the Irish were complaining, a “fifth” official watching tv could not have spoken to the ref and said there was a handball.
Most of these decisions are so clear-cut, it wouldn’t take 5 minute long breaks like you find in the NFL, and frequently these breaks are so long in order to figure out on what yard line the play was before being overturned. I believe video technology could be used in football with a minimum of fuss and of time.
If this event causes FIFA to reconsider video technology for diving, for fouls, and for penalty/goal decisions, then it”ll end up being for the good of football.
I’m with Dan on this. I think, whatever the faults that lie with referees, FIFA and UEFA, it comes down to whether you are an honest man or not. I think football has got to the state where the players believe it is acceptable to cheat and it is up to the officials to spot and punish this. I think that is fundamentally wrong and until we start taking retrospective action, such as evicting teams from competitions or banning players, nothing will improve. It seems we can all agree that Henry handled the ball and it’s shocking Ireland have lost out in this way but we don;t want to actually do anything to change the culture that suggests this is just “part of football”. If we let the Republic take France’s place and banned Henry for 6 months we’d be doing something to make a stand against bad sportsmanship. Until we do that it will continue to grow like a ulcer at the heart of the game.
But Henry didn’t do this intentionally. Are you kidding me Chopper? Anyone with half a brain can see that.
Let’s just give out 6 month bans to anyone who commits a hand ball violaion. Let’s give 3 months for hard tackle. Let’s start banning players for 6 games for 1 red card.
I dislike Harry Redknapp pretty intensely but he did write a very good column for the Mail recently. He argues for a bit of both, visual technology and culture shift. In essence, if a ref asks you did you do something, and you say no, then if TV proves otherwise you receive a ban. I think this is a fair system. That said, if TV can prevent players from being lambasted that would be great too. Players wouldn’t even have the opportunity to show their class because it would be nipped in the butt early.
There will be good sportsmen and bad sportsmen no matter what we do, and I agree with Jason, if we go too far then there’re the possibilities for abusing the system. Nearly every sport other than football and baseball use tv replays, and baseball will soon do so as well. So why can’t football?
You got close enough to a “think of the children” rant for me to no longer take you seriously. Anyone who was shocked by this needs to watch more football. International Football is shit anyway, move on.
Over here in Australia, the Aussie Rules Football League (AFL), holds a video tribunal every Monday after the weekend matches. Every match is scrutinised by a panel of experts, and players can be charged retrospectively for infringements not spotted by the umpire (ref). Equally, the video evidence can be used to defend a player charged by a referee. The result of a match is never overturned, but players know that if they cheat or try to injure a player, they WILL be caught and punished. Similarly, the umpire’s performance is reviewed and they may be demoted for poor performance. Now what’s wrong with that system?
I hope we have not got to the point, as some seem so suggest, where cheating is regarded as part and parcel of the game.
Jason – You really think Henry didn’t handball intentionally? I agree it was instinctive but there’s no doubt in my mind it was deliberate. I find it disappointing we (as the global football community) don’t do more to rectify blatant wrongs. We make so many changes to the game to improve the quality of what we watch and yet seem firmly stuck in the past when it comes to helping the officials get decisions right when it counts.
The 6 month ban suggestion was a bit over the top I agree but I do think players should be able to be retrospectively punished for things the ref doesn’t see.
I like the AFL system. At the very least it gives SOME solace that even blown calls and cheats will be addressed in some manner. It might not take the sting out of a loss, but at least “they’d get theirs” so to speak.
I stated this over at CCRN, too:
This wasn’t a ticky-tack foul that could go either way. Henry didn’t have his back turned and the ball hit him on the upper arm. This was out and out deliberate violation of the MOST BASIC TENET OF THE GAME. NO HANDS. That’s the very first thing every person in the world knows about football. No hands. As we grow up we learn about incidental contact, unintentional contact, etc. But NO HANDS. Henry’s catch was worthy of some of BASKETBALL’S all-time greats.
No excuse at all.