In the last 24 hours, I have had to hear everything about the “Hand of God” of Thierry Henry.
First of all I am not going to go into the game. If you don’t know what happened already, then you must be on the wrong blog.
And since the Henry incident, I have read a number of articles saying that the game should either be replayed or that Henry should pay money to Football Assocation of Ireland out of his pocket because of the money Ireland misses out on after missing World Cup qualifications.
All of these ideas are 100%, absolutely absurd. Doing any of the above mentioned would be unprecedented and to do so would show extreme favoritism toward Ireland, or a strong disrespect for France, or both.
Since the match, Henry did say that he did handle the ball. While he has yet to pin the blame on himself for ‘cheating’, the media in the UK, Ireland and around the English-speaking world have said that Henry has admitted ‘cheating’. This is totally incorrect and is another example of the English-speaking media sticking up for one of their own and putting down the French team whenever they can.
But still, back to the game. If you were to ask any non-judgemental person watching the game “who was the dominate team,” the answer is simple, France. Only the Irish supporters (and French haters) think that Ireland dominated the match. But the stats speak for themselves. Shots (on goal)…France 16(8), Ireland 5(2)….Possession 53% to 47% for France. France was the better team, Ireland did have some good chances, but nevertheless got lucky.
Now, lets look at the crazy idea of replaying the game! Anyone that thinks that FIFA should replay the match is crazy. And, again, most of the people who mention a replay are those people in the English-speaking media. Most other media outlets say that it was the officials fault, including Giovanni Trappatoni, according to Sky Sports.
You can’t just go and replay a game whenever a ref gets a call wrong or the result doesn’t go your way. If that where the case, the United States should be World Cup champions in 2002 because Germany handled the ball which refused the US a goal which would advance them to the semi-finals. In that game, the US was the better side, but Germany got the calls. Like Bill Gates says “life isn’t fair,” and he is right.
The only thing that Ireland got robbed of was having a chance of going to penalty kicks. They weren’t robbed of a World Cup placement, PERIOD!
While this was more a rant of mine instead of an actual post, it is still hard to debate logic that doesn’t make sense, like a replay.
And, trust me….if it wasn’t the hand ball, it would have been something else. Like the English-speaking media talking about how the “lucky” goal of Anelka saw France through to a 1-0 win at Dublin. They only want to see Ireland in the World Cup at any cost…and trashing whatever team, and replaying whatever game, and insulting whoever they can is the only way they can do it.
This time, the team in their way had to be France.
Yet the English-speaking media don’t talk about who it looked like Ireland was trying to intentionally injure French players. They seem to be quiet there, don’t they?
But lets just face it….Ireland is an ‘average’ team. Yes, they do have some good players, but they are bottom-end World Cup qualifiers at best. France, on the other hand, are a top quality football side and should be in the World Cup. The difference between the quality of players is night and day. The same can’t be said for the management though. I will give Ireland that one, as must French supporters would.
Still, we heard everything from Ireland being a better team to, if Ireland don’t qualify, it would spell the end of world football as we know it. Again, 100% absurd.
Now can football use instant replay? Yes. Can it use some extra officials on the pitch? Yes. I think this game and this incident is a perfect example of how we can make the game calling more accurate as well as more fair. Hopefully some good will come out of this incident.
But lets just stick to the facts, France is in the World Cup, and that is that.
Filed under: French National Team Tagged: | French National Team, Irish National Team, Thierry Henry
For whatever reasons, you dislike Ireland. I can’t change that. You talk about the English speaking media blindly supporting Ireland. I’ve been watching the French media a little more than usual this week. The overwhelming sense of embarrassment and shame that they have qualified for the World Cup this way. L’equipe, Le Monde and France Football have all had articles stating that Ireland were the beter team on the night. France had the better players, but Ireland had the better TEAM. You are the ONLY journalist, French or otherwise to think France were the better team. To end, I’ll quote Emmanuel Petit in L’equipe. “Félicitations aux Irlandais, ils ont été énormes. Sur l’ensemble des deux matches, ils auraient mérité d’aller à la Coupe du monde.”
Actually, I do like Ireland, they just happen to play France, so went for France. Hell, I studied Irish history, and know a lot about ROI and NI history. So, if they were playing anyone else, I would go for Ireland.
The problem I have is the attitude of people toward this game. Now, to be fair, I guess, I don’t know how many of these people that are being insulting about the situation are pro-Irish or anti-French. Therefore, lumping them into the same group would be wrong, and I guess I can be at fault for that.
Still, my main issue is that you cannot change the rules just because you don’t like the outcome of the game, just ask Manchester City when they played United earlier this season. And, as I have said, France only denied Ireland a chance at the penalty kicks, not the World Cup. They still would have had to earn that one even with a 1-0 lead after 120 minutes.
As far as the better play, I think Ireland had their chances. Do I think it was the best game in the world to watch? Not really. I was actually quiet disappointed. But I have heard people say that France did outplay Ireland. I guess it is just depends on what point of view a person might have on the game. And, as far as stats, France had the better game. That is why I mostly fell on stats, because I found the game to be average….not dull, but that extremely exciting either.
But, to be fair, I knew when I said that France played the better game, I was setting myself up for a big target on my chest. I knew that would get people going
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