France vs. Togo/Switzerland vs. Korea
Could the French fans be crying in their Pernod tonight? They will be unless their side beat Togo. As it stands they'll need to beat the Togolese by two clear goals to qualify for the second round, with the other two competitive teams - Korea and Switzerland - playing each other. As for top spot/second spot, it's just too damned complicated to sort out now. I'll update during the match. Anyone out there watching today?
posted by gatorbob @ 2:38 PM
73 Comments:
Here's the French side for today:
FRANCE
16. Fabien Barthez
5. William Gallas
13. Mikael Silvestre
15. Lilian Thuram
19. Willy Sagnol
7. Florent Malouda
6. Claude Makelele
4. Patrick Vieira
22. Franck Ribery
20. David Trezeguet
12. Thierry Henry
Now, that's much more like it. Trez is finally being given a shot alongside TH-14. The Hunchback of Notre Dame lookalike Franck Ribery gets the nod with Zizou suspended today and Florent Malouda is back. United Dave will also appreciate his boy Mikael Silvestre getting a match. That's the side!
Heya Trev. France already look sharper with Trez and Thierry up front. Trez just trapped one, turned and shot just wide.
Free kick to France after a foul on Makalele....
It come to nothing.
Togo are dropping very deep. They obviously will look launch quick long balls to the dangerous front pairing Adebayor and Kader.
A nice cross from Ribery is nodded toward goal by Trez - good save over the top by Agassa.
Corner to France after stifling the first Togo quick break....
Nodded over by Malouda.
A speculative drive by Kader is bizarrely punched out by Barthez prompting 'Cello to remind us that he's no Barthez fan.
A long cross produces a back post effort by Adebayor straight into the side netting. But these are nervous moments for French fans.
Sacre Bleu! The referee waves off a decent looking goal by Trez for offside. Yet another bad refereeing decision for WC '06. Should have been 1-0 France.
Fifteen minutes gone and both games still scoreless. If this result holds up, Switzerland and Korea go through and France goes out.
Malouda has a stinging effort saved.
France goes close again, with Trez whipping a quick ball across the area - too quick for Henry to tip it in.
They look much more dangerous with the traditional front pairing.
Stuttering shot deflected to the keeper by Ribery.
I reckon that it'll stay scoreless in the other match until France scores...if they score!
Indeed, Trev. Allez, allez. Unfortunately they're struggling with the same ref that sent three players off in the U.S./Italy match. Why does FIFA keep rewarding these idiots. At this rate, Graham Poll will get the Final!
TH-14 goes down under a heavy challenge but gets nothing. He's still down.
Henry is back up and sees a soft header from Trez drop near him....it's collected by the keeper.
Nice move ends with a combination of Ribery in to Trez who scuffs his shot. It's easily saved by Aggassa
Makalele and Vieira are marshalling the midfield to good effect - nothing dangerous is getting through.
Another shot - this time from Silvestre on the left - goes straight to the keeper. Lots of chances but except for that disallowed goal, the finish hasn't been there.
A great ball from Vieira to Henry but Vieira's first touch deserts him and the chance is missed.
Corner from Ribery is cut out. Too many of these crosses are not beating the front post.
Arsenal's center back Philippe Senderos has just scored with a header from a corner for the Swiss. They're one up!
What will the French press make of this if Switzerland top the group and Les Bleus go home?
Somehow the news seems to have trickled on to the pitch because the French look as if they're a bit more frantic.
Yeah, I agree Trev. I still can't figure out why Kasey didn't at least try to come up for a corner at the end of the match. Why not?
Ribery misses a sitter, blasting well over the bar. That's all nerves, you have to think.
The Swiss nearly went two up just there, with Alexandre Frei going close. BTW, Senderos had to go off for treatment after that headed goal. There was a clash of heads. Ouch!
Togo waste a perfectly good free kick opportunity with a horrible looping kick that reminds me of the one Landycakes missed yesterday.
Senderos is back on the pitch with a natty hairnet protecting his wound, apparently.
Corner to France....
a better cross from Ribery but it's punched well by the keeper.
Thirty minutes gone; France playing well and dominating, but no goals yet. It's a shame that some of the chances that went to Trez didn't go to the more clinical finisher Henry.
Are you going to be able to watch the matches this weekend, Trev? There are some crackers. I'm particularly looking forward to Germany vs. Sweden on Saturday morning and Portugal vs. Holland on Sunday - to say nothing of England vs. Ecuador!
Another dodgy offside call stops a TH-14 attack. Tant pis!
Believe it or not the Korean who clashed heads with Senderos has just had another head injury. It's a wonder he's not concussed at this point!
Yellow card finally for a Togo player.
Another long range effort from Silvestre is punched clear by Agassa. You can tell by the fact that center halves are shooting at goal that the French are all over Togo and fairly desperate to get on the scoresheet.
OOOOOOH, Henry rifles one from long range; it's saved by Agassa and then Trez has the follow up saved. It trickles toward goal but is collected.
Yes, Trev, sending the wife off to Paris is definitely the ticket during the Mondial month. It'll be good to have you watching this weekend. Maybe reserve the blogging for the England match?
The wisdom that Henry doesn't show up for the big matches is being reinforced tonight. If he allows his side to be eliminated at the first hurdle again, it can only hurt his legacy as a truly great player.
Another corner from the right is collected easily by Agassa - the MOTM for Togo today.
Senderos is still in the wars in the Swiss/Korea match. He's just gotten booked and then had to go off to get his head swabbed clear of blood.
