Ireland might be headed to Poland for the Euros but Shay Given is still steamed over Thierry Henry and that handball in Paris three years ago.
At the time we were furious. To be honest, it took us a long while but we’re almost, almost, completely over the Thierry Henry handball thing now. Yes it sucked and yes he cheated us out of potential path to the World Cup, not a guaranteed path to South Africa remember, but you have to move on and qualifying for the Euros has certainly helped us forget.
Then again, we weren’t in goal that night in the Stade de France. Shay Given was and he is still pissed off.
Speaking at the Soccerex conference in Manchester, the Irish stopper admitted he just can’t get over the unfair way that Ireland were knocked out by Henry’s hand and Gallas’ goal.
“I won’t have got over what happened in Paris in another 20 years. That was a huge disappointment and when we missed out on the World Cup a lot of people might have felt sorry for themselves.
“But we showed in that campaign we are a good team. And thankfully we had the belief to reach another major championships.”
Ah yes, the Euros. So, how do you reckon we’ll do Shay?
“The draw couldn’t have been much tougher; Spain, Croatia and Italy. But we are looking forward. The whole country has been given a boost by us qualifying.
“We have always responded against the bigger nations in the past,’ he said. ‘This same group has been together for three or four years now and the bigger teams won’t want to play against us because they know how hard we are to play against.”
We hope you’re right Shay and if we qualify from the group, there’s a good chance we will meet France in the quarters. Maybe a win there will help Shay lay to rest the Gallic ghosts of 2009.
