Henry’s hand in French win

Richard Jolly

• Last Updated: November 19. 2009 11:32PM UAE / November 19. 2009 7:32PM GMT

Henry's admission does not change the result for Ireland who have lodged an appeal with Fifa. Franck Fife / AFP

Richard Dunne, Robbie Keane and Liam Lawrence used the word “cheated”, while Sean St Ledger settled for “robbed”.

Giovanni Trapattoni diplomatically restricted his comments to stressing the importance of “fair play”.

Unfair play, in the eyes of the Irish, accounted for France becoming Europe’s 12th and final representatives in next summer’s World Cup.

It is an acute understatement to describe the circumstances of the 1-1 draw at the Stade de France, sending Raymond Domenech’s team through 2-1 on aggregate, as contentious.

If qualification through the play-offs is entry via the back door, the Republic of Ireland felt France, courtesy of a questionable goal in extra time, had forced an illegal entry via a hidden window.

William Gallas’ ultimately decisive goal followed a handball by Thierry Henry, who then squared the ball for the defender to head in. Henry himself admitted as much, saying: “I did handball it but it was not on purpose.”

Television replays suggested that as both sat exhausted in the Irish penalty area after the final whistle, Henry had said to Dunne: “I cheated”.

Whether or not that is the case, the Barcelona forward’s reputation has been besmirched, at least in Ireland. Henry’s goal is fast assuming as significant a place in Irish infamy as Diego Maradona’s handball goal does in English footballing history. A sense of injustice is understandable.

Ireland were eliminated by a deflected strike in Dublin and a still more dubious goal in Paris. Such was the ill-feeling from the ill-gotten result yesterday, the Irish FA demanded the authorities replay the game, although Trapttoni seemed to be holding out little hope the tie would be replayed.

Ahead after 90 minutes, courtesy of Keane, the former Ireland striker Tony Cascarino, described it as: “Probably the best Irish performance I can remember.”

The France substitute Florent Malouda insisted he had not seen Henry’s handball, but nevertheless admitted: “We were lucky.”

The circumstances of it fuelled Irish anger towards the Fifa president.

There is no more obstinate opponent of using technology in football than Sepp Blatter.

His was the late decision to seed sides for the play-offs, thus rendering Ireland’s a tougher task. Each view contributed to Ireland’s exit.

Keane said: “They’re all probably clapping hands, [Uefa president Michel] Platini sitting up there on the phone to Sepp Blatter, probably texting each other, delighted with the result, with France [getting through].”

It amounted to ignominious progress for the 2006 finalists.

The closest to a French revelation was the excellent goalkeeper Hugo Lloris; but for his second-half save from Damien Duff, Ireland might have qualified without the need for extra time.

They had performed with a coherence and a unity France palpably lacked.

There was a constancy to Trapattoni’s tactics as he named the same side and drew another powerful performance.

They exceeded the sum of their parts, whereas France proved a badly-assembled collective of coveted components. In midfield, for instance, the two Diarras, Alou and Lassana, appeared so bad they had named them twice.

In attack, Andre-Pierre Gignac was utterly ineffectual while Karim Benzema was left an unused substitute.

Yet they advance to South Africa. Many of the Irish are unlikely to figure in another World Cup. St Ledger is hardly known for his eloquence, but the Middlesbrough defender said: “It cost a lot of us our dream.” For Dunne and Duff, both 30, and the pair of Kevin Kilbane, 32, and Shay Given, 33, who both equalled Steve Staunton’s record of 102 caps, that dream may have died forever.

Portugal’s is preserved. Raul Meireles scored the only goal in Bosnia to complete a 2-0 aggregate win for a side missing the injured Cristiano Ronaldo.

After an unimpressive qualifying campaign, the manager Carlos Queiroz said: “It was a long journey from the beginning to here in this final stage, with some hiccups on the way, but always with the conviction and the certainty that we were moving in the right direction.”

Bosnia’s defeat left their coach Miroslav Blazevic, who led Croatia to the semi-finals of the 1998 tournament, questioning his future. “I am a demoralised old man at this point in time,” said the 74-year-old. Dimitris Salpigidis scored Greece’s goal, the only strike of the two legs, as they won in Ukraine to qualify for the World Cup for the first time since 1994.



rjolly@thenational.ae

The final list of qualifiers

A list of the 32 countries who qualified for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa after Wednesday’s round of play-off games in Europe and Africa.

EUROPE
Denmark
Germany
Spain
England
Serbia
Italy
Netherlands
Switzerland
Slovakia
Portugal
Greece
France
Slovenia

AFRICA
South Africa (qualify as hosts)
Ghana
Ivory Coast
Cameroon
Nigeria
Algeria

ASIA/OCEANIA
Australia
Japan
South Korea
North Korea
New Zealand

CONCACAF
United States
Mexico
Honduras

SOUTH AMERICA
Brazil
Paraguay
Chile
Argentina
Uruguay