NRR: France's Hand-of-God goal v. Ireland

actually wrote:

Also - in Saturday's game Evra touched the ball past Given - Given dived at his feet and missed the ball. If Evra had not made such a meal of that one he could have had a penalty as well.

letsrunscrewedmeoveronce wrote:

that was not evra it was Nic Anelka. Anelka was falling before Given touched him. So no penalty was given

The poster that you were responding to was describing the first game on Saturday. This was the refs' fault. Not Henry's. Next time, France and Ireland should do themselves a favor and try to qualify directly instead of doing it in the playoffs.

Irishboy wrote:

I can't blame Henry. What he did was wrong but the prevailing mentality in soccer is to push the boundaries of the rules as far as possible. The same is true in Gaelic football and em.....racewalking? The opposite is true in sports like golf where competitors will often penalise themselves if they break a rule, however trivial. I blame the linesman. He had a direct view of Henry. He should have called the handball.

I don't believe the ref was bribed. Anelka dived earlier on in the match and the ref could have given a penalty if he wanted to.

A video referee is needed urgently to restore the integrity of soccer. FIFA got their result. Que sera sera....

Yep. This is right.

SWAT, this is pure nonsense.France should decline, really? Like Ireland or any other nation would do that? The ball hit Henry's hand, it was not deliberate, and Henry should not be suspended. The ref missed it, as simple as that. Conclusion: They should be using video replays.Ireland makes it sound like there are victims of a national tragedy. There is no conspiracy! Bottom line, they had no chance in the WC.

s.w.a.t. wrote:

france should decline the berth

henry should be suspended for the first round of the world cup

blatant beyond belief

the fix was in and france knew they could get away with murder, so they did

ireland will extract payback, just not on the pitch

get fcuked you ignorant shitbag. not deliberrate? did you even see it dickhead?and what have Irelands chances in the world cup got to do with anything? they would have taken it to any team on the planet yesterday.

what??? wrote:

SWAT, this is pure nonsense.

France should decline, really? Like Ireland or any other nation would do that? The ball hit Henry's hand, it was not deliberate, and Henry should not be suspended. The ref missed it, as simple as that. Conclusion: They should be using video replays.

Ireland makes it sound like there are victims of a national tragedy. There is no conspiracy! Bottom line, they had no chance in the WC.

Irishboy wrote:

I can't blame Henry. What he did was wrong but the prevailing mentality in soccer is to push the boundaries of the rules as far as possible.

I have always admired Henry for being a very fair player, but honestly, with this hand-assist he lost quite some credit.

However, the Irish, as much as I liked their perfomance, don't need to complain. Keane or Duff must score the second goal and no discussion about the referee is needed.

satanta wrote:

they would have taken it to any team on the planet yesterday.

Err... Except France.

Ballss wrote:

satanta wrote:

they would have taken it to any team on the planet yesterday.

Err... Except France.

Err... they did beat france, but were cheated out of it

Err...they did not. At best, it would have been a draw then penalty kicks. And then who knows.

On FIFA's official website, you can comment on articles and you always get 1000s of posts per article from fans all over the world. Conveniently, user comments have been disabled from all articles related to France-Ireland.

11111111987 wrote:

Err...they did not. At best, it would have been a draw then penalty kicks. And then who knows.

Err... officially the match goes down in history as an Irish win as the regulation match ended at 90 minutes, and Ireland were leading at that stage.

Also, while the first handball was probably not deliberate, the second one, where Henry hooked the ball into play again was CLEARLY on purpose.

An official complaint has been lodged.. match results have been overturned before.

Remember Uzbekistan v Bahrain in 2005? A match of much less significance too. There's just a bias against smaller nations in Fifa... so sadly because of this (and because of Platini and Blatter being so scared about a major team missing out on the World Cup and therefore, a loss of Revenue) its unlikely we'll have the result overturned

So, interested observer, what do you think of the penalty that wasn't given to France?

Also, Trappatoni says that he doesn't blame Henry and that the game cannot be replayed. So, you know better than Ireland's coach? Good, just apply for the job then.

People like you do a great disservice to the Irish (you're probably just American anyway dreaming of being European because your last name sounds vaguely Irish). Stop being a crybaby. Next time, just win the game. You have 4 years to get better!

satanta wrote:

get fcuked you ignorant shitbag. not deliberrate? did you even see it dickhead?

and what have Irelands chances in the world cup got to do with anything? they would have taken it to any team on the planet yesterday.

what??? wrote:

SWAT, this is pure nonsense.

France should decline, really? Like Ireland or any other nation would do that? The ball hit Henry's hand, it was not deliberate, and Henry should not be suspended. The ref missed it, as simple as that. Conclusion: They should be using video replays.

Ireland makes it sound like there are victims of a national tragedy. There is no conspiracy! Bottom line, they had no chance in the WC.

satanta you clearly know nothing about soccer. How can you know that it was deliberrate? Do you know how fast that play happened? You really think he had the time to think, "Oh, here comes the ball close to my hand, let me nudge it towards my foot so that I can pass it to my teammate near the goal so that he can head it in." You're a complete moron. The ball bounced up and hit his hand.

