Well, well, well. Two-nil down and France are almost certainly out of the World Cup - I think they now need four goals to get through.
What went wrong? France have looked almost unbeatable over the last few years. As far as I can tell, they seem desperately reliant on Zinedine Zidane and Robert Pires for their attacking flair, which surprises me, and hampered by an aging and accident-prone defence. And yet, none of these problems looked apparent until now.
Mind you, Denmark look like effective dark horses. How far can they go?
Oh - does anyone know anywhere I can get radio coverage of matches over the web? Radio Five isn’t broadcasting “for legal reasons”.
Wiltord is much improved (although I still don’t rate him) and until this World Cup Trezeguet has been banging the goals in. Maybe France were more reliant on Pires to set them up than they thought.
On the one hand I like to see big teams humbled, but on the other hand France are usually an exciting team to watch and I’ll miss them from the second round.
It was unbelievable how much Zidane stands out when he plays. He was clearly the best player in the game, even with his injury. The other guy that is good is Cissé. He seems to get things going too.
Still, France would have been through had it not been for a lot of bad luck with hitting a lot of goalposts, though maybe not today given their awful defense. They really missed Petit (suspended for today’s game).
I enjoyed watching France get humbled though, you should see all the long faces here in Paris! Stunned disbelief, lots of “accident” jokes (you know the tasteless kind that come out after tragedies). Last year they chanted “on est champions” (we are the champs), this year it is “on est dans l’avion” (we’re in the airplane [and heading home])!
I’m perfectly happy with this outcome. Not only I couldn’t care less about our football team, but also I won’t have to bear anymore all this “we’re the champions” crap which has been broadcasted, told, aired, printed… everywhere during the 4 last years.
Plus, like many people, I have something for little teams, and I was hoping Senegal would make it…Which would have been unlikely if France didn’t lose.
I dunno, they’re still a great side - kinda sad to see them go so soon. But fair’s fair: they didn’t deserve the second round this time around: all other teams in their group performed better.
And I’d have to disagree about Zidane. He looked off the mark all game. Sure, he still stands out - but he was but a mere shadow of the player he was 6 months ago, and hopefully, will be again.
I was backing three teams this tournament: France, America and Japan. Had you told me one of the three would go home without winning a single game, you can probably guess what my last choice would have been.
Pundits last night saying they’d prefer England to face Denmark than Senegal if we get through (not that we will, of course, if you’re reading this Fate). Totally disagree - Denmark look like a very decent side, and we always struggle against Scandies. Give me talented-but-fragile Senegal any day. IF we qualify…
(sorry for the anglocentric hijack, but I can’t think about anything else at the moment. 3 hours to go)