Thierry Henry

[Metaphysical]

It's really nothing to do with race Meta. The France 98 team were actually good. This team have been appalling led by a total twat of a manager and a very poor leader on the field. The characters of Zidane and Henry are polar opposites. That's the key difference here. Not skin colour.

I know it's not a race issue.

did you not follow the rest of the post?

mentioning race was to hook the reader's attention in (rather than have them dismiss the post as another putz defending henry) where I then illustrated how france, in the past, have cheated rampantly but been praised nonetheless.

then I exposed the real reason why they were praised: because they never faced anyone british. they screwed teams over but it was always other foreign teams the british isles doesn't like/trust (spain, portugal, italy) so it was okay. bit like south korea (who were heroic, and guus was a genius) in 2002, because their victims were again non-british nations.

lol@polar opposites. you're right, though. I mean henry hasn't been sent off multiple times in his career for acts of savage violence.

 

[Cal-FCB]

Sounded like you were championing both arguments tbh, not trying to be overly clever. Most people I know dislike South Korea and make comments about the refs whenever they're brought up. Certainly not considered heroes. Those teams you list, it has nothign to do with a lack of trust. It goes back to the underdog angle. Those are all big European sides, seeing a big side screw another big side will never get the sympathy of a small nation getting bent over. How are Henry and Zidane alike? Getting sent off for violent acts doesn't make you arrogant, whiney, and temperamental.

 

[La Furia]

vieira's goal in the EF vs. spain came from a FK won by a dive

And guess which wonderful, class filled player was responsible for that dive, months after calling diving a feminine act?

 

[Metaphysical]

it doesn't.

they're not alike.

that's why I said "you're right" before pointing out that, for all the love he gets, zidane was a mean motherfucker.

I disagree that there was an underdog angle at play with france in 2006. they had a team full of legends and their opponents were of similar reputation. their cheating was overlooked because 1. henry still played for arsenal, 2. they loved zidane and most importantly of all 3. they only screwed over non-brits.

look at portugal, what did they do to england that was so bad? nothing. rooney acted the twat and got himself sent off. then the bbc edit the highlights so it looks like CR is winking directly after rooney's red (which he wasn't) and all of sudden the portuguese are the devil's team. henry leaps over carvalho's leg in the semi-final and a pen is given. no one cares it was a dive, coz it was the dirty portuguese. and then malouda took a tumble vs. the italians but again it was overlooked coz who likes italy right?

I'll give you south korea. there was an underdog element to that (though you can bet had they fucked over england we'd have never heard the end of it) but the french just beat the right teams. until now.

And guess which wonderful, class filled player was responsible for that dive, months after calling diving a feminine act?

yupyupyup!

tbh I did laugh quite heavily despite being angry as fuck that spain got the chuck (and puyol got the blame) coz he basically admitted in his paris rant that he was gonna start diving, and then he did!

a man of his word.

 

[Valon]

Deleted the off-topic Man City vs Manchester United battle as it's not the place for that here.

In topic, I didn't see what Henry did but I don't care, the guy is still a legend in my books. Fuck it even Messi scored a hand-goal yet we all wank over him.

 

[ryuken]

Nv mind his cheated assist , France probably wont be able to go far in the WC anyway.

 

[FiReFTW]

It was not rape against football, grow up. Footballers go beyond the rules and act dishonestly all the time, it's up to referees to see it and ensure fairness prevails. What Thierry did was no worse than appealing for a corner he knows is a goal kick or going down when he could stay standing up, the excessive moralising going on is quite unbelievable.

With people like you , no wonder things like this happen alot in football , and people take it lightly.
I think you need to get some things straight buddy , and stop defending someone just because you like them.

