Henry Dives Again, Arsenal Fans Say: He’s Playing For France!
It’s the 32nd minute, Thierry Henry is put through in in the Portugal penalty area when Ricardo Carvalho goes for the ball. It’s not a smart tackle, and catches Henry on the shin. For a split second Henry is suspended in the air - as if he can recover his balance and then the Arsenal striker finds it much easier to fall to the ground. The ref blows the whistle, and another Henry assist leads to a French goal.
You want to know to know what real class is?
Zidane in the 42nd minute on the right flank camped in Portugal’s half, skipped over a two-footed lunge when most other players would have gone down in the hope of getting the opposition player carded or even sent off.
If you’re an Arsenal fan, read this post first. Read my comments towards the very end. I like Henry, and I admire him for his talents. But if he is going to resort to falling down so easily under challenges, then at least everyone should know about it.
And for the fkn record, Cristiano Ronaldo is a diver as well. I’m not going to argue that he dove under pressure because his side was a goal behind - the man would have taken a dive anyway.
Myles Palmer from Arsenal News Review had this gem of a statement while comparing Franc Ribery with Cristiano Ronaldo:
“What Cristiano Ronaldo promises, Ribery delivers.” (here’s the link to the full article).
I figure Ribery is better at diving than Ronaldo too. He surely looked way more accomplished than Ribery.
To be fair on Ribery though, he didnt get a free kick when he was legitimately fouled towards the end of the first half.
Ronaldo has had a good game, even though he has been booed every time he’s had the ball. Along with Maniche, Figo and Deco the four looked capable of scoring before that penalty.
Update: Portugal players have resorted to diving (even Ronaldo), but hey, they’re not as good as Henry and Ribery, are they? Of course not.
And Ronaldo is having an amazing game, with Barthez looking very, very shaky.
henry didnt dive….he was clipped by cavarlho…cavarlho blocked henry from a goal scoring oppurtunity
Very astute observation. If you notice my description of the incident, that’s exactly what I said - Carvalho made a bad tackle and clipped Henry on the shin.
But Henry wasn’t clattered or flattened. His shin was clipped, and on first impression (and from watching replays) he looked perfectly capable of withstanding the challenge and taking a shot at goal. He had the ball in front of him as well.
But he chose the easier option, to tumble over.
Read this article before commenting. It will help you understand where I’m coming from. Thanks.
Bollocks mate, its a clearcut penalty.
Henry even tried to move forward but couldnt because Carvalho was blocking his foot.
To label this one a dive is just wrong.
Look at the replays. His foot lands on the ground, and at that point how hard would it be for him to jump over, regain his footing and continue? This is Henry we are talking about, one with amazing ball skills and almost unbelievable talent.
And he tumbles in the penalty area, in the 32nd minute of a World Cup semifinal, when he could have stayed up and kept the game going? Oh wait, the ball was too far away.
It’s really easy to win the penalty in these situations, and yea, Henry didnt do something that ‘all the other big players’ wouldn’t have done, but how does it make it right?
You\’re up against every commentator who has the benefit of replays. A stone cold pen! Ronaldo cheating and crying all the way home….lol
I take your point, Henry COULD have stayed on his feet, but when all is said and done he was caught in the area and therefore he is not obligated to stay up. I think he looks to stay up and shoot, but when it looks slightly doubtful he’ll get a clean shot he goes down. But having been unquestionably fouled, he has earned the right to do this if you get my meaning. He outfoxes Carvalho and gets fouled, therefore he is within his rights to go down. He also didn’t make a big deal to the referee or crowd him, he just got on with it. But I think I know what you’re getting at.
Download the incident vid
I don’t recall saying that it’s not a penalty. RTFA.
the Arsenal striker finds it much easier to fall to the ground.
That’s what I’m ranting about.
well find something else to rant about then, cause it was a penalty and that’s all that matters…if it wasn’t then we would now wouldn’t we!!?
