So What If Henry Uses His hand To Roll France Through?

The entire media fraternity is crazy about how France cheated their way against Ireland to sneak into South Africa in next year’s World Cup showpiece. Who cares?

Thierry Henry, France captain, who controlled the ball with his hand before crossing it to the path of William Gallas to score the nail-biting goal, is under immense attack for acting unprofessionally.

Who cares about professionalism when your team is struggling and can’t afford to miss out on the world’s biggest event? What is the proper definition of professionalism? Where were the referee and his assistant to stop play? So pathetic and shallow minded, some commentators were agitating, the former Arsenal star stays away from celebrations and demands the referee stop the match so that a free kick is awarded. Total bizarre!  

Controversy, defines football everywhere in the world. It is those small things that make football as exhilarating as it is today.

Lets all imagine being in the boots of Henry, before a packed crowd of 80,000 in Paris, forced into playoffs and a World Cup winner struggling to make it! The World Cup is the precious dream of every player. It is as plain as that.

For Henry, his country comes first and the rest mean nothing. Diego Maradona, the current Argentina boss, delivered his country against England through his hand of god goal and today he is the biggest thing that has ever happened to the fans, there. He is not adored for winning Napoli the scudetto or perfecting the art at Barcelona. Maradona’s passion for his country is the main reason he is loved and adored in his home country. Henry is no different from the Argentine legend. He has precisely delivered France.

The French will never forget King Henry for the glory he has brought at home. So much has happened to football of late. Conning of referees through diving and rants, have become the talk of the day. The focus has changed from the referees to the players and the managers. Sir Alex Ferguson has been banned for two games for branding referee Alan Wiley unfit and incompetent. Alex Ngog of Liverpool got stick from Birmingham and the referees association for conning a referee. They are obviously right to demand fairness in the game. But, there are the big shots responsible for the rules of the game and they are not done in isolation of the whistle men. Is Henry to blame for the referees incompetence? Obviously, no! 

In an age of credit crunch and so much cash involved in the game today, who would want to lose such a crucial match? Do commentators and scribes know what it means for France to stay out of South Africa? With due respect to republic of Ireland, there are big names in the French squad that fans travelling and those going to glue their eyes on the screen wouldn’t have loved to miss. Imagine a World Cup without Henry, Frank Ribery, Sami Nasr, Nicholas Anelka, William Gallas, Patrice Evra and Karim Benzema among others.

Obviously, all eyes are pointing at Míchel Platini, the European president, who was seated in the stands, carefully watching the proceedings. Platini, a European cup winner with France in 1984, could do nothing to change the proceedings of the match but, console Ireland. 

Ireland must not cry foul because they had the ball in their own half to finish it before Henry’s heartrending assist. Robbie keane, Ireland captain should be credited for pushing the match to the death row but, he mustn’t point fingers at Platini because he run through the French defence without being brought down however, ended with nothing.

Keane, who accused Platini of making calls to FIFA President, Sep Blatter, will be brought to order like Didier Drogba, when Chelsea were allegedly rigged out of champions league football by Barcelona last season.

Ireland and commentators in British football must learn to respect decisions, however, dubious they may seem to be. It is simply part of the game and must live to live with it.