February 17, 2011
By Staff Reporter
And there was a least one if not two French players offside at the free kick that preceded the hand ball by Barcelona’s Thierry Henry, who, after the game, admitted to the handling offense.
The handball was not called by Swedish referee, Martin Hansson.
After cradling the ball in his hand, thus keeping it in play, Henry passed to William Gallas who struck the back of the Irish net. This tied the game at 1-1 giving France a 2-1 aggregate win after their previous 1-0 win in Dublin.
The result prompted uproar in Ireland and the game’s governing body in the Republic, the Football Association of Ireland, said it would appeal to FIFA, soccer’s world governing body, for a replay.
And Ireland’s justice minister Dermot Ahern, echoed the call saying that if the result was allowed stand it would reinforce the view “that if you cheat, you will win.”
The disappointment was redoubled by the fact that the Irish side played brilliantly and dominated much of the game. Ireland was ahead 1-0 at the end of 90 minutes thanks to a goal by Robbie Keane. However, the Irish side also missed several great scoring chances which would have decided the match before it ended up in the hands of Henry, literally, and the referee.