World Cup 2010

[Uppercut]

Germany were the least-supported team among neutrals in the 2002 World Cup, but that's probably more to do with their turgid football than a general dislike of them as people (except in England, obv). My personal experience of Germans is better than that of any other nationality.

 

[BoyBrumby]

Germany were the least-supported team among neutrals in the 2002 World Cup, but that's probably more to do with their turgid football than a general dislike of them as people (except in England, obv). My personal experience of Germans is better than that of any other nationality.

Think that's probably true. In 2006 ourselves, the French & the Italians all played worse quality stuff than Jerry. Who was the least popular team amongst the unaffiliated then?

 

[Loony BoB]

To the people who are going on about how any other player would have done the same thing: If that's the case, why didn't Ireland do it until they got a goal? Why doesn't every losing side in the PL have someone handling the ball week-in, week-out? Did the other three losing sides in the qualifiers all try this tactic?

No, not everyone would have done the same thing. Not many would, actually. In fact, even Henry doesn't normally do it. Hand-balling, for me, is not done very often at all by comparison to other things such as fouls.

As for "Well, there are other rules that get broken and that's just as bad" - Yes, in a sense, it is, but this is one that should be far more easy to manage than something less black and white, for example, fouling.

'sall I gotta say.

 

[GIMH]

I'd happily take an Ian Thomas-Moore handball keeping us up this year tbf

 

[Uppercut]

Think that's probably true. In 2006 ourselves, the French & the Italians all played worse quality stuff than Jerry. Who was the least popular team amongst the unaffiliated then?

I don't know, I didn't see any polls on it that year. Germany played great football in 2006 and hosted the tournament brilliantly. I suspect by the semis they were at least preferable to France and Portugal (boo hiss) in the minds of most neutrals. Certainly were in mine.

Then again, France still had some very popular players like Zidane and Thuram at that time.

 

[Uppercut]

I'd happily take an Ian Thomas-Moore handball keeping us up this year tbf

It's always preferable to be the tainted victor than the cheated loser. Doesn't justify it though.

 

[vic_orthdox]

Haha, I remember watching the 2006 Cup and thinking, "The Germans are playing nice football...

...

Buuuttttt..."

 

[Uppercut]

Cheat or paragon: how Thierry Henry could have handled it all so differently | Richard Williams | Football | guardian.co.uk

 

[Majin]

If there is anyone who isn't a particularly large fan of Henry that fancies a cheap laugh, go and take a look at some of the revisions to his Wikipedia page that have happened over the night. It's been locked to protect it from vandalism at the moment but you can still read the vandalised versions by looking into the history tab. One version right near the top by a guy called Fletchlives2009 makes liberal and poetic use of the c-word and had me in stitches.

I almost feel sorry for him, I knew there would be a ****storm about this but I didn't think it would be this bad, I thought he had more fans that would be standing up for him than this.

 

[Jarquis]

Eboue v Germany

Great finish from Eboue

 

[dontcloseyoureyes]

HE GRABBED THE BALL, GUIDED IT ONTO HIS FOOT TO SEND HIS COUNTRY TO THE WORLD CUP. WHILST BEING THE CAPTAIN OF HIS COUNTRY.

What the **** kind of reaction did you expect?!

"oh lol look at that, good onya thierry! you're a right old chap!"

 

[Majin]

No like I said I expected a ****storm but there's been ample cheating in football in the past and I've not ever seen a reaction like this. Right after the game finished last night I had "henry handball" in google and was pissing myself at the amount of **** flying everywhere, "his" facebook page got totally raped and like I said people were going mental on his wikipedia page, it's genius. I expected there to be loads of threads on football forums filled with rage but all the videos of people burning his picture and the random acts of Henry vandalism all over the net are on a scale I wasn't expecting. But am thoroughly enjoying. Have seen a few people on websites trying to defend him though, and I expected more of it. Loads of people are going on saying that it was fine because "France didn't get a penalty when Given fouled Anelka" which is hilarious in its own right. Well, on the BBC website anyway. I just expected there to be more of those blindly loyal fans piping up than there has been

 

[BoyBrumby]

Cheat or paragon: how Thierry Henry could have handled it all so differently | Richard Williams | Football | guardian.co.uk

Mostly in agreement with Williams, it would be nice if this kind of thing didn't go on and all players were men of honour. However, when he attempts to argue that Henry's action was worse than Maradona's as he appears to in his final paragraph,

"To rank the incident in Paris alongside Diego Maradona's "Hand of God" in 1986 is misleading. That was a street kid's instinct, acclaimed by his compatriots as revenge for Antonio Rattín and the Malvinas."

he loses me. The suggestion seems to be that, because England and Argentina have a bit of history and Maradona is an uneducated ****wit, his crime is somehow mitigated. Tres bollo, as Henry probably wouldn't say.

 

[Uppercut]

Mostly in agreement with Williams, it would be nice if this kind of thing didn't go on and all players were men of honour. However, when he attempts to argue that Henry's action was worse than Maradona's as he appears to in his final paragraph,

"To rank the incident in Paris alongside Diego Maradona's "Hand of God" in 1986 is misleading. That was a street kid's instinct, acclaimed by his compatriots as revenge for Antonio Rattín and the Malvinas."

he loses me. The suggestion seems to be that, because England and Argentina have a bit of history and Maradona is an uneducated ****wit, his crime is somehow mitigated. Tres bollo, as Henry probably wouldn't say.

Yeah, he lost me there a bit too.

He just makes an interesting point about what would have happened had Henry owned up to the ref that he'd handled it. He'd go down in history as one of the greatest blokes ever to play the game. Instead he's going to go down in history, rightly or wrongly, as a complete prick who happened to be good at football. It's amazing how big a difference that one moment will have made to how he is perceived for the rest of his life.

 

[andyc]

Just saw it after reading all of this. WAC.

 

[sledger]

Nah, respect the Germans. We've had to get the cane out of the cupboard and give Jerry a damn good thrashing a couple of times when he got ideas above his station, but they're at least having a go.

Was actually stating how Germany was my most preferred of all the European Nations tbh, not anything to the contrary.

 

[sledger]

Cheat or paragon: how Thierry Henry could have handled it all so differently | Richard Williams | Football | guardian.co.uk

Think that article is incredibly naive tbh, not that I disagree with it mind you.

 

[Matteh]

Was actually stating how Germany was my most preferred of all the European Nations tbh, not anything to the contrary.

Same here for obvious reasons.

Dislike all the other major European nations, Scandinavia goes alright for the amount of cult Premiership players they have/used to have, Eastern Europe still has the plucky underdog characteristic that every English person loves.

 

[aussie]

Personally don't think the handball goal will truly dent Henry's reputation. People still remember Zidane & Maradona for their greatness - rather than those 2 moments of madness in their careers.

 

[PhoenixFire]

Personally don't think the handball goal will truly dent Henry's reputation. People still remember Zidane & Maradona for their greatness - rather than those 2 moments of madness in their careers.

Well despite knowing that the two aforementioned players are obviously both in the league of the very greatest footballers that have ever lived, I still associate both of them with their misdemeanours. I think the same will go for Henry.