Okay, This is Getting Ridiculous

Laurie, thanks for your perfectly reasonable comment. What few understand (and you may already know this) is that Henry was still angry after what happened at the CL final against Barca. He famously said "I guess I should roll around on the ground like a woman to win trophies." I am both an Arsenal and Barca fan but I understood his feelings after that final. We can criticize him for being petulant and holding a grudge. But it was clear that after coming so close to winning against Barca for the CL trophy (and Arsenal came very close), he (like many other basically honest players) felt like "what's the point of being honest when it gets me nowhere and when diving gets rewarded?" I think a lot of basically honest players eventually use these tactics, I think it's very very hard not to simulate at least a few times throughout a player's career. The sport is rife with it and players get rewarded all the time for doing it. Even Zidane dived at least twice in his career. I don't think you'll find one player who hasn't done it at least once.

Henry defended himself against the charge of faking the contact that was made against him in the match against Spain and Portugal. And remember that in the match against Spain, Henry was playing against many of those same players he played against in the CL final. Puyol, especially, earned Henry's anger in that CL final.

Both penalties he earned in the wc were perfectly legitimate - what Henry did was exaggerate the impact on his body. He did NOT create something out of whole cloth. We can criticize him for exaggerating the strength of the contact but when you look at how little he does this sort of thing compared to players and managers who actively use it to win matches and tournaments on a routine basis, I can forgive him for it.

As for the FIFA shortlist, I agree entirely that all 3 players on that list do NOT in any way belong there. Not one of them had a good 2005-06 season. It's ridiculous that any one of them is on that list. The award is voted by coaches and squad captains from over 200 countries. A lot of them watch very little football, they just know some big names. Many of them don't watch the EPL.

For me, there are three players who had a consistently strong season in Europe in 2005-06 and that's Henry, Eto'o and Buffon. For me, Eto'o should've gotten it. You could argue too that Luca Toni could be included. I don't think he achieved more than either Henry or Eto'o but he certainly accomplished much more than Cannavaro.

I'm wondering if it was not so much the possible dives, particularly the Puyol dive, but the fact that he admitted to that one in an interview with no remorse? Up to that time he seemed to have a fairly pristine reputation, but it doesn't take much to sully that up. (I'm saying this as someone who's a big Henry fan.)

I'm also a huge Zidane fan, (and I had no problem at all with him getting the World Cup Ballon d'Or) but even I'm having a problem with him being on this list. (And also with Cannavaro and Ronaldinho being on this list.) What exactly are they supposed to be rewarding?

julie, your comment is utterly ridiculous. Stop fixating on the world cup and Henry's diving. You clearly don't know much about him. The reason Henry got so much attention with his supposed "diving" in the world cup is PRECISELY BECAUSE HE HAS A REPUTATION FOR NOT DIVING AT ALL! If you actually knew anything about him beyond the world cup, you'd know that. That's why his exaggeration of genuine contact made by opposing players in the penalty area at the wc got so much attention. Exactly how many Arsenal matches have you seen him play in, and how many times have you seen him dive? And if you think that players who dive don't get awarded trophies, I have a bridge in Brooklyn to sell you. Rivaldo and Luis Figo are two of the most famous divers in the sport and that didn't stop them from getting these awards.

Henry's supposed "diving" has ABSOLUTELY ZERO ZERO ZERO to do with his lack of votes for these two awards.

It is absolutely ridiculous that Cannavaro got the ballon d'or and that he, zizou (who is my favorite player and still is) and ronaldinho are shortlisted for the fifa award. There is no way Cannavaro was the best European player in the 2005-06 season. Neither were Ronaldinho nor zizou. No one can make an argument that any one of these players were the best in Europe this last season.

For Cannavaro, a handful of wc games against such minnows as the USA (and Italy couldn't even score against a 9-man US team), Ghana and Australia (and one credible game in the entire tournament against ONE world class team, Germany) does not make for a legitimate ballon d'or winner.

Henry and especially Samuel Eto'o are infinitely far more deserving of both awards. Henry achieved far more this last season than either Cannavaro or Buffon. He reached both the champions league and world cup finals. He had Europe's best goals=game ratio (not Luca Toni).

If the award must go to an Italian, Buffon is clearly the better performer to Cannavaro. The only reason Cannavaro is getting these awards is because the voters wanted to compensate him for not getting the golden ball at the wc, that's it.

If Cannavaro gets this 2nd award, then both these trophies have degenerated into pure idiocy and farce.

No doubt in my mind that Henri should be on the shortlist and ZZ headbutted off it. Simply unbeleivable.

I think Henry did some pretty flagrant diving that could be seen on replays during the world cup. You cant say the same for Ronaldinho, Zinedine Zidane, or recent Ballon d’Or winner Fabio Cannavaro. Henry plays the 'i'm so righteous card' but in reality he is the first one down. This is the same for how he plays in Arsenal. People are sick of the whining about the apparent racism against him
(like he is the only black football player...) and they are sick of seeing him act innocent when he is the first to dive...