Thursday 19 November 2009

Irish cheated out of place in World Cup finals

Cheating. There's no other word for it. Thierry Henry handled the ball not once, but twice, before crossing for William Gallas to head home the goal that put France through to the World Cup finals and knocked out the Republic of Ireland.

Henry said: "I will be honest: it was a handball, but I'm not the referee."

Not only should the goal have been ruled out for the handballs, but there was also a missed offside call from the free-kick that led to the goal. Although he missed the ball, Sebastien Squillaci went to jump for the ball with two Irish players, and he was in an offside position when the kick was taken.

The Swedish referee Martin Hansson and his assistant both missed all three offences.

It was very sad for the Irish, but it is interesting that they refused to blame Henri.

Kevin Doyle said: "You do not blame the player if he can get away with it, it is nearly a natural reaction."

Manager Giovanni Trapattoni said: "The referee should have asked Henry, I'm sure he would have admitted there was a handball."

Richard Dunne said: "Henry admitted afterwards he handled it, but it doesn't make me feel any better. We were cheated."

With the game already in extra time, a 1-0 win for the Irish would have taken the game into a penatly shoot-out.

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