Hard Times For Our Young Protégé
There’s only a 3 day break in the World Cup until tomorrow’s game between Germany & Argentina but it’s a strange feeling not having any football to watch! But that gives us time to reflect on the Round of 16 and how the games panned out.
If I had to pick one game from the second round then it would have to be the Spain v France match that stood out. In the end it was an entertaining game and for Arsenal fans had so many sub-plots it was unreal.
Vieira against Cesc, master against apprentice – who would win?
Henry v Aragones – would it all kick off?
In the end France were victorious with goals from Ribery, Vieira (of course) and finally Zidane. I was pretty even for most of the game and it took a set-piece and a Vieira header to seperate the teams. And even then the freekick that lead to the goal wasn’t without controversy!
At first Henry appeared to be elbowed in the face but replays showed that contact was made around the chest.
What do I think?
Well first of all it was a foul, but obviously Henry saw the chance to get Puyol sent off.
But why would Henry do this?
After all, this is the guy that ‘doesn’t fall over like a woman’.
When I think about it, there are a few reasons why I think Titi decided to do what he did.
There was obviously still a lot of animosity between Henry and the Barcelona defence – especially Puyol and Marquez for their very rough treatment of the French forward during the Champions League Final.
Then there is the whole racism issue in Spain itself.
It would be stupid to tar every Spaniard with the same brush but it seems that Spainish football fans are worst than most when it comes to racial abuse during games.
We remember the abuse England players Ashley Cole, SWP, Emile Heskey et al received in the friendly in Spain last year and Luis Aragones didn’t exactly help the situation when he referred to Henry as a black sh*t.
In fact Henry was so enraged he started a whole world-wide campaign against racism.
That’s why I think it was just a one off – Henry doesn’t act like that.
Henry isn’t stupid, he knows millions are watching.
I’m sure considering the circumstances we can forgive the impeccable Henry for a rare faux pas. I am certain that this will be the last time we see Henry acting out of character.
The other main story of the night was Fabregas and his obvious anguish after losing another important match of his short career.
But as ArseBlogger said today defeats like that are character building, and he will return a better man – and player – for it.
He’s had an impressive tournament – the highlight of which was his match-winning performance once he came on against Tunisia.
It’s amazing how many people have gone mad over the ‘Henry Dive’ in the British Media – and it’s double standards how everyone forgets the ‘Owen Dive’s’ against Argentina 🙂
Henry simulated being on the receiving end of what would be a red card offense, Owen dived against Argentina yes, but it was not with the sole dispicable intention of getting an opposing player sent off. Henry has just demonstrated himself to be a hypocrite of the highest order.
As for Aragones, he made no racist comment against Henry, this was a case of the British papers purposely mistranslating what he said in order to fan the flames before the Spain-England friendly. Anyone with a good understanding of Spanish can tell you that “negro de mierda” does not translate to “black sh*t”. End of story. And it’s telling of the British media and many in England that they still can’t stop beating their long-dead, self-righteous horse. There is no more issue in Spain with racism because at a handful of games some idiots did monkey chants, than there is with it in England because thousands of people were chanting “I’d rather be a Paki than a Turk” at the qualification match vs Turkey, or there is in painting all Germans as violent thugs because a score of them bashed in a French policeman’s head, leaving him in a 6 week coma, during France 98. A little consistency and intelligence in the future please.