The Hand of Frog

June 1986, Mexico City. It's quarter finals time in the greatest competition in the world......The World Cup. Two teams meet in the blistering heat to challenge for a coveted semi-final place. Four years earlier the countries were at war. It was Argentina v England. The eyes of the world were on them and the fans.

In 1979 Argentina were seriously considering invading Chile. For some reason they decided to change their plans and try to invade a little group of islands off the Argentinian coast called The Falklands (Las Malvinas). The Chileans breathed a sigh of relief. Unfortunately for the Argentinians, these sheep populated islands were (and still are) British territory. Long story short: after a little more than two months the Argies had their arses severely spanked and went home with their tails between their legs. Chile played it's part by providing intelligence to the British and offering support if things got out of hand. A beautiful friendship bloomed between Pinochet and Thatcher.

Back to Mexico. Recent events hyped up this game to epic proportions. Tabloid newspapers in both countries naturally equated the game to the war. In 1982 the British had the biggest and best trained military force in the world. In 1986 the Argentinians had Maradona.

Two remarkable things happened in this game and both involved the little fella. In the second half of the game we witnessed the greatest ever goal scored in the history of the competition (maybe the sport) and it hasn't been bettered. Maradona took the ball from his own half of the pitch, beat every English player in his way with his dazzling ball control and stuck the ball in the net. I never get tired looking at that goal. It was like he had the ball on a string. It was his and Argentina's second goal in the game.

At the time, however, this magnificent feat was not acknowledged, at least not by non-Argentinians due to events about five minutes earlier. Fans and viewers around the world were still in shock from what had happened a few minutes previously. Maradona's and Argentina's first goal.

I think by now everyone has heard of La Mano de Dios. This is where a 5'5" (cocaine fuelled) footballer out jumped a 6'2" goalkeeper to head the ball into the net. Every single player pitch saw what happened. Every single one of the 100,000+ fans in the stadium saw what happened. The 500,000,000 people watching on TV from Alaska to Auckland saw what happened. Unfortunately, the one person who really needed to see what happened, missed it. The man with the whistle, the referee. What are the chances, eh? Well about five hundred million to one, I suppose! The Hand of God is now part of English vernacular. It is used the describe very, very fortunate situations.

Argentina went on to win the game and then the competition. Pictures of Jesus were relegated by pictures of the boy in the bubble perm on the walls of Argentinians households. Sales of Chè t-shirts plummeted and sales of Diego shirts sky rocketed. To add insult to injury, the Mexicans erected a statue of Maradona outside the stadium to commemorate the second goal. (It really was a good goal!)

That was 23 years ago. Yesterday, fans around the world were reminded of this most infamous of incidents. The protagonists this time were France and Ireland. Diego Maradona was played by Thierry Henry. The location was Paris. This was the second game in a two game play-off. The prize: a place in the World Cup finals in South Africa next year.

The first game was in Dublin. France won 1-0. The second game was in Paris. Ireland scored. Over two games, the score was 1-1. There were no more goals in normal time. So, extra time had to be played. The gladiators had 30 minutes to sort this out or else it would go to a penalty shoot out.

The Irish were waning. Energy levels were low. Only fighting spirit kept them going. The French's superior fitness was beginning to show but the island folk were not letting up. Then in the 103rd minute fans and players were taken all the way back to Mexico. Thierry Henry received the ball. It wasn't a great pass from his team-mate. Whether it was instinct or downright cheating, the Frenchman controlled the ball using his hand with such deftness that one might have mistaken him for a Harlem Globetrotter. Henry didn't score but he passed to his buddy who did. There was still 17 minutes on the clock for the Irish to recover the situation. It didn't matter if there was 170 minutes on the clock. The Irish were deflated. They were apoplectic with the referee's decision to allow the goal. What was the point of trying to win the game when the man with the power is against you.

In Latin America, Thierry Henry (centre) is replaced with Kakà in the Gillette Ad.

The media around the world is buzzing with the incident. It even made it onto the Chilean news this morning. In France, journalists and ex-players are expressing their shame at being French. The Irish Justice Minister has demanded a replay. Everyone agrees a great wrong has been done. Strangely though, Thierry Henry is not the villain of the peace. FIFA, football's global governing body is. On their official website no mention is made of the incident in the match article bar only alluding to it as a great stroke of luck.

FIFA have long campaigned for 'fair play' in the game. They don't refer to countries or players by name when they criticise the amount of cheating in the game but everyone knows they are talking about countries like Argentina, Italy and Portugal as the most unsporting nations at both a national and international level.

So, why do FIFA not acknowledge this incident? Well firstly, an acknowledgement would put pressure on FIFA to do something. That could set a worrying precedent by overruling a referee allowing a goal. Secondly, it is far more attractive to have shiny France in the competition rather than the shabby Irish. FIFA had already 'rigged' the play-offs by seeding the teams when it became apparent that France may not qualify automatically.

Despite the lack of acknowledgement, FIFA have categorically stated that there will not be a replay and the result will stand. C'est la vie.

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