Half-time: 0-0 This will not due for Les Bleus. They've had loads of chances but without the requisite finishing touch. With Switzerland in the lead, they need at least two goals merely to qualify second in the group and meet the impressive Spanish side.
I am here guys but really busy running around.
I just had my kids for the last day of school.
Monday I have a faculty breakfast and that's it!!!
How has this game gone so far?
Doe we want the Frogs to lose?
Second half starting with no changes for either side....
I suppose there are two schools of thought. From an England perspective, it's good whenever a big European or S. American side is eliminated. But I have to say that I think the tournament is somewhat diminished with them out.
I still say, "Allez Les Bleus!"
Trez has another shot deflected out.
Corner....comes to nothing.
A trademark obscure statistic from Dave O'B:
"France in danger of becoming the third team to be eliminated in two successive World Cups in the first round after having won the World Cup." Unbelievable.
Adebayor is called narrowly offside. This is followed by a nice move from Kader. This is definitely not going to script for France. As they take more chances, they open themselves up to a Togo break.
As it stands the French just need one goal to go through as the second in the group. They now need at least three goals to force FIFA to flip a coin for top spot.
Lovely little move on the left between Henry and Silvestre ends with an open shot in the penalty area that is blasted into Row Z by Ribery.
GOAL: 1-0 France. Finally, the deadlock is broken by Patrick Vieira. Nice lay off from Ribery there.
Hey AZ, where are you today. Your life is like that Today Show feature, "Where in the World is....?"
Now that the first goal has gone in, the floodgates really should open. It'll be interesting to see how desperate the French are to avoid Spain and get Ukraine in the second round.
OOH, Henry should've snaffled up that chance. Instead, he tries a flash outside of the foot move and it's deflected out.
Adebayor nearly responds with a goal for Togo. That would be a disaster for France.
Yes, Trev, if the Koreans were to equalize, they'd need another goal to beat them on goal difference. They still need two more just to match the Swiss as it stands.
GOAL: 2-0 France. TH-14!
Another French goal... this time Henry with the goal.
Can he please celebrate with out being so cocky
Now it gets interesting; if the Koreans were to equalize, by my calculations FIFA would have to flip a coin to see who went through top. I think that's happened a couple of times in the past.
DON'T EVER SPEAK ILL OF KING ERIC!!!!
The Swiss nearly went up two-nil there. A shot rattled the Korean bar.
Sorry, sometimes I use the shorthand in order to type quickly. It's Henry's nickname - his initials plus the number that he wears for Arsenal. For some reason he wears #12 for France. Louis Saha has the #14 jersey.
If I were as awesome as Thierry, I'd gloat a bit too. At least he doesn't wear the collar flipped up a la Eric.
Are you looking for the overall number of goals that have been scored, AZ? Or the top scorer? That's still Miroslav Klose for this World Cup on four. And of course Fat Ron equalled the top overall scorer Gerd Muller on 14 yesterday.
The French have stepped off the gas here. Maybe they want the cross-Pyreneean clash with the Spaniards. I'd be happy with it - great match! Switzerland vs. Ukraine, though? Sounds like a snoozer, but maybe my boy Sheva can pot one or two.
Malouda is replaced by Sylvain Wiltord - an attacking move from Domenech.
That reminds me of my all-time favorite footie song, sung by Arsenal fans to the tune of "You're so Vain" by Carly Simon:
"You're Sylvain....
You probably think this song is about you...." Brilliant!
Klose has nine now. He scored a hat-trick in an 8-0 thrashing of the Saudis in the opener for the Germans in '02 and then two more in the tournament. And in this one he's got four. He's the Just Fontaine of modern day footie - someone that no one really knows who pops up at the WC and scores loads of goals.
Ah, I'd love to Trev. Love to....
The Swiss have scored again - 2-0. That should do it for the group. Swiss on top and French second. Alexander Frei with his second of the tournament.
Apparently it was a controversial goal, with Frei being flagged for offside and the ref ignoring him. Frei rounding the keeper and scoring from a tight angle. One to watch on the replay.
Ten minutes to go and this is just about over as a competitive match. It would be nice to see the French going for more goals but it's unlikely with a tough match coming up in less than a week. Vieira and Ribery have been replaced.
France will get Zizou back for the game against Spain. That poses a problem tactically for Domenech. Do you put Zizou back in even though this side did well tonight? The good thing for him is that there are no injuries or suspensions going into the match.
Yeah, I agree AZ, although I could also see Portugal/Holland going to penalties.
Italy does have the best draw. They'll get Switzerland or Ukraine in the quarters, those jammy bastards.
Full-time: 2-0; I suppose that was the result that best suited the World Cup. France played much, much better today, but will Domenech learn from this or try to shoe-horn Zizou into a winning side?
I just read about playing after the game. I am there. Screw graduation at school. Where are we playing? The Dosedel's or the place we played in DC?
Game over, come on where are we playinng
Great memories.
As for playing, I have my last outdoor game on SUNDAY morning. Our kick off is at 9:30 and our field is about 15 minutes away. We should finish a little after 11. We have a team party after the game at my house. I have to Tivo it so I will be watching it with a little delay. I won't be blogging until I catch up with the live stuff.
Back in the USA now, I want to remind Bob that the best Arsenal chant was for Manu Petit.
"he's blond, he's quick, his name's a porno flick, emanuel, emanuel.
As long as Graham Poll is still around, that record could still be broken, AZ.
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