Poor old, Thierry Henry.
After all, it may not be just Ireland who will be conspicuous by their absence in South Africa next June.
The French superstar, globally acknowledged as an all-round good egg, is likely to have paid the ultimate sacrifice in putting his country’s best interests before his own.
It was his illegal hand – and his hand alone – that booked France a place in the world’s greatest competition. But in the strangest of ironies, it may be the hand of an organisation founded in the French capital, Paris, that plays the final cards in this sordid saga.
Because FIFA, a French-run body right down to its official language (the acronym is in French – Fédération Internationale de Football Association) may have no choice but to ban the French striker for bringing the game of football into disrepute.
