France/Ireland - World Cup play-offs

Henry says fairest solution to handball row is a replay

Article published on the 2009-11-20 Latest update 2009-11-20 14:31 TU

Thierry Henry says a replay would be the fairest solution
(Photo: Reuters)

France captain Thierry Henry has moved to diffuse the row over Wednesday’s World Cup qualifier against Ireland by saying that "the fairest solution" would be to replay the match.

Video replays showed Henry twice used his hand to stop the ball going out of play in extra-time of Wednesday's playoff in Paris, before he passed to William Gallas to head the goal which gave France a 2-1 win over the two legs.

"Of course the fairest solution would be to replay the game but it is not in my control," Henry said, in a statement sent to Sky Sports News in Britain and other media.

"Naturally I feel embarrassed at the way that we won and feel extremely sorry for the Irish who definitely deserve to be in South Africa.

"I have said at the time and I will say again that yes I handled the ball. I am not a cheat and never have been. It was an instinctive reaction to a ball that was coming extremely fast in a crowded penalty area.

"As a footballer you do not have the luxury of the television to slow the pace of the ball down 100 times to be able to make a conscious decision.

"People are viewing a slow motion version of what happened and not what I or any other footballer faces in the game.

"If people look at it in full speed you will see that it was an instinctive reaction. It is impossible to be anything other than that.

"I have never denied that the ball was controlled with my hand. I told the Irish players, the referee and the media this after the game.

"Naturally I feel embarrassed at the way that we won and feel extremely sorry for the Irish who definitely deserve to be in South Africa.

"Of course the fairest solution would be to replay the game, but it is not in my control.

"There is little more I can do apart from admit that the ball had contact with my hand leading up to our equalising goal and I feel very sorry for the Irish."

Fifa ruled earlier on Friday that the match would not be replayed. The row has attracted considerable attention at high political level with France’s Finance Minister Christine Lagarde also calling for a replay.