Henry: I’m not a diver. World: Yeah right.
Seeing the Arsenal captain, legend and top goalscorer Thierry Henry dive last night after he ‘ran into Puyol’ was a scene right out of Hollywood mystery movies - where the whiter-than-white hero suddenly turns evil and the audience is left shocked, ashamed, outraged and more cynical for the experience.
Rocky Dixon may disagree but video replays are conclusive - with Henry running for the ball, Puyol cut across him and blocked his way. A foul? Hardly. Henry ran smack into Puyol and as a result of that contact Puyol’s elbow hit Henry in the chest.
Henry immediately pulled a rivaldo - that is, he fell to the ground clutching his face until the ref blew the whistle. Surely enough, Henry had won France a free kick and in the process gotten his revenge on Puyol. Barca, and Spain, took the Champions League title home this summer. Henry, and France, look to take the World Cup home from Germany.
But before they can do that, they meet old foes Brazil in the quarter-finals. Zidane will remember 98, and so will Ronaldo. That one promises to be a classic.
Till then though, the world will hear Henry’s claims that he did not dive and the audience will be saying ‘yea right’…
Cmon off it mate, I’d give Henry a pat on the back and a well done. Serves Puyol and the racist right for 1. Arag’s comments 2. Puyols kicking and rolling on the floor in CL final. As long as it’s a one off, and we all know Henry is no cheat.
And please mate, diving is done by OUR lads, the english aswell remember Micheal Owen against Argies 98, Cole’s dive in the last game, Gerrard. Selective memory it seems you have, always easier to blame Jonny Foreigner ain’t that right pal?
Yup, diving’s there. Hell, United players do it too but that doesn’t mean you say that it’s ok.
It’s a big issue because of Henry’s comments at the end of the Champions League final - when he said something to the tune of:
Maybe next time I’ll learn how to dive but I’m not a woman.
It’s a big issue because Arsenal fans have painted Henry as a whiter-than-white saint. So when a player of his reputation dives, it’s worse.
If your video replays were “conclusive” that Puyol didn’t foul Henry with his elbow, we must’ve been watching a different match.
Everyone’s admitted that Henry was out of line with his face-clutching act, but it was a foul, a deliberate obstruction by Puyol to stop Henry cutting in front of him, so quite frankly, Henry didn’t get France anything more than they deserved, which was a freekick.
Just because Henry’s behaved out of line with his general reputation (by your own admission), you cannot paint everything about the incident in that light. That would be seriously rubbish analysis. Henry should’ve had a yellow card, but a freekick it was, because it was a clear obstruction.
As for Henry “running into Puyol”…I’m surprised you didn’t mention the magnet Henry was hiding in his shirt that pulled Puyol’s iron arm up, made the elbow into a pivot, and went towards the magnet hidden in the Frenchman’s sternum.
Henry’s getting very deserved criticism for his actions, but exaggerating the magnitude of the incident via sensationalist headlines is doing the article’s credibility no favours.
Henry exagerates a foul (one of MANY in that game) by Puyol. Earlier he was clattered from behind, stayed on his feet, and got nothing. Poor refereeing was to blame for the amateur dramatics. Want yo see a real Arsenal dive - Robin Van Percie the other night v Hamburg.