"Let go, Claus...""The Hand of Frog" was the headline in the Irish Sun...
I was in a Dublin boozer on Wednesday night watching Ireland in their play off match against France. Make no mistake, I’m England through and through and I also know that the Irish would support anyone against England. I feel however that I’m (mostly) above all that shit so if some personal friends of mine are supporting a team, I’ll join in… unless they’re Skates of course.
Ireland were winning 1-0 at 90 minutes after a 1-0 defeat in the first leg, so extra time started and to be honest, I couldn’t see a goal coming from either team and was looking forward to some serious angst-ridden penalties without England being involved. I had surprised myself with how much I was getting into it and even spilt some beer in the pub-mosh when Robbie Keane scored.
You’d have to have been on the moon to not know how France’s goal came about. A straight ball was played into the box, Ireland let it bounce (which was piss poor defending whatever way you look at it) and the ball hit Thierry Henry’s arm and was going out for a goal kick before Henry shovelled it back in with his hand and squared it for Willam Gallas to nod in from his normal goalscoring distance of four inches. Henry then celebrated like a madman behind the goal. Watching in real time, you couldn’t quite work out how the ball had ended up in the net but the replays were horrible and so it came to pass that a player with a fantastic reputation for fair play, trashed it in an instant.
In 2003, Saints played Arsenal in the cup final and after 30 seconds, Henry broke through and Claus Lundekvam hitched a ride holding onto the Frenchman’s shirt. Henry strode on for what seemed like minutes, with Claus being dragged along, still holding his shirt like a man tied by a rope to the tow bar of a speeding car. “Let go Claus” we all said as Henry shot and Niemi smothered it.
The fact was that Henry stayed on his feet and if he had done what 99% of players would have done and gone over, we’d have been 1-0 down fro the resulting penalty, Claus would have been sent off and probably Brett Ormerod would have been substituted to have been replaced by Paul Williams and we’d have probably lost 5-0. Interestingly though, Henry later got booked in the same game for taking a dive so there were flaws in his make up in 2003 when we was probably the best player in the world.
On Wednesday night, Thierry Henry, now a shadow of the player of 2003, cheated to keep a ball in play and set up a vitally important goal. FIFA, the guardians of the global game, preach fair play at every opportunity and their website is filled with stuff about it and there’s even a Committee for Fair Play and Social Responsibility. So what are these keepers of the faith going to do about it.
a) order a replay – they’ve already said they won’t
b) ban Henry for cheating – possible but I doubt it
c) sod all – we have a winner
Sepp Blatter, President of FIFA, needs no encouragement to come out with some complete shite or other on a regular basis but here’s an issue where he can actually do something useful or at least make a statement against cheating etc….. hello, anyone there.
It all stinks. Firstly they change the rules and seed the playoffs which they were never going to do until it became clear that France, Portugal and Germany were all struggling to qualify. There was no way FIFA were going to risk France getting drawn against Germany in a play off and one getting knocked out so they seeded it and Blatter said that they were going to do that all along but hadn’t told anyone.
As it’s turned out, the Germans got through (it was really too much to hope for) and now the French and Portuguese are there too. I’m sure FIFA could have done without the controversy but it will all die down and then who will care. It’s only Ireland after all. It’s like Saints trying to get a penalty at Old Trafford…. It isn’t going to happen.
In the FA Cup blog a while back, I talked of how the Champions League is all about the cash and no one wanted there to be any upsets with big clubs getting knocked out and sadly, the World Cup is the same. No one at the top is interested in the integrity of the competition – only that the biggest, richest countries qualify and maximise the revenue for everyone with a vested interest.
When the tournament starts next June I’ll be mad for England but I’ll be hoping the French get stuffed. They don’t deserve to be there and unless they replace the manager and can turn up a midfield before the World Cup, they won’t be any good anyway. When they won it in 1998 they had Zidane, Deschamps, Petit and Vieira in midfield…. Now they have Lassana Diarra and two other guys who did so little I can't remember their names.
