France looks pretty damn good. Spain got its goal on a penalty kick where the penalty could have been called either way. Other than this, the underrated French defense is effectively closing down the Spanish attack, while the French have been stretching out the Spanish defense. The French goal came from Ribery on a nice (that is, sweet) feed by Vieira. If I had to put money on it, I'd place bets on Les Bleus at this point. They look better than Spain.
If you're not watching, you should be....
Ghana vs. Brazil this morning was fine. Ghana played a better match. Brazil won 3-0. Strange soccer. Ronaldo broke the record for most ever World Cup goals. Honestly, I still think he's overrated. If you stand there and have those other Brazilian players backing you up, you wait, take a few steps, and shoot. That has always been Ronaldo's game.
UPDATE (5pm), Gloating Edition:
Doo, doo, doo, la, la, la.... What was it that Helmut said yesterday?
"Spain looks great, and it's good to see this. France, however, is coming around. Few people - anecdotally speaking - have been talking about France at all except to say that they're old and look inept. This could be the match that shows how dangerous it is to underestimate an opponent. Remember, player by player, there's no other team in the World Cup apart from perhaps Brazil with the world class caliber of the French - Henry, Trezeguet, Zidane, Vieira, Thuram, Sagnol, Makalele, etc. If they can pull it together as a team... ouch."
They pulled it together today. 3-1, France over Spain. Yes, Henry took a dive and that set up the second goal off of a Vieira header. I'm not proud of that. But there's a big difference between the relatively dive-free teams of France and Spain playing this afternoon and watching a team that dives first and decides to play soccer second like Italy.
The other two goals were a neat feed to Ribery and a terrific touch-pass by Wiltord to Zidane in injury time, who brought it down against one defender, lost him, then slotted across his body to the opposite side of the Spanish goalie's lunge.
Spain held possession much of the game and created some chances. But those chances seldom came by breaking down the French defense. The Spanish defense held well too, but allowed Ribery to get behind them and gave up the third goal while pushing ahead late in the game trying to tie it and leaving their defense exposed. Despite the possession, the game was very close. Nice possessions on both sides, great defense overall, lots of good attacking, and fluid play in the middle. Even the fouls were relatively clean, including the three (I believe) yellow cards.
So, France will now face Brazil. I'm wary of pushing my luck on how far the French can go, but, again, Brazil should not underestimate them. Brazil, after all, was outplayed today by Ghana, despite their victory. Two of the Brazilian goals came on Ghana's poor execution of an offsides trap, which is what Ronaldo loves (because he can stand there digesting his lunch until the ball comes to him). France will not make that mistake because they don't play that kind of game.
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1 comment:
I agree with all that, Flaco.
From an email to Flaco:
I saw the replays on the Thuram foul too. Yeah, he caught his cleats on the Spaniard's ankle. It wasn't malicious though (Thuram was looking away at the ball), and refs will often allow that kind of tangling in the box, mess that that situation is already. I agree it was a foul, actually. But I think it could have been a non-call too, at least according to the conventions of the game, right or wrong.
I was kind of hoping for a Thuram event after that. In 1998, he made a bad defensive play (in the semifinals against Croatia) and cost France a goal. About two minutes later he ran all the way down the sideline and scored. Then later in the game he did the same thing. He said later that he wanted to make up for his error on defense. Those remain the only two goals he has ever scored in international play out of over 100 caps. I've loved him ever since. And I think he's a fairplay guy. He's tough, but fair. Anyway, the foul was legit.
Thuram was asked about playing Brazil after the Spain game. He said, "man, these are the matches you live for." I think that's really it with the French - they bring their game up against good opponents. Brazil, however, can do the same thing. It'll be a good match.
I'm starting to like Ribery too. He scrambled that entire game against Spain. And Sagnol, who also has serious speed and a knack for being in the right place at the right time.
I still love Henry, but that foul that led to the second goal was shameful. You're wrong, however. It was not the triple-twist double-writhe, but the Double-Handed Spewing Face Grab. It was ugly, but it's also tough to blame that goal on the dive. It wasn't a short free kick, but it was a good one, and the goal was pretty lucky with Vieira being in the right place at the right time. But Henry... the thing I like about the guy is not beating the defenders on the trap as Domenech has been playing him, but his ability to move through defenders and attack the goal. The Zidane goal - with four defenders around him and Puyol on the ground - was more Henry's style. I hope we'll see some of that against Brazil.
Spain looked good, and I know they have great young players. I like them. But the French defense shut down Torres. He was a non-factor all game. Fabregas is brilliant (he plays with Henry at Arsenal) and he's a large part of the reason Spain controlled possession. But both teams did. France had very assured possession throughout and looked extremely confident. That's a big part of what was lovely about that game - long possessions on both sides looking for gaps. Zidane's run was nice, and his shot nicer, but the defense was moved up. No need to blame Puyol at all. Zidane juked him pretty badly, but Zidane is also one of the greats of the game. The run was nice anyway and that's the risk you take with a few minutes left when you're looking for an equalizer. In the end, the match easily could have been a 1-0 match either way.
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