Domenech blames Henry focus on English

France coach Raymond Domenech today refused to comment on the incident which led to his side's crucial second goal in last night’s 3-1 World Cup last 16 win over Spain.

Patrick Vieira scored with a header from a Zinedine Zidane free-kick which had been awarded after Thierry Henry went down under a challenge from Carles Puyol clutching his face, even though the incident seemed to be shoulder to shoulder.

The challenge, which Spain coach Luis Aragones claimed was “a non-existent foul”, has been criticised but Domenech laid the blame with the English media.

“That’s what the English said,” said Domenech when asked about the incident. “You could see Puyol stopped his (Henry’s) run.

“If you can reduce (the analysis of the match) to that one incident then it detracts a lot from the game.

“I don’t want to reply to that sort of criticism.”