Final France 1-0 Georgia

June 6th, 2007 | by: Laurie |

I swear, this team will be the death of me. Seriously. Someday they will come across my body, stiff in front of the computer screen, my hand clutching my mouse, my face frozen into the look of horrified disgust that can only come from watching So Many Freakin’ Missed Chances!!! AAAARRRRGGGGHHHHH!!!!!

The good news is, they won. The bad news is that the second half was UGLY. How ugly was it? Unwatchable ugly. Seriously, I had to leave the room for several periods of time. And the saddest thing was, Georgia was never even in the game. France was playing against themselves and losing. How pathetic is that?

So I guess my question from France-Ukraine has been answered. The question: Are they really that good? The answer? Only sometimes.

Ribery went missing second half. Anelka never did find his stride. Cisse came in for Malouda and things went downhill. Anelka and Cisse had miscue after miscue between them. (These two should not play together. It doesn’t work. Play Benzema instead.)

The bright spots? Thuram (yes, the old guy’s still got it), Gallas, Toulalan and to some extent Makelele. I thought Toulalan looked especially good — so good I’m having a hard time imaginining him benched when Vieira comes back. Although everybody on defense was helped by the fact that Georgia never got anything going offensively.

Abidal looked maybe a little better second half but still is not the player I remember.

But in the end, I guess all that matters is this: Three points. Top of the table. Woohoo!!

But they’d better get it together before September’s games against Italy and Scotland.

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L’Américain

Watching this game on TF1 in the middle Auvergne, I can say that its been refreshing to watch on TV and at Saint Denis last saturday, that this is a new breed of scary french talent. Toulalan fed ball after ball to perfect spots as France had 9 shots on goal in the first half. I think the 2nd half was just fatigue from owning Géorgie so hard, and not having a lot of goals. Even better was the statistic that the average Géorgie turnover was on their own 25.

Les Blues ont retourné.

@+,

L’Américain
http://france.worldcupblog.org Laurie

“I think the 2nd half was just fatigue from owning Géorgie so hard, and not having a lot of goals.”

I’m going to choose to believe this. The alternative is three months of worry as we await Italy and Scotland.
http://lyon.theoffside.com Inara

It’s in games like these that I miss Trezeguet. He’s France’s best poacher, which is what the team needs when all these opportunities are being created but no one is taking them.
http://france.worldcupblog.org Laurie

Anelka-Trezeguet. I’ve been saying and thinking it since last year. Raymond’s still not listening.

The problem we have then is who to bench among Henry, Nasri, Malouda and Ribery…
http://lyon.theoffside.com Inara

I think right now, France easily have the most talent available for their NT. It’s embarrassing sometimes. Even Brazil seem to have poorer choices coming up through the ranks.

The hard part is determining which players work well together. I hope Domenech can do that. I know he’s tough enough to bench players, but let’s hope he benches the right one.