Big Pat is Back – One from the Archives

hmm lets see
pat&toule combination

The Togo game I remember as somethng painful, all these opportunities and still no goal for a while! At half-time I was really optimistic but frustrated. People were saying that Zidane might not ever play. And this game (in large part because of Pat on his 30th birthday) , after suffering against Switzerland and Korea, allowed ZZ and all to play 4 more games, against 4 amazing soccer nations.

Vieira is a star he can turn a game and he isnt as old as some players he is only 32 and he was 30 when it was the world cup so im not sure who said he was to old but u r sadly mistaken there r older players just look at the Italian squad and you will see u r mistaken?

Great videos! Pat will always be a god. But I’m a gooner, so of course I think that. I remember this game so well, I was going crazy worried that they wouldn’t advance. I’ve seen Vieira in Inter’s last couple of games and he was pretty solid. Let’s hope he can help the team tonight.

Sigh. I miss those guys, including Thierry Gilardi. It’s so odd to watch clips with Barthez and Thuram and Sagnol (and Trezeguet!) and think it was just two years ago.

I love Vieira, I really do. And I know that his heart is 100% with the team, and he’d give anything to play.

But I still don’t think it’s good for the team that he get called up for every game, simply because he is injured so frequently. How many games has he played since World Cup? One or two, maybe? And at times like Euros, when he’s called up but too injured to play, it’s disruptive to the team because either they have to play short a DM, or they have to try to fit somebody new into the team who should’ve been there integrating from the start.

If I thought Vieira was now, at 32, magically going to stop getting injured, I’d feel differently. Sadly, I don’t.

It hurts to see Sagnol in these videos too, because he also gave so much to the team, but it’s the right thing for him to be retired internationally. Unless Vieira proves me wrong over the next few games by becoming suddenly and permanently fit, I think he should do the same thing.

“How many games has he played since World Cup?” – I guess you mean for France. Not many. I agree of course, it’s ridiculous for him to keep getting called up for these internationals.

Isn’t anyone going to do a live blogging for the game today?

Sandrahn, I’m not going to liveblog, but I’ll set up a post for people to leave streams and comments. Sometimes it’s almost more fun to follow a game that way.

Thanks Laurie, I’ve been searching for a livestream. I’ve found a couple, not sure they’ll work, tho.