Quotetypical modern-day horrible, selfish c**t of a footballerOriginally Posted by noddy102
He makes a lot of good points, but his lack of empathy for the situation is disgusting.Manchester United defender Patrice Evra has ridiculed calls for the second leg of France’s World Cup play-off against the Republic of Ireland to be replayed by offering a rematch on his Playstation.
And Evra lashed out at French fans for criticising Thierry Henry following his handball in the build-up to William Gallas’ decisive goal, claiming that they should be erecting a statue for his France team-mate.
The Football Association of Ireland were forced to admit defeat in their efforts to have the match replayed today.
And Evra insisted it was always a ludicrous idea.
He told L’Equipe: “In football there are injustices all the time. Titi (Henry) doesn’t deserve this. Leave him be.
“Who made the mistake? The referee.
“When I think that certain politicians want to replay the match... They don’t even know if the ball is round or oval and they would be the first to come and drink champagne in South Africa.
“The replay, I’ll do it when you want on a Playstation.”
FIFA yesterday ruled out a replay and France will take their place in next summer’s finals while Ireland will remain at home, the victims of what they believe has been a gross miscarriage of justice.
A statement from FAI chief executive John Delaney read: “We regret that, despite our best efforts for a replay which would have restored the integrity of the game in front of a worldwide audience, our calls appear to have fallen on deaf ears at the French Football Federation.
“Without doubt, the credibility of fair play has been damaged by this incident in front of a worldwide audience.
“Despite our deep disappointment, we thank our players, the wonderful Irish fans and the Irish public at large for their support, as well as the solidarity of the French people.
“We will continue to call on FIFA to take action to ensure that such damaging examples of cheating are not allowed to recur.”
Henry has been roundly castigated at home and abroad but Evra leapt to the defence of the under-fire France captain.
“We’re arguing about Henry? We should build a statue for him,” he added.
“That the world press destroys Henry, fine, no worries. But that we, in France, do it, that’s impossible. It must stop.
“If Titi had cancelled out the goal by going to see the referee and we had lost, it would have been the same people who would have talked about his ego.
“Frankly, if he had done this, I would have told him ’Titi, you have betrayed us.’
“This handball, it’s an instinctive gesture. What sportsman can look at himself in the mirror and pretend that it could not happen to him? Who would have gone to see the referee to tell him?
“These people are hypocrites. We’re going to South Africa, that’s all.”
France’s dismal performance in the play-off has given Raymond Domenech’s critics more ammunition.
Many feel that if Les Bleus are to have any chance of success in South Africa Domenech has to go, following a poor Euro 2008 showing and a disappointing World Cup qualifying campaign.
The French Football Federation have confirmed the under-pressure coach will still be in charge next summer, a decision Evra applauds.
“We weren’t good, we passed really close to a catastrophe,” he said. “But we stuck to our guns.
“I will not sing, but I’m not ashamed.
“They always create stories around us. That is good, it builds up character in us.
“People invent stories because they have something against our coach. But hit! Hit! That makes him stronger. He will break the record for longevity on the bench of the France team.”
typical modern-day horrible, selfish c**t of a footballer
I like high energy football. A little bit rock and roll. Many finishes instead of waiting for the perfect one.
Handling the ball is not an instinctive gesture, I keep hearing this pathetic excuse to justify what Henry did.
This is soccer, the instinctive gesture is to get your hand out of the way otherwise you foul the ball and give away a free.
Saying handling the ball in that situation is instinctive is like saying breaking someone's leg in a tackle is instinctive.
Henry and Evra are the same, both admitting that cheating is instinctive to them. As SkStu has said, such is the modern footballer, win at all costs, cheat or not cheat, epitomised by the Drogba's, Anelkas, Evra's and Henry's of this world.
You forgot Damien Duff and Kevin Doyle. Both said they would have done the same thing.
I don't care who says it, it's no justification.
It may be instinctive but whoever does it, it's still cheating. So if it's instinctive for them, then that makes cheating instinctive to them.
Handling the ball is a foul in football and an effort to gain an unfair advantage. If it was Robbie Keane who scored a simliar goal I'd also be saying the game should be replayed. We know how nationalistic the French are and most French people want a rematch and are embarrassed about this. Eggs were thrown by French people at the headquarters of the FFF the other day because of it.
It's an embarrassment to the French nation.
These guys are like thieves who rob a bank and then blame the police for not catching them. They have absolutely no class and the whole world will be against them next year.
