Henry and the hand ball

The game was played on Wednesday. There was no live telecast I could find. I was out whole evening after work. I knew there was going to be a delayed broadcast on Thursday which I have programmed my Tivo to record, and I had planned to watch the game as a live game. As a result, I did not try to find out who had qualified. Then I logged on to Facebook on Thursday. First I saw a comment from a friend, whom, to my knowledge has never care about football. His wedding banquet was held during the World Cup final. Well, his comment was something along the line of "Fifa, shame on you...". Then I saw a comment from another friend who's a die hard Brazilian fan. His comment was that Henry should have stopped playing after winning the World Cup in '98, and remain a legend. Obviously he hasn't seen Henry played since '98. I didn't know who Thierry Henry was in '98, but I am sure he wasn't one of the key player back then. But I can tell my friend wasn't a fan of any French player, after the lost of Brazilian team in the final.

Enough said about others' comments. Without trying to find out what had happened, I went straight to my Tivo and try to watch the game. Unfortunately I had programmed it to record a delayed broadcast that had not taken place. I missed one that was on earlier in the day. So, with no patience left, I decided to forgo the potential excitement of watching the game, and went straight to Fox Soccer Report. And I wasn't too surprised Henry is in the head line. Anyone who watch Fox Soccer Report knows how they report result of soccer match. They don't usually tell you the final result but walk you through the highlights. First it was Robbie Keane that scored, getting the away goal. Then a one to one situation from another Ireland's player with the French's goal keeper but the shot was saved by the keeper. An Irish goal would means France have to score at least twice in return.

Then a long pass to the Irish penalty area; a baseline rescue by Henry and then a pass to the center of the goal, followed by Gallas's header secure a place in the World Cup for the French.
I am relief.

However the story didn't end there.