Henry calls time on Les Bleus career
The 32-year-old, who this week joined MLS side New York Red Bulls after being released by Barcelona, began his international career in 1997, making his debut against South Africa and was a member of the 1998 World Cup winning team and the successful Euro 2000 side.
However Henry’s image was badly tarnished by his infamous handball in November which helped secure France’s ticket for the World Cup finals in South Africa at the Republic of Ireland’s expense.
And his international career ended on a low note as he only played a bit-part role as France’s finals campaign ended in a first-round elimination after a draw with Uruguay and defeats to Mexico and South Africa.
In total, Henry won 123 caps for France and scored 51 goals for his country to make him their all time top goalscorer.
Henry said he had made up his mind to retire before the World Cup and said he was “fully committed’’ to the MLS side and did not want to travel regularly back to Europe to play for Les Bleus. “This is the end for me on the national team,’’ said Henry. “I couldn’t announce it before because that’s the not type of thing you announce before a World Cup.’’
The former Arsenal striker conceded his move to New York could see him receive a frosty reception from the large Irish community in the Big Apple.
“I think they (the Irish fans) will still have something, yeah, but that’s the game,’’ he said.
However he hit out at the treatment of his handball in the lead up to William Gallas’ goal, arguing Luis Fabiano handball in the build up to his goal in Brazil’s World Cup finals clash with the Ivory Coast provoked far less of a furore. He also insisted the handball ‘wasn’t intentional’.
“It was kind of funny to see Luis Fabiano score this goal against Ivory Coast in the World Cup, and nobody ever said anything,’’ Henry said.
“It was kind of weird, but that’s the way the game is. I already talked a lot about what happened that day, and I made it clear it wasn’t intentional. It was like a bad movement at the end and I didn’t score the goal.’’
He also compared it to Arsenal’s 2-1 defeat to Liverpool in the 2001 FA Cup final, when referee Steve Dunn failed to award a penalty against Stephane Henchoz for handling Henry’s shot on the line.
“You know how many games I lost like this? Lost an FA Cup final like this,’’ Henry said. ‘‘After the game, I did apologise and I was saying this to the guys on the pitch, to the Irish guys. But, hey, the rules of the game are the ref doesn’t blow the whistle, you’ve got to play.’’
While the Republic of Ireland were the chief victims of Henry’s sleight of hand they were not the only one.
The reputation of Swedish referee Martin Hansson, the man who failed to spot Henry’s indiscretion in Paris, was also badly tarnished.
He was selected for the World Cup referee pool but didn’t get to referee any games in South Africa.
Henry, however, argues that he is not responsible for Hansson’s travails.
“When I do a mistake, when you do a mistake, you get punished,’’ he said. “So I’m not the guy who sets the rules. I’m not the guy who did punish him. But that is the way it is.’’
However Henry insisted that neither the incident against Giovanni Trapattoni’s side or France’s dismal campaign in South Africa — their players went on strike and refused to train before their final match of the World Cup after striker Nicolas Anelka was sent home for verbally abusing coach Raymond Domenech — was not his lowest moment.
“Going to the World Cup in South Korea (and Japan) in 2002 was, I will say, my worst experience ever as a player,’’ he said. “As a group, we didn’t even score one goal and we were the reigning world champions.’’
His international career may be at an end but few France or for that matter Ireland supporters will ever forget Thierry Henry.
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