Slakr politely requests that those who’ve come out criticizing Thierry Henry for “diving” should shut the hell up. Here’s his justification.
So Thierry Henry grabbed his face as he went down after a stupid, stupid challenge by Carles Puyol. I’ll be the first to admit that there was no contact to his face, but its within reason to argue that he was actually fouled. And indisputable that it was completely unnecessary since he had already lost the ball. Maybe he was just holding his hands to his face in shock that a great defender like Puyol could be so stupid. Maybe the ref gave the yellow to punish Puyol for stupidity? Or maybe Henry has learned a little bit of gamesmanship finally? This furor is like the outburst when Stevie G dived to get a penalty during the World Cup friendlies. Like it or not, its now part of the game. And much as we wish some of the true heroes of the game didn’t subject themselves to this, we all wish for success a whole hell of a lot more.
And really, if France’s win was due to gamesmanship, there couldn’t have been a more deserving loser than Luis Aragones. I’m a Liverpool fan — I’d have loved to see Luis Garcia and Xabi Alonso achieve success on this stage. As a neutral, Puyol, Reyes, Raul, Villa, Joaquin and co. were among the most enjoyable players to watch, and yesterday’s game was a thunderous spectacle and a joy to watch. But as a human being, I couldn’t tolerate Aragones coming out on top of Henry, and unless you’re a Spaniard or a racist (and certainly on the evidence there’s a fair overlap in the consituencies), you should be glad that this worthless stain, this disgrace to football has shown his ability to fail with a team of spectacular talent. So instead of critisizing Henry, lets raise our glasses in a toast to whoever is writing the letter today that will kindly inform this bastard that his services are no longer needed. Maybe then all independent fans can proudly support a wonderous Spanish team next time a major tournament comes around?