You’re right! Almost a carbon copy of the Campbell tackle on Rooney at Old Trafford in 2004. Campbell hangs a leg out and Rooney conveniently falls over it. As that wise old sage Sir Alex said at the time: what’s Campbell doing hanging a leg out like that in the penalty box; what does he expect? I suspect Sir Alex would say much the same thing about Carvalho tonight. You’re just another pseudo Manc jumping on the ‘let’s brand Henry a cheat bandwagon’ except in your case you’re trying to pretend you think he’s a really great guy and you’re deeply shocked by it all. Bit snidey if you ask me!
You won’t believe me if I told you that I think Rooney milked that incident for all it was worth, would you?
I’m actually trying quite hard not to jump up and down and laugh at Arsenal fans who have been so full of themselves about Henry being such a great player, above all this petty simulation and a true statesman of football.
He’s just human. Yes, I’m disappointed.
By the way, the whole Portugal team dove like their life depended on. But they dont have ‘clean’ reputations. They have been branded as cheaters for as long as they have played.
oh, and here I’m inciting Portuguese fans, ain’t I? Of course…
It WAS a penalty, he didn’t dive. To compare this incident with Rooney’s disgusting piece of play-acting is nonsense. Campbell didn’t touch Rooney on that one.
Hi mate
I really like that you are taking the “pro football” view here and are not biased on the basis of being a particular club supporter.
I agree that Henry could have stayed on his feet and thus chose to tumble, but in ny opinion he had already lost the sufficient speed and momentum, so had he stayed on his feet, he would have missed the opportunity (du to Carcalho’s tackle). The tackle robs him of the shot, so he falls. That makes it a clear-cut penalty, and frankly I don’t think anyone could be blamed for that.
Afraid you are just wrong about this one. Puyol’s challenge was exaggurated embarrassingly by henry, but it was a foul, and as for today, it was a foul, which you don’t dispute yourself, and it interrupted henry’s movemnet sufficently to stop him getting to ball before another defender, because of the angle at which carvallho’s trailing leg caught him. There is a significant difference between playing up the contact when fouled, and inventing challenges like pauleta, ronaldo, and deco tonight.
wasnt a dive, simple as that.
Full of ourselves about Henry being such a great player? Every team has their superstar and Henry is ours. If we can’t enjoy and celebrate our players then why bother being a football fan. He’s done everything to win us over too. He wins the golden boot nigh on every season, his assist rate is phenomenal, he’s shown great loyalty to the club by signing his new deal and against the common belief that he doesn’t show up in the big games, these are just some of the teams he has scored against:
Man Utd, Liverpool, Chelsea, Juventus, Bayern Munich, Real Madrid, Roma, Inter Milan, England and Brazil.
Yes, it was naughty that he held his face with the Puyol incident, but also remember his comments after the Champions League Final along the lines of, ‘Maybe I should learn to fall down or dive like a woman’, which was referring to his rough treatment by Puyol and his lack of protection from the ref. Well, that’s exactly what he did against Spain and the result of course was that Puyol ended up with a yellow! I think that what you saw was an isolated incident of one player exacting revenge on another. It’s childish and it’s not pretty but unfortunately it happens in football. What you can’t take away though is the fact that both incidents were fouls, and fouls are rewarded with free kicks or penalties. Henry was fouled in the penalty area yesterday and he took the best option to give an advantage to his team. That’s not cheating, that’s just good play! I’m sure that Henry would rather have not been fouled, as he would have notched up an excellent World Cup Semi goal and given himself a better chance at the Golden Boot Award.
Not for the first time in the tournament, Thierry exaggerated what was a foul anyway to ensure the ref gave it - this is no doubt in part due to Vieira’s earlier goal in the tournament not being given and a blatant penalty not being given either.
The refs have been so crap that they do actually need players to exaggerate things to help them decide!!
I don’t mind people overacting for what was already a foul, it’s people who dive without being touched (four of those by fake Ronaldo yesterday) that need to be banned.
Please read my comments on this post:
http://soccerlens.com/henrys-a-diver-a-response/0530259.html
It’s the second comment.
Further discussion on this issue should be directed in the comments section of that post.
Thank you.
And why does your title say ‘Henry dives again’?