SOCCER WORLD CUP PLAY-OFF:THIERRY HENRY considered ending his international career during the furore that surrounded his handball against Ireland in the World Cup play-off in Paris last week. Interviewed by his former France team-mate Bixente Lizarazu on RTL radio last night, Henry also defended his celebration of the disputed goal and denied that he waited for Fifa to rule out a replay last week before issuing his statement declaring that another match would be the fairest outcome.
Asked by Lizarazu whether he considered retiring from the international side while he was being vilified for his double-handball in the build-up to William Gallas’s decisive goal at the Stade de France, he said: “I thought about it. At the time, it wasn’t easy.”
When asked how he had coped with the controversy since last week he added: “It’s okay, it’s getting better, you could say. I’m beginning to digest it a bit better.”
Former World Cup winner Lizarazu, who now works as a prominent analyst on radio and television, criticised Henry and the French team after last week’s match. He called their performance “catastrophic” and said qualification was “not something to be proud of”.
Last night’s interview was instigated by Henry, who called Lizarazu on Sunday to “clarify a few things” after his former teammate’s criticism. During a sometimes tense interview, Lizarazu suggested Henry had sat and talked to Richard Dunne after the final whistle in order for it to be captured on TV cameras, when he could have sympathised quietly with his opponents in the tunnel.
Declaring himself “shocked” by that interpretation, Henry said: “I went to Richard Dunne because I know him . . . I’ve known him for six or seven years, and I respect him and I think he respects me. I know the guy . . . It’s like Liam Brady. I saw him every morning for eight years at Arsenal.”
It was also put to Henry that, when he issued a statement on Friday conceding that a replay would be the fairest outcome, he would have known that Fifa had already ruled out that possibility – the implication being that his move was another public relations stunt. But Henry denied this, saying he had discussed the statement with his lawyer on Friday morning and had then gone to training. He didn’t know about the Fifa position until later in the day, he added.
The player expressed surprise at the lack of support he had received from some people in France and England. He was disappointed that, in the days after the match, he received many calls from players, coaches and even old acquaintances, but did not hear from those who were in a position to quell the uproar. “People who should have come forward to defend me and perhaps smooth over what was happening in France and especially smooth over what was happening in England, (but) I did not see anyone.”
Taking issue with Lizarazu’s description of his first handball as “a bad reflex” and his second as the decisive one that altered the ball’s trajectory, the French striker said: “The first handball was like an awakening. With the first, the ball hit me before I could see it, and after that I had the bad reflex to touch it again and cross it for William [Gallas].
“With the first handball, I didn’t even know it hit me. It was after I saw it that I had the bad reflex “Liza, I swear to you, the first time I didn’t even know it hit my hand.”
