Posted this in the match thread. Hope someone can enlighten me.
I have a question. When that great handball player Lusi Fabiano uses his skill set to score an important World Cup goal, it gets mentioned in passing at best, and when Thierry Henry does the same, it's the worst thing done by a human being in the history of the universe ever. Why is that?
Hmmm.
I agree a little, but it also has to do with the context - Henry's denied Ireland a chance at penalties to go to the world cup. Fabiano's didn't have as much effect on the match (when looking in retrospect) as Henry's. In saying that, I didn't get as upset as some at Henry, same as I wouldn't get upset at Maradona - its not his problem, its the officials.
That depends on the eye of the beholder, doesn't it? The Irish cried to high heavens how they've been robbed of going to the World Cup (while in fact, they hadn't even managed to be in a qualifying position the entire tie with France), and, using the same perverse Irish logic, the Ivorians could claim that LF's second goal robbed them of a chance to perhaps claim a draw and progress to the knock-out stages.
Of course, both claims are absolute fallacies, but I'm just intrigued by the difference with which Henry and France, and now Luis Fabiano and Brazil, have been treated. I guess if you don't go out of the way to portray yourself as an innocent victim of evil doers, no-one really cares...
