Village Idiot

He wouldn't have cheated if he wasn't a Barcelona player. Please, Henry has been a cheater for a long time, but people were always w****** over his "chevalier" image and ambassador of nice football and shit.

No, it was "el búfalo". I just checked his Spanish wikipedia page to be sure. http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jos%C3%A9_Enrique_S%C3%A1nchez_D%C3%ADaz

Gotta love how Marca carries 7 infuriated articles discussing Henry's cheat, wonder if they would have done the same if he didn't play for Barcelona

It depends on how you play though. English teams play with the defence rather up the pitch compared to La Liga or Calcio, so CBs have to do plenty of running. Lack of athleticism can kill you in opposition's counterattacks.

His game relied more in athleticism when he was in Spain, he wasn't nicknamed "The Buffalo" for nothing. But he didn't strike me as having bad technique either. I remember a couple of balls he controlled when we played them a couple years ago (lost 2-0 ) that were pretty impressive, chesting it down under the pressure of Messi and then getting it out calmly in one case...

Indeed the African contingent looks very strong this year. In 2006 for example, you had very poor teams like Angola or Togo, but this year it seems all the theoretically strongest African sides are there.

Yes, that team coupled the generation of players that won the 1992 Olympics (Guardiola, Sergi, Guerrero, Luís Enrique, Ferrer...) with classics like Hierro and Nadal still kicking strong, plus the talents of the future like Raúl and Kiko. It was talked as the best squad Spain had any hope to muster in many years and - in glorious Spanish style - we fucked it up. I remember watching how we battered Bulgaria 6-1, and how frustrating it was to go out that way. Felt a bit bad about Nigeria not making it further. Any chance of seeing an African team in semifinals this time around?

I don't know why reading this thread I got a flashback of Mutiu scoring that header against Spain in the 1998 WC, when we didn't get past the group stages. I actually liked Mutiu a lot. But Zubizarreta should have had that header.

are they really called the 'rowdies'? fkin hell. There's a team in the United Soccer League called "Hollywood United Hitmen" I think it's one of the most hilarious club names ever. Yank football names are the best.

Hiddink for Nigeria.....he hasn't done Africa, yet. He seems to only do these national sides for big $$$$ though.

He'll probably know that those "Irish" New Yorkers will have never watched football in their lives, never mind actually visited Ireland. kind of what I was getting at. Don't even think these proud Irishmen will even know. The NYRB draw 10,000 people in a city of 8 million.

I really really really want to hear Henry fielding questions tonight, and how can he possible excuse that

Shades of 2006 1/8s with Henry diving before Puyol, he's always been a cheating t***

My job is done.

Bah, I'm going to tune in and watch this.

Wonder if Pavlyuchenko still wants out of Spurs now.

I guess that means Hiddink might be available? Would love to see him manage a good club side again.

Has Domenech subbed in Govou with Benzema on the bench? Is he wrong zodiac sign or what?

Poor Austria.

Used to take them regularly for Arsenal too. He's nowhere near a set piece for us, he's really not that good at them. He'd be more useful getting to the end of them in the box.

Why's Henry taking the corners for France, he's shit at that.

Man, these playoff games are always so boring if you're a neutral. No side dares to risk much in order to not concede.

Yeah, judging actions from 20-30 yards afar, on the spur of the moment, when sometimes not even slo-mo repeats are clear enough to see who was right. Great respect for refs.

What did he do? (or not do)

RAI has unveiled this year's top nominees for the "Bidone d'Oro" to the worst Serie A player: 1) Ricardo Quaresma (Inter) - Current holder 2) Christian Poulsen (Juve) 3) Amantino Mancini (Inter) 4) Nelson Dida (Milan) 5) Klaas-Jan Huntelaar (Milan) - quite an achievement for just half a season 6) Julio Baptista (Roma) 7) Juan Pablo Carrizo (Lazio) 8) Felipe Melo (Fiore/Juve) 9) Tiago (Juve) 10) Ronaldinho (Milan) Guess it's more a list of "biggest failures", surely Bari could have half their squad there before Felipe Melo...