And whoever says France should decline the berth is obviously not being realistic. There would be no talk of all this if the roles were reversed.

Bottom line is France dominated the game, they were clearly the better team, and had the better chances.

France did not dominate the game at all. Not this second game anyway. It was actually Ireland who controlled the game for the most part. Whether deliberate or not, that goal should not have stood. If nothing else, lets agree the ref is a moron and should not be allowed anywhere near the World Cup proper.

france dominated the game??? they were the better team? you sir, are a f***ing idiot.

I play for a local football side 3 or 4 days a week. i instinctively DONT use my hands in a game. get the message, idiot? i dont know why im even replying to your post. you're obviously nothing but a clown

interested-observer wrote:

Err... officially the match goes down in history as an Irish win as the regulation match ended at 90 minutes, and Ireland were leading at that stage.

Also, while the first handball was probably not deliberate, the second one, where Henry hooked the ball into play again was CLEARLY on purpose.

hahaha dude youre making stuff up...

stoppage time and overtime are parts of soccer and in not possible scenario would the game go down in history as an irish win

i understand being irate about the handball but dont make yourself look like an idiot

hmmmmmmmmm wrote:

interested-observer wrote:

Err... officially the match goes down in history as an Irish win as the regulation match ended at 90 minutes, and Ireland were leading at that stage.

Also, while the first handball was probably not deliberate, the second one, where Henry hooked the ball into play again was CLEARLY on purpose.

hahaha dude youre making stuff up...

stoppage time and overtime are parts of soccer and in not possible scenario would the game go down in history as an irish win

i understand being irate about the handball but dont make yourself look like an idiot

I hate to break it to you, but the match was an Irish victory. Without an Irish victory then France would have gone on to the WC without incident.

France won the first leg of the playoff 1-0, Ireland won the 2nd 1-0, therefore forcing an overtime due to the aggregate being tied (as well as away goals). As was the original statement, that Ireland could have beaten any team (not that I agree with the sentiment), it is not correct to say Ireland could not have beaten France in a match yesterday because they did defeat them forcing the OT period.

And I say this with zero support of Ireland as a soccer club. The handball was obvious - apparently not to the referees. To vilify Henry over this is just terrible. The handball occurred and the referees missed it - place the blame on them. At any other point in a game to you expect a player to approach a referee and tell them they missed a call and they should call that on them? If a ball is knocked out by Team A, yet they receive the ball is Team A expected to just give it back? How about a little closer to this Henry scenario - if the ball is played over the end line and a player puts it across just seconds after it crosses the line but it isn't called and a game winning goal is scored from that cross, does the player go to the referee and tell him that the ball was over the line?

Your responses may be something along the lines of "this was much more obvious" and I agree - to us it definitely was, but to a referee apparently not. And even still, if it was obvious to them, or should have been, it is still on the referee and not Henry.

And to the guy who says he plays 3 or 4 times a week and then went on some elitist trip out calling the guy a clown - get over yourself. Just because you step on a pitch a few times a week doesn't mean you are a soccer genius. Get off your high horse and have a discussion. I know quite a few guys who go out and play plenty without knowing the intricacies of soccer, just enough to kick the ball from point A to point B with sufficient accuracy. I also know plenty of hobby runners who run 100 mile weeks to get ready for their marathon but have never sniffed a real, competitive race. Do they know the intricacies about racing, about tucking in here, making a move there, surging to break a competitor? No.

If you were an unbiased observer who has ever played for something in soccer before then you'd understand that this handball could have been an accident and it could have been on purpose - but you'd be smart enough to understand that you can't make the all by watching a replay. Even if it were on purpose, he stuck his hand out to touch the ball, why vilify the guy? Everybody on the soccer pitch tries something against the rules a time or two to try and get an advantage - to try and get away with it. It is the referee's job to manage the game and call it as he sees it. If the Irish have an issue, whether Henry did it intentionally or not, it should be with the referees.

Here are the stats from the Telegraph in UK:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/international/republicofireland/6598616/France-1-Republic-of-Ireland-1-agg-2-1-match-report.html

- Possession:

France: 55%

Ireland: 45%

- Successful passing:

France: 73%

Ireland: 61%

- Shots on target:

France: 3

Ireland: 2

- Shots off target:

France: 8

Ireland: 4

So France was BETTER. Stop complaining about it!

RobXC wrote:

Here are the stats from the Telegraph in UK:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/international/republicofireland/6598616/France-1-Republic-of-Ireland-1-agg-2-1-match-report.html

- Possession:

France: 55%

Ireland: 45%

- Successful passing:

France: 73%

Ireland: 61%

- Shots on target:

France: 3

Ireland: 2

- Shots off target:

France: 8

Ireland: 4

So France was BETTER. Stop complaining about it!

Thank you. That's all that needs to be said. France won the game because they were dominating. Not because of a hand ball.

You guys who are putting this off as no big deal are OUT OF YOUR MINDS (or France backers). Henry handled the ball TWICE - first to stop its momentum and secondly to steady it for a pass. TWICE. This is as egregious as Maradonna's "Hand of God", and you know it.