On se ‘foot’ du monde = Talk to the hand!
November 18th, France and Ireland duked it out in a soccer match for the qualifying games of the World Cup. In overtime, the two teams were head to head, and the next score would call the winner. As France took possesion of the ball and moved in for the goal, Thierry Henry’s hand is seen on video handling the ball helping keeping it in play and is able to pass it on for the the winning goal. I have imbedded a youtube video that points it out clearly. The handling is obvious and the goal should not have been validated, but the referee seemed to ignore the foul-play. Henry has since been dubbed by the Irish, “Le Cheat” and his action called the “Hand of the frog”.
But wait…
Thierry Henry has come out and publicly stated on Friday, that he believes a rematch would be the most fair thing to do. Except that decision is not up to him. He also said “Naturally I am uncomfortable with the way that we won the match and I am deeply sorry for the Irish team who truly merits to be in South Africa” (South Africa being the next qualifying game).
This sounds quite noble of the French soccer star.
But the FIFA (France’s football federation) has so far refused a replay that has been requested by Ireland and encouraged by Henry. French politicians have even chimed in, and a rematch doesn’t seem so likely. What are French politicians doing preoccupying themselves with the sport anyway?
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Sounds like somebody’s got their hand in someone else’s pockets.
There is no more grace in sports.