Under-siege captain backs Irish demands for rematch
Ace French striker feels 'extremely sorry' after handball
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Saturday November 21 2009
THIERRY Henry spoke yesterday of his embarrassment at how his controversial handball robbed Ireland of a chance to make the World Cup finals and said a replay would be the fairest solution.
But late last night the French Football Federation snubbed Henry's call by ruling out a rematch. The FFF said FIFA's decision earlier yesterday should be final.
FIFA, football's international governing body firmly shut the door on an FAI request for another play-off by saying "the result will not be changed and cannot be replayed".
Under-siege France captain Henry responded to the FIFA decision by insisting he was not a cheat and said Ireland deserved to be in the finals.
"Naturally I feel embarrassed at the way we won and feel extremely sorry for the Irish, who definitely deserve to be in South Africa.
"Of course, the fairest solution would be to replay the game but it is not in my control. There is little I can do apart from admit that the ball had contact with my hand leading up to our equalising goal and I feel very sorry for the Irish."
Despite FIFA's categorical refusal of a second chance, the FAI issued a fresh statement yesterday, repeating its call for a rematch that would "protect the integrity of the game and the pride of the French team".
Henry's statement came as former Ireland captain Roy Keane made his own extraordinary intervention in the international row by criticising attempts to get a replay.
"They can complain all they want but France are going to the World Cup. Get over it," said Keane. "France were there for the taking and Ireland didn't do it. Same old story."
Henry insisted he was not a cheat and described his handling of the ball as an instinctive reaction to a ball coming extremely fast in a crowded penalty area.
"If people look at it in full speed you will see that it was an instinctive reaction. It is impossible to be anything other than that."
Ireland skipper Robbie Keane thanked the French player in a statement on the Football Association of Ireland's official website: "On behalf of the Republic of Ireland players, I would like to thank Thierry Henry for his statement this afternoon that, in his opinion, a replay would be the fairest option."
Controversy over Henry's hand in knocking Ireland out of the World Cup qualifier in France has continued to sweep across social networking internet sites and huge numbers of disgruntled fans are expected to descend on the French embassy in Dublin today to show their support for the Irish team.
But FIFA categorically ruled out a rematch following an exchange of letters between the governing body and the FAI .
In a brief statement, FIFA said it replied to the request.
"In the reply, FIFA states that the result of the match cannot be changed and the match cannot be replayed. As is clearly mentioned in the laws of the game, during matches, decisions are taken by the referee and these decisions are final."
Justice Minister Dermot Ahern, who first raised the issue of a replay on Thursday, described FIFA's stance as hypocritical.
Nonsense
"This is nonsense. Fifa may be able to quote rules but this decision is totally contrary to the fair play policy they display on their website," he said.
Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger admitted he was embarrassed to see his home nation qualify in such a manner but he leaped to Henry's defence.
"He was the big loser in this story, because if he had come out and said 'It was a handball', half of France would say 'How crazy is he?' to cut off the road to the World Cup. And if he doesn't say it straight away then he is as well guilty."
In the wake of the controversy, Sir Alex Ferguson joined the clamour for video technology to be used at games. The Manchester Utd boss said his thoughts were with Giovanni Trapattoni.
"He prepared the team and got an absolutely magnificent performance from them. You couldn't have asked for better from a coach and it's taken away from him, but it happens."
There was also a message of consolation for Trapattoni from former Ireland manager Jack Charlton. "It's such a bad thing for Ireland -- who was looking good at that time to qualify and it's upset the whole country."
- Fergus Black
Irish Independent
