It’s one of the oldest rumours about the Republic of Ireland team.
Back in 2009, Ireland were denied a place at the World Cup thanks to Thierry Henry’s handball in Paris. The Arsenal legend controlled the ball with his hand at the back post and squared it across the goal for William Gallas to score in extra-time. That made it 1-1 on the night, 2-1 on aggregate and meant France advanced to the tournament in South Africa.
It was heartbreaking for the Ireland team, who outplayed their illustrious opponents on the night and were full value for their lead after Robbie Keane opened the scoring in the first half.
Following the match, after the fury about Henry’s handball eventually died down, Irish football fans consoled themselves by focusing on how well the team had played in Paris. Their adventurous approach was the antithesis of the football that had been played to that point under manager Giovanni Trapattoni.
Rumours began to spread that the team had decided amongst themselves to disobey Trap’s cautious approach and take the game to France. However, Kevin Doyle, who played that night, has disputed any suggestion that the team ignored their manager’s tactical plan.
Doyle was speaking on RTE during the World Cup and said that the team simply had to go for it on the night.
“I only heard about that a year later, in an interview – that we had a meeting on the team bus on the way to the game and had decided to ignore what Giovanni told us to do and to play our own way. Unless I wasn’t in the meeting, but I started the game so I presume I would have heard about it.
“It just wasn’t true… people have sworn Gospel to me that that happened but it just did not. We played so well in that game because it was a playoff game in France, we were full of adrenalin and we were playing out of our skin… it was the occasion.”
You can watch the full clip here:
Kevin Doyle puts to bed any lingering rumours that Ireland's players took control of affairs ahead of that play-off in Paris.#RTEsoccer pic.twitter.com/glULgje9jy
— RTÉ Soccer (@RTEsoccer) June 24, 2018
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