Politics
Thierry Henry met with deafening boos in Dublin from still-angry Ireland fans – but ‘he won’t be upset’ says Martinez
THIERRY HENRY was met with deafening boos in Dublin as he sat on Belgium’s bench for the Friendly against Ireland.
The Frenchman is still met with a hostile reaction from Irish fans over a decade on from his infamous handball assist that stopped Ireland going to the 2010 World Cup.
EPAHenry handled the ball before finding Galas[/caption]
REX FEATURESHenry was booed in Ireland with fans not forgetting what happened in 2009[/caption]
Arsenal icon Henry controlled the ball with his hand before flicking it onto the head of William Galas to equalise.
France went on to win the game 2-1, booking their place in South Africa.
But as Henry visited Ireland as Belgium’s assistant coach in the 2-2 draw on Saturday, he was showered with boos at the Aviva Stadium.
Belgium boss Roberto Martinez says Henry “won’t be upset” by his reception.
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After the game, the ex-Everton boss said: “He is quite an experienced man, he won’t be upset at being booed. He understands.
“First and foremost I must admit I always find it weird playing international friendlies, and this was anything but a friendly, the crowd made it a very good atmosphere.
“I am disappointed to concede the two goals we did but I am delighted with aspects.
“We worked as a team and got a positive result away from home, I was pleased with the attitude.”
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Preston’s Alan Browne scored an 85th minute equaliser to tie the game up at 2-2.
And Martinez says the crowd played its part in inspiring Ireland to fight until the end.
He continued: “We stopped playing.
“I want us to be brave, but being brave is not sliding tackles and kicking people, it’s taking the ball and being able to give the ball and we didn’t do that.
“It’s a good lesson to be able to know what you have to do with a full crowd, a crowd giving momentum to the home team, how you can progress higher up the pitch and that’s what happened in the last 15 minutes.”
