Reuters Soccer Blog
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Maradona no more of a cheat than ‘hard men’
Diego Maradona’s appeal for fair play has had certain sections of the British media sniggering like naughty school boys.
They find it amusing that, 24 years on, the man who scored the so-called “Hand of God” goal at the 1986 World Cup and is now coach of Argentina could himself make such a request. One television reporter from a well-known cable channel openly labelled Maradona a cheat.
These people need to have another look at what happened not only at the 1986 World Cup but also throughout most of Maradona’s career.
Maradona played before soccer’s authorities decided to clamp down on the tackle from behind. The Argentina captain was repeatedly scythed down, butchered, kicked and elbowed and the perpetrators not only went unpunished but were often labelled “hard men” by the media as if there was some kind of merit to their behaviour.
In the same game in which he allegedly “cheated” England, Maradona received a blatant elbow in the face which went unpunished.
Yet, on one of the rare occasions when Maradona benefitted from bad refeering, there was a massive stink.
With technology binned, maybe players should just stop cheating
Players and coaches are going to have to grin (or rather whinge) and bear it after football’s rule-makers decided that preserving the game’s essence and traditions are more important than the grievances of a few unlucky losers.
Controversies such as Geoff Hurst’s third goal for England in the 1966 World Cup final, Diego Maradona’s Hand of God goal at the 1986 World Cup and, more recently, Thierry Henry’s ball-juggling effort against Ireland, are etched into football’s history.
FIFA believes the sport would not be the same without them — hence Saturday’s decision by the International Football Association Board (IFAB), on which FIFA holds half of the eight votes, to reject the use of goal line and video technology indefinitely.
Most media, coaches and players have been in favour of at least using some form of technology to help the referees in cases where it is not clear whether the ball has crossed the line and FIFA can expect widespread criticism for the decision.
So perhaps it is worth putting their case.
Firstly, goal line technology would not have helped in the Thierry Henry incident, nor in Bayern Munich’s offside winner against Fiorentina in the Champions League last month or Porto’s highly contentious winner against Arsenal which had Arsene Wenger fuming.
Why should the players be honest when the heads of FIFA are living with bribery? Just read the newest interview with Andrew Jennings (http://qatar2022bidrevealed.com) who fights against the FIFA-plutocratie since years and has revealed now their newest fraud… :-/
France break Irish hearts to seal World Cup slot
France ensured the likes of Franck Ribery, Karim Benzema and Thierry Henry will be at the World Cup in South Africa next year after winning through with a goal that has left Irish fans seething.
There was nothing wrong with the finish from William Gallas, but Thierry Henry admitted using his hand to keep the ball in play and commentators and Irish supporters are already talking of “The Hand of God II” and “The Hand of Henry” in reference to Diego Maradona in 1986.
“Yes, there is handball but I am not the referee,” Henry told reporters. “I’m in the box, there are two defenders in front of me. The ball bounced off my hand, the referee did not see it and I played on.”
Ireland coach Giovanni Trapattoni called the goal a “great mistake” by Swedish referee Martin Hansson but he chose not to accuse Henry of cheating.
“I told the referee that it is possible to make great mistakes,” Trapattoni told a new conference after the game at Stade de France. “It is a bitter evening.”
Trapattoni said he felt the referee should have talked to his assistants and to Henry before awarding the goal.
Yes, it’s a shame, even I as a Premier League fan have to says I am sad to see the Irish beging kicked. It looks like the big bosses want The French National Team in the World Cup 2010 no matter what… I feel a bit for Henry though as I always liked him and if you look at what is going in the regular matches there are so many things that are not correct but are still tolerated
All the World Cup 2010 Games in South Africa will be streamed live at http://www.WorldCupTV.org 21:54