world cup qualifying play off
Giovanni Trappotoni’s Republic of Ireland team were robbed of a World Cup finals place last night when French striker Thierry Henry broke the Irish hearts with a deliberate control of the ball with his hand to set up an extra time goal for William Gallas on 103 minutes.
Ireland had done everything right during a game that they had to win and a well deserved goal from Robbie Keane in the first half had kept their qualification hopes alive.
They played the better football throughout the game, but could not add to the first half goal and at full time the aggregate score was 1-1, with extra time and the possibility of a penalty shoot out beckoning.
John O’Shea, Damien Duff and Robbie Keane all had chances to kill the game off in normal time and how they will rue those missed opportunities.
The Republic of Ireland had cause to breath a sigh of relief around half way through the first period of extra time when Nicolas Anelka appeared to tumble over Shay Givens arm, but the half hearted appeal was waved on.
And then a few minutes later a long ball into the Irish box found Thierry Henry who controlled the ball with his hand before crossing the ball for Gallas to scramble an equaliser on the night, and the winning goal on aggregate.
While Trappatoni refused to get involved in the controversy, simply blaming a ‘great mistake‘ by the referee Martin Hansson, his players were obviously devestated at the way they were knocked out.
Richard Dunne, a rock in Ireland’s defence was consoled at the end of the game by Henry, but admitted that it was like being slapped in the face by the Frenchman.
“He told us we deserved to win. How is that supposed to make me feel? It makes me feel worse. He’s admitted he cheated. We should have won. He just said, ‘That’s it’. He just said he handled it, he didn’t mean it. Looking at it, it’s quite obvious he did mean it. It’s there for everyone to see and they’re not going to change it now. So what can we do? They’re going to the World Cup and we’re not. That’s it.”
Even the French press could not control themselves in this mornings media, predictably resorting to the ‘Hand of God’ headline, but not praising the team or manager for their efforts.
L’Equipe summing up the feelings of the French nation saying “France have qualified for the 2010 World Cup, that’s for sure, but the result, the most essential thing in sport after all, is not enough to erase the uneasy feeling we had last night.”
4 comments so far
1 Gavin McDonald // Nov 19, 2009 at 1:55 pm
Last night ( Nov 18th) i felt ashamed to call myself a football fan. A so called “gentleman” of the game CHEATED his way into the world cup.
He wasn’t even man enough to come out and say he meant it although television evidence clearly shows him controlling the ball twice to keep it in play and then pass to Gallas for the goal.
Please sign your name and send on to as many people as you can.
This cheat must be punished for bringing the game down to this level.
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/2/thierry-henry-must-be-banned-from-world-cup#signatures
2 Tottenham News // Nov 21, 2009 at 1:56 am
Im not the biggest of fans of Henry but ill give him his due , He admitted to the ref as soon as he done it , he showed he wasnt happy about it after the game and he’s come out publicly tonight saying he thinks it should be a rematch.
Now that being said i think we can pretty much say that although he did it , it was a heat of the moment thing which he instantly regretted . Its now down the the FIFA as to weather they are going to do anything about it.
Another interesting point was Roy Keanes comments in the news today, personally i wouldnt have expected what he said but he does make a good point .
SO will there be a replay or not ? i guess we’ll know by the time the weekend has finished .
If it was England that position then im pretty sure the whole country would be complaining to get a replay.
3 bookmakers // Nov 23, 2009 at 7:19 pm
It should be replayed….
4 Football Merchandise // Nov 27, 2009 at 10:54 pm
To be honest how the referee and lineman both missed it is beyond me. It was a disgrace to seed the teams in the first place and then for Ireland to lose in this way is a travesty. At least the Irish might be more sympathetic now to our own hand of god moment in 86 which if your like me the anger never quite leaves you.