 

[Beast]

absoposotively.

but coz it was a dirty frog who did the deed then it's a disgrace to football!

and you know I don't wanna bring up the race issue but when france were led by zizou (who despite being berber in origin has white skin) they cheated loads and no one seemed to care. they dove and time-wasted their way to the world-cup final itself (vieira's goal in the EF vs. spain came from a FK won by a dive, zizou's pens in the semi and final were from dives) and all you heard was how lovely and courageous they were and how zidane was a magnificent leader despite the fact that he only had one good game in the entire tournament (where he assisted henry to score from a FK that was incorrectly given as a FK).

but then maybe it's not a race issue.

maybe it's the fact that france never dicked over any teams from the british isles until now. portugal, meanwhile, who were perceived to have stolen a win from england (despite the fact that apart from lennon and hargreaves england were gash and stamping on someone's nutsack is always gonna get you sent off) were portrayed as the big villains of the piece in '06, despite their crimes being marginal or non-existent!

.

Absolute rubbish

 

[Cule Angles]

With people like you , no wonder things like this happen alot in football , and people take it lightly.
I think you need to get some things straight buddy , and stop defending someone just because you like them.

Sorry, who are you? I'm not saying what Henry did was right but the OTT reactions to a simple handball are stupifying. I think you need to put things into perspective rather than demonising a player who reacted instinctively to a ball bouncing on to his arm and making out like he's hit a woman.

 

[Moe]

Henry admitted after the game:

"Yes, there is a handball but I am not the referee.

I'm in the box, there are two defenders in front of me. The ball bounced off my hand, the referee did not see it and I played on.

It doesn't change anything to the fact that I'm happy we have qualified."

Thats what Henry said according to www.sport.co.uk

 

[El Mesías]

Maradona, Messi and now Henry. Can see all the Barca haters flaming that we need players that cheat to win.

 

[Deltaboy663]

I don't usually post anything up here, but a lot of you guys sound like kids or rather choir boys. You guys seem to have a very 'grass is green sky is blue and everything is beautiful type of view'. Give me a break, this is the world cup. Countries will do anything to get to participate in this competition. What Henry did was absolutely fine in my books and I think any player would have done the same. Henry isnt the pope and this isn't a Disney movie. He is a competitive player and he took one for the team and his country. Respect to Titi, he has won the hearts and minds of all the French people!

 

[Moe]

First of all welcome to the forum. I agree with you, thats how i viewed it, for sure it wasnt fair play but if any other player had the option to send his country to the WC or go tell the ref (god knows if he'll be alive from his own fans) he would absolutely pick the first option. Yes, he touched the ball with his hands but no, its not his fault. Blame the ref or fifa for not using technology.

 

[Cal-FCB]

it doesn't.

they're not alike.

that's why I said "you're right" before pointing out that, for all the love he gets, zidane was a mean motherfucker.

I disagree that there was an underdog angle at play with france in 2006. they had a team full of legends and their opponents were of similar reputation. their cheating was overlooked because 1. henry still played for arsenal, 2. they loved zidane and most importantly of all 3. they only screwed over non-brits.

look at portugal, what did they do to england that was so bad? nothing. rooney acted the twat and got himself sent off. then the bbc edit the highlights so it looks like CR is winking directly after rooney's red (which he wasn't) and all of sudden the portuguese are the devil's team. henry leaps over carvalho's leg in the semi-final and a pen is given. no one cares it was a dive, coz it was the dirty portuguese. and then malouda took a tumble vs. the italians but again it was overlooked coz who likes italy right?

I'll give you south korea. there was an underdog element to that (though you can bet had they fucked over england we'd have never heard the end of it) but the french just beat the right teams. until now.

I thought you were being sarcastic when you agreed about polar opposites if you look at what I wrote Meta it's what you just said too. There was no underdog angle in 98, as France screwed other big teams. That doesn't really pull at the heartstrings like a brave little team doing well and then losing to a moment of cheating.
Agree about Portgual though, in 06 we were inept bar a couple of players and the anger at the time was a way to take the focus away from that. 04 we were screwed though

 

[Lemmi]

Why are you blaming Henry so much? If it was for sheer ineptness of Paul McShane there would have been no opportunity for this. Salute the Premiership's worst ever defender for allowing the ball to run and allowing all Ireland fans to lose hope the second he came on. Because he really is that shit.

They call him Gingerballs, they call him Gingerballs..