MY VIEW OF THIERRY HENRY HAS BEEN SHATTERED
But Ireland still spurned their chances
THE biggest disappointment for me from the whole Thierry Henry affair is that the image I had of him has been demolished.
I played against him over the years and he was one of a rare breed - a foreigner in our game who didn't roll over 20 times if he got kicked or fouled.
Thierry would just pick himself up, dust himself down and get on with the game.
He almost had something of the traditional English centre-forward about him, except with 10 times the skill. But I suppose you never really lose the cultural influences you grow up with.
This is no anti-foreigner rant. I spent enough time in Italy playing with and against opponents in Serie A who were brought up to cheat and didn't see anything wrong with it.
It is the same when you play against French and Spanish teams. I remember playing for Inter at Cagliari, winning the ball in a tackle, turning away and then being shocked when I heard somebody screaming like a stuck pig.
I looked down and the fella I'd won the ball off was writhing in agony. After the ref booked me, the bloke got up, winked, smiled and ran off.
A couple of minutes later, my team-mate, Benny Carbone, was running past the same bloke and swung a punch and decked him. It was almost funny - until the ref sent me off because he just naturally assumed I was getting another dig in!
Then against Reggiana at the San Siro, I was marking a bloke at a corner who was giving me all kinds of racial abuse. I lost him as the ball came into the box and thought he was going to head it in. I was miles away from him. Instead, he just clutched his face, screamed and threw himself to the floor.
I got a red card, they scored from a penalty and I'd been mugged again.
That's just an illustration of how in-bred cheating is on the continent and how it's infected Henry.
You can break the incident down into two parts.
Firstly, the ball bounces up in the six-yard box on to Henry's arm. Fair enough, there was the element of an accident about that and I defy any player to say they wouldn't have carried on until the referee blew.
But the second part is what sticks in the throat. Henry has deliberately pushed the ball and then crossed for William Gallas.
That's the sneaky, wretched element. He's taken a cold, calculated decision.
I've been where the Irish lads are because Rotterdam in 1993 still sticks with me. Ronald Koeman pulling back Platty, taking the same kind of calculated decision as Henry and not getting punished for it.
Even worse, he was the b*****d who then stuck the ball home to basically knock us out of the World Cup.
But sometimes you have to ask whether one incident is the reason you will be spending next summer on the beach instead of at the World Cup.
We had chances to beat Holland in that game, just as Ireland had opportunities to bury France.
If Robbie Keane or Damien Duff had taken two brilliant chances, Ireland wouldn't have needed extra time.
And when the dust settles, that will hurt just as badly as what Henry did to them.
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This article has 8 comments
By not punishing Henry, FIFA is saying that in football its ok to cheat unless you are not caught
By Tamani nkhono-mvula.. Posted November 25 2009 at 1:50 PM.
Yes!
Thats how Africa is always cheated in the world cup and thats what gonna happen in SA next summer.France cheated and its good all people are seeing it openly. Remember when Italy cheated with help of referee to eliminate Nigeria in the world cup.
yaaaaaa.........its always gona happen if no measures take. Guess what, France will pay for it in 2010 in SA in the world cup, believe me
By Olin.. Posted November 22 2009 at 1:21 PM.
Its always the same from the English,blame Jonny the foreigner for everything.When an English player dives or cheats,you won`t read about it in the press but a foreigner who does becomes headlines,as you will hear Paul Ince say the English managers are not given a chance when you failed at Blackburn.Maradona used his hand but have you ever heard about one of the great goals when he beat almost the entire Enlgand team to score mentioned, big no.Rooney dived against Arsenal the other season but nothin was said.Tee
By Tony Sibanda.. Posted November 22 2009 at 6:44 AM.
I'm agree, Fouls happen all the time in a game.
By Erma.. Posted November 22 2009 at 3:59 AM.
Yeah, only foreigners cheat...
Maybe youd like to ask that Brent Sancho how much he liked being pulled down to the ground by his hair thanks to Peter Crouch?
*rolls eyes*
Xenophobia at its best.
By Susie.. Posted November 22 2009 at 2:40 AM.
maybe you could tell us mr paul ince why our so called english and british players cheat just the same as the foreign lads week in week out yet we say nothing its part and parcell of the game some of those tackles you put in and brought down opponents when you knew you was not gonna win the ball was cheating the same when you was grabbing there shirts and booting them in row z thats no diffrent to strikers or defenders who play a game of chess its normal and part and parcell of football the offensive players will seek advantage and the defensive players will do the same that applies to every player the world over you only have to look at the antics of our english players week in week out owen,rooney,gerrard,lampard,terry,ferdinand and most other english players they are just the same as the foreign lads allways have been allways will be i remember back in 1966 we claimed a goal that never crossed the line to win the world cup against the germans yet we say nothing just as we did at the time we knew and the england players that it was not a goal but did we make a big deal no cos we won the world cup!
By tony,kent.. Posted November 22 2009 at 1:25 AM.
How ridiculous. What you're suggesting here is that over the course of a second Henry went through all these thoughts and decided, "Yep, here's what I'll do." From age 3 you're taught to continue the play - no matter what. So the ball hit his hand and then he guided it along. What's the big deal? "Professional" fouls happen ALL THE TIME.
By Zoe.. Posted November 22 2009 at 1:09 AM.
This article about says it all. Though the cheating handball will live in the mind a lot longer than the missed chances!
By pa.. Posted November 21 2009 at 11:09 PM.