Hand Gaul

Heartbreak for Ireland as Thierry Henry’s handball – well, handballs – deny them a place in South Africa next year. Read on for videos, gifs (hopefully), and obviously incredibly perceptive analysis and amazingly entertaining comment.

Here it is:

As you can see, not only does he control the ball with his hand but takes another touch to adjust the ball to cross for Gallas. Once could possibly be an accident – twice is definitely cheating. To the Irish, this is the equivalent of the ‘Hand of God’. I wonder how Irish Arsenal fans are feeling…

It’s a terrible decision by the ref, who was generally good throughout. He denied what looked a penalty to France correctly, picking that Anelka dived (in fact he probably should have been booked) but this error will never be forgotten.

Scenes at the end of the game showed Henry sitting next to a distraught Richard Dunne, which is kind of like someone coming to sit next to you after they’ve just slept with your wife.

It’s just so incredibly hard on Trapattoni’s men, who played really well and fully deserved the 1-0 victory in normal time. It’s a horrible game sometimes. No Irish eyes will be smiling tonight.