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Extra-time in one of the biggest games of your career - a place at the World Cup is at stake.
You're running to the byline, and the ball hits your arm, which holds the ball up. However, the ball is still going out, so you instinctively keep it in play with your hand - and then cross it in, for one of your team-mates to score the goal that sends your team into the World Cup.

That's the way I see it. I don't think the first touch was handball, more a case of ball hitting arm - the second touch a definite handball, but an instinctive one, that most players would have done - the same way that a defender standing on the line would save with his hand if he had to.

So, if you ask me - did Henry cheat? I'd say no. I would say a pre-meditated dive in the area is a much worse offense than what Henry did.

However, I do think Henry missed an opportunity here. Henry has always, to me, seemed a real sportsman. Supporting Spurs, that is something that I have trouble saying about an ex-Arsenal player, but it is true. As well as having magnificent pace and touch - he is one of those players that I always respected.
And if he had gone up to the referee afterwards, and told him what had happened, then it would have been one of the greatest sporting gestures ever. It's not unprecedented - Paulo Di Canio turned down a scoring opportunity when the keeper was injured by catching the ball, and Arsene Whinger Wenger gave Sheffield United a replay after scoring a controversial goal.
I know it wouldn't have gone down well with the French public - but in a years time, after the World Cup (that the French surely won't win anyway after those performances) I wonder if Henry might look back and think he could have done it differently.

Instead of him having "a great career, but remember when..." he might have had a "great career, and remember when....".