I do find it amazing the amount of pundits, current and ex players, fans and media who do take the stance that Henry is not to blame but the Referee is.
Absolutely ridiculous stance in my opinion. The Ref is all too often the scapegoat, the easy target. Can these overpaid, self indulgent ar$eoles not at least take ownership of the situation when they have been caught redhanded?
I know Henrys statement suggested he was sorry and embarrassed but that was too little too late in my opinion, the time was on the pitch when he knew he had been caught by all of his opposition players - many of whom he would know well enough from his days in the premiership. The fact that his team mates now come out blaming the referee is scandalous.
I never wanted a replay - it was a $hit break for us and we will have to deal with it but I could do without these cnuts addding salt to the wounds.
I thought you were off the drink Ronnie?
"No, I drink to help me mind my own business....can I get you one? (c) Ronnie Drew
Fair enough, a replay was never going to be a runner anyways but the arrogance of Evra like many of the French players is unbelievable!
The fight is won or lost far away from witnesses - behind the lines, in the gym, and out there on the road, long before I dance under those lights.
Muhammad Ali
Roy Keane is still a pri*k!
Right now I'd much prefer to take him on with pistols at dawn
I'm shocked and disillusioned at the amount of people, especially professional footballers, who have said they would have done the same thing themselves. Unbelievable.
Of course it is, obviously you never have played the game of football!!!!!
And most of the Irish players have admitted this as well
What about Robbie handling the ball at least 3 times?
As far as I could tell, Robbie's were accidental, whereas Henry's was blatant cheating. If it emerges otherwise, then I agree, Robbie is a cheat, and he has my contempt. I don't want to win football matches like that.
And if it's such an instinctive gesture to handle the ball, how come, in the last 25 years, there have only been two high-profile incidents of it happening and leading to a goal? Surely if footballers were doing this instictively, all the time, in crowded penalty areas, at least some of them would have gotten away with it
It is pure instinct, how often do we see a defender (at any level) on the line handle the ball to stop it going into the net, he knows its gonna be a peno and he will be sent off, but instictivly blocks it with his hand!!!!
I can believe the first touch was accidental but it was obvious from the second touch and the way that he controlled it that he knew exactly what he was doing. I'm also tired of the people who say 'you've obviously never played the game of football' because I don't agree with their opinion. I think most players and managers who taught it was instinct are taking the safe option of giving Henry the befit of the doubt and may also be influenced my his nice guy image.
That's not instinct.......that's just deliberately handling the ball to save a goal.....ie cheating.....Conceding a penalty and getting sent off (if caught) is better than conceding a goal. It's only instinct for someone who's instinct is to cheat.
"Can I have a Kit-Kat, chunky?"
"you mean a big one"
"No a normal kit-kat you fat bitch"
Of course I have played the game of football. The only time I handled the ball was accidently for which a free was awarded against me.
I never did it deliberately because it's just cheating to do that.
Controlling the ball with your hand goes against everything every soccer player is taught and trained to do.
And there is also the question of fair play. If a player was down injured lets say an opposing defender, would you put the ball out of play or would you try to exploit the situation.
What Henry did was try to exploit a situation and gain an unfair and unsporting advantage.
He knows he cheated, the FFF knows he cheated, Domenech knows he cheated.
The rules of the game clearly say he cheated.
It's basically the same as punching a boxer who is on the canvas while the ref's back is turned and saying it's instinctive and it's the ref's fault.
Last edited by Emmet7; 22/11/2009 at 3:40 PM.
In any case at the end of the day the qualifiers were a sham, and FIFA had obviously decided in advance that France were to be given every assistance to qualify.
They might as well not have had the qualifiers at all, just hand an automatic qualifying spot to France or to Adidas sponsored teams or to a 'seeded' team. The cheating by France also made the entire qualification campaign a sham from Ireland's point of view, it was pointless finishing second in the group.
FIFA tried to make is as easy as possible for teams like France with the seeding setup only it didn't occur to them that France under Domenech are a poor team who find it difficult to score.
Over the majority of the two legs, Ireland were the better team and at least deserved a penalty shoot-out. But FIFA have no interest in a genuine sporting contest, it's all about money for them at the end of the day.
I hope they are holding their heads in shame and embarrassment. Sport was the big loser Wednesday night.
then it's the officials fault for not calling the foul
Posting Permissions
Bookmarks