Thierry Henry has really shot himself in the foot. As I write I see he’s suggesting there should be a replay but this is just damage limitation and an empty gesture as he knows this isn’t going to happen. Whilst admitting the offence, he’s also said that it’s not his fault as the referee didn’t see it which is basically saying that blatant cheating is ok if you don’t get caught. I bet he now wishes he hadn’t done it and taken his chances on France winning the penalty shootout but in my view, he made a conscious decision to cheat with the second touch of the ball and his celebration was an attempt to ‘look natural’ as you would when your side had scored an important goal… and what the hell was that all about… sitting on the pitch with Richard Dunne at the end. I believe he knew what was coming.
The good news is Thierry, no one out side of Ireland will really give a toss by the time June rolls round, certainly not FIFA. They won’t replay the game and to be honest, I’m not sure I think they should. It really means that the use of technology to help referees is a must and everyone should try and find a way to make it happen, rather than continually finding crap reasons why it shouldn’t. Maybe the problem is that if there was technological help, the desirable outcome of matches wouldn’t be so easy to reach.
The final word on this goes to an anonymous poster on a forum. Despite my pro-Irish stance, I laughed when I read this…
Anon says: I was working in Ireland in 1986 when that sh!tbag Maradona punched the ball in. The Irish all thought it was hilarious…. So fuck ‘em.
23 years on, that still rankles…
Sepp Blatter, President of FIFA, needs no encouragement to come out with some complete shite or other on a regular basis but here’s an issue where he can actually do something useful or at least make a statement against cheating etc….. hello, anyone there.
It all stinks. Firstly they change the rules and seed the playoffs which they were never going to do until it became clear that France, Portugal and Germany were all struggling to qualify. There was no way FIFA were going to risk France getting drawn against Germany in a play off and one getting knocked out so they seeded it and Blatter said that they were going to do that all along but hadn’t told anyone.
As it’s turned out, the Germans got through (it was really too much to hope for) and now the French and Portuguese are there too. I’m sure FIFA could have done without the controversy but it will all die down and then who will care. It’s only Ireland after all. It’s like Saints trying to get a penalty at Old Trafford…. It isn’t going to happen.
In the FA Cup blog a while back, I talked of how the Champions League is all about the cash and no one wanted there to be any upsets with big clubs getting knocked out and sadly, the World Cup is the same. No one at the top is interested in the integrity of the competition – only that the biggest, richest countries qualify and maximise the revenue for everyone with a vested interest.
When the tournament starts next June I’ll be mad for England but I’ll be hoping the French get stuffed. They don’t deserve to be there and unless they replace the manager and can turn up a midfield before the World Cup, they won’t be any good anyway. When they won it in 1998 they had Zidane, Deschamps, Petit and Vieira in midfield…. Now they have Lassana Diarra and two other guys who did so little I can't remember their names.
Thierry Henry has really shot himself in the foot. As I write I see he’s suggesting there should be a replay but this is just damage limitation and an empty gesture as he knows this isn’t going to happen. Whilst admitting the offence, he’s also said that it’s not his fault as the referee didn’t see it which is basically saying that blatant cheating is ok if you don’t get caught. I bet he now wishes he hadn’t done it and taken his chances on France winning the penalty shootout but in my view, he made a conscious decision to cheat with the second touch of the ball and his celebration was an attempt to ‘look natural’ as you would when your side had scored an important goal… and what the hell was that all about… sitting on the pitch with Richard Dunne at the end. I believe he knew what was coming.
The good news is Thierry, no one out side of Ireland will really give a toss by the time June rolls round, certainly not FIFA. They won’t replay the game and to be honest, I’m not sure I think they should. It really means that the use of technology to help referees is a must and everyone should try and find a way to make it happen, rather than continually finding crap reasons why it shouldn’t. Maybe the problem is that if there was technological help, the desirable outcome of matches wouldn’t be so easy to reach.
The final word on this goes to an anonymous poster on a forum. Despite my pro-Irish stance, I laughed when I read this…
Anon says: I was working in Ireland in 1986 when that sh!tbag Maradona punched the ball in. The Irish all thought it was hilarious…. So fuck ‘em.
23 years on, that still rankles…
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