Internationals 18 November 2009

[sambirken]

Keane's press conference is ****ing hilarious, the bloke's a nutter

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/8370497.stm

Mega funny, but TBH he's spot. Everyword. Bore ya to death they would. Boring.

[Fivex]

Well what happened then?

[sambirken]

have you seen it. don't know whether it was the view of a sensible football thinking man or the thoughts of a disturbed mind.
compelling viewing all the same. ps catch the mobile phone ringing incident priceless.

Couln't believe he came out and said what I've been thinking the whole time.

[Liverpel]

I presume those knobends are saying something about me?

Typical, that's why I ignore them

Please join my new Facebook campaign - "Let's get a million people to ignore johnp".

[Joe King]

Why the obsession with dictionaries, English or Urban?

This is a football forum, not a discussion the use of language.

I blame you and your English qualifications.

[Exiled_red]

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/spo...cle6927056.ece

Pillory Thierry Henry? We should build him a statue, says Patrice Evra
Duncan Castles

THE EMBATTLED Thierry Henry received the trenchant support of his French team-mate Patrice Evra yesterday. He suggested that instead of criticising their captain the French should “make him a statue” and Evra added for good measure that he would be happy to have a replay — but only if it was “on the PlayStation”.

Henry has been subject to widespread criticism for his deliberate handball in Wednesday’s World Cup playoff with the Republic of Ireland, which created the decisive French goal. But speaking to L’Equipe, Evra, inset, said that France had also suffered because of poor refereeing in the two-legged playoffs — being denied at least one clear-cut penalty — and denounced political interference .

“In football, there are injustices all the time,” said Evra. “Titi (Henry) does not deserve this. Leave him in peace. Who made the error? The referee. When I think that certain politicians want the game replayed, they do not know even if the ball is round or oval and they will be the first ones to go and drink champagne in South Africa (at the World Cup). For me, I’ll replay the game whenever you want: on the PlayStation.”

Henry has been criticised by a number of former France internationals for his actions at Stade de France, Emmanuel Petit and Bixente Lizarazu among them. There has also been strong censure from the French media, all of which has angered Evra. “The debate on Henry? We should make him a statue,” he said. “That the world’s press destroys Henry is no concern. But that we, in France, put ourselves there, this is not possible. It needs to stop.

“If Titi had gone to the referee to have him cancel the goal and we had lost, the same people would be talking about his ego. Frankly, if he had done that, I would have said to him, ‘Titi, you betrayed us’. The handball was an instinctive gesture. Which sportsman can look coldly at himself and pretend that he wouldn’t have done that? Who would have gone to see the referee to say that to him? Those people are hypocrites. We go to South Africa, that is it.”

Football Association of Ireland officials lodged a request with Fifa that the game be replayed, while the Taoiseach, Brian Cowen, petitioned the French president, Nicolas Sarkozy, to instruct the French Football Federation to offer such a replay. Fifa quickly rejected Ireland’s request, reverting to their standard stance that the referee’s decision was final.

Henry issued an apologetic statement on Friday in which he stated “the fairest solution would be to replay the game”. The response to Henry’s actions has been such that there have been suggestions that the 32-year-old might retire from international football before next summer’s finals. Those were rejected by Evra. “Titi is already prepared for South Africa,” he said. “It is bad that the guy has been attacked by his people but he is solid. He already has his head in South Africa. In a few days, this will pass on to something else.”