Sun, Nov 22, 2009 page18

• Apologetic Thierry Henry caught in eye of a storm

  • AFP
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  As a rising star, his budding skills helped France along the route to World Cup glory 11 years ago, but assuming Thierry Henry makes the France squad for what would be his fourth and last World Cup finals in South Africa next summer, the attention will likely focus on his moment of sporting infamy in the playoff win over the Republic of Ireland rather than his enormous talent.

  Henry is caught in the eye of the storm after his handball gave William Gallas the chance to score the goal which took the 1998 champions through, leaving the Irish distraught and the former Arsenal striker sheepish as he admitted his misdemeanor.

  “Of course the fairest solution would be to replay the game, but it is not in my control,” the Barcelona striker said. “Naturally, I feel embarrassed at the way that we won and feel extremely sorry for the Irish, who definitely deserve to be in South Africa.

  

  France’s William Gallas, left, watches as his captain Thierry Henry, center, controls the ball with his arm before passing it to Gallas to score against the Republic of Ireland in the second leg of their World Cup playoff in Saint-Denis, France, on Wednesday.

  PHOTO: EPA

  “The ball bounced and it hit my hand,” said Henry, though he insisted that “I am not a cheat.”

  The circumstances, while not as blatant as Diego Maradona’s slam dunk past England keeper Peter Shilton in the 1986 finals, may now sadly prove the abiding memory of a player who has worn French blue for 12 years, won the Champions League with Barca and lit up the English Premier League with Arsenal.

  Henry was a precocious talent at Monaco, where he won the French league and broke into the French World Cup squad at age 20. Juventus swiftly came calling, but the man from Les Ulis in the southern Parisian suburbs saw his career run into a cul-de-sac in Turin.

  After half a season, a man named Arsene Wenger came calling, prescribing a remedy of a move to Arsenal and a switch to the center forward role.

  In eight years with the Gunners, Henry became one of the European game’s top attractions, winning a clutch of domestic honors, including two Premier League titles.

  After Barcelona beat the Gunners in the 2006 Champions League final, the Frenchman decided that at 29 it was finally time for a new challenge. He landed a La Liga winners medal in his first season, before finally adding the main omission to his collection — a Champions League winners medal.

  With the national side, Henry, despite his fitness foibles during the qualifying campaign, has been a stabilizing element in the camp and is, with 51 goals in 117 games, his country’s all-time leading scorer.

  Now his reputation has been tarnished, however, even if Wenger came to his defense on Friday.

  “Football and sport are full of heroes who have cheated 10 times more than Thierry,” Wenger said. “In my eyes, those who buy referees, who take drugs, they are the real cheats. Thierry Henry has years of honest behavior behind him and the manner in which people are attacking him is not right.”

  True as that rings, the controversy will run deep and run long, just as it did with Maradona.

  Henry’s problem is that, despite his frank mea culpa, the comparison has already been made, not least by Football Association of Ireland chief executive John Delaney.

  “Thierry Henry’s a wonderful footballer, but does he want to be remembered like Maradona was in 1986, does he want his legacy to be this handball?” Delaney said.
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