I am sure that everyone knows that France won today, 1-0, defeating Portugal and advancing to the World Cup Final against Italy. Not much to say about the game today, as I definitely wouldn't search out a copy for future viewing. There was only flashes of offensive brilliance, France controlled play for most of the game. The best chances came at the very end when a few French players got sloppy and gave the Portugese offense good opportunities.
Zinedine Zidane continued his magical tournament, scoring the winning goal on a penalty shot in the 36th minutes. He was good all game, controlled the play, although he was clearly not playing at the level he played at last game against the Brazillian side. I look for a huge game out of him in the Final, as it will be the final chapter in an amazing story. I kinda have this feeling that this is a special time and that Zidane cannot lose, that he'll will this team to victory. It just seems like fate, y'know?
However, the real stars of the game, as I said after the Brazil match, was the French defense. They are simply smothering, shutting down team after team. I mean, teams seem to go entire games without a good chance, as goaltender Fabien Barthez has not really been challenged much this tournament. Kudos to the people at the FIFA/Yahoo site for taking note of this and choosing center-back Lilian Thuram as the player of the match. Defense doesn't get noticed, but it does win championships.
I had to show one shot of Paris today, a look at the Champs-Elysees. How cool does that look? How bad do I wish I was there? Maybe we'll have to head over this weekend
2 comments:
Lot of respect for Zidane, but France controlling most of the game? No, no, my friend, Portugal was far and away the better of the two teams yesterday. They had more possession, made excellent one-touch passes to set up opportunities, and had more shots at goal than the French. Even the penalty was kinda undeserved, I thought. Anyway, for the final, I think Italy will bury France. Although there is noone on the Italian side who is quite as skilled as Zidane, I think the skill is more evenly distributed on the Italian side, so that on average, they are the better technical side. Plus the Italian defense is rock-solid. Thanks for the music, but I'm rooting for Italy. :)
Great comment, ventilator, always good to hear from you.
I actually don't disagree with what you have to say on yesterday's game. I think the first half was even, neither team did that much. Portugal was better in the second half, but I didn't think that the possession translated into good shots. Barthez was never really challenged, except on the shots he made much more difficult than they were. The penalty was undeserved, but in the moment, I too thought it was a foul. Replay proved otherwise, but I can't criticize the ref if I got it wrong too.
As for tomorrow, I think Italy is the slighter better side, but I think France has the better D. I see a close match, maybe even penalty kicks, but think France pulls out, for no other reason than I want them too:)
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