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France 3, Austria 1

October 15th, 2009 | By: jeff | 31 Comments »

France are finding a bit of form.

And none too soon.

Domenech has pulled a rabbit out of the hat in Gignac.

Gignac put the match to rest with a sumptuous third.

Benzema got the start up front along with ever-presents Thierry Henry and Sidney Govou.

Stalwarts like Toulalan and L. Diarra made way for Sissoko and A. Diarra.

I think Sissoko missed an opportunity.

The right back, Rod Fanni of Rennes, was wearing the number 7 jersey. He was fantastic.

Jimmy Briand was another player from Rennes who was knocking on the door of the national team.

But Fanni got the chance this time and took it beautifully.

He looked excellent.

Up front it was a case of three forwards three goals.

Benzema with a diving, bullet header.

Henry from the spot, emphatically.

And Gignac with sublime majesty from distance.

Lloris got caught out for the goal.

And it ended 3-1.

Special shout out to Govou who has played in these two wins.

Henry is doing ok as captain. His was a well-taken penalty. He looks good in the build-up.

France have a lot of power with Benzema and Gignac. I think Gignac is rightly ahead on form. He’s an instant classic.

Escude looked ok. Squillaci made me nervous once or twice.

Clichy was ok.

I thought Sissoko could have been more tidy with possession.

I though Alou Diarra was the better of the two, and I thought Malouda played pretty well.

I never say anything to my wife about football, so she surprised me last night when Malouda was on the screen, and she said, “There’s that guy you don’t like.”

It’s because he plays for Chelsea, I think. I can’t help it. I also think he peaked as a player before he ever played for France. I thought he looked really good as a young player for Lyon.

Doms has the side coming into form at just the right time.

When he was up against it, when he couldn’t possibly do without some results, he brought in Gourcuff, and it worked. He then added Gignac to that.

In those two players France suddenly have options, and even with Gourcuff out injured, Gignac has just taken over.

Fanni looks like another player who could slot in and do a job, maybe even in midfield. He looked useful.

Escude is vying with Abidal for a first-choice spot with Gallas.

What would we look like with Gourcuff and Ribery in for Malouda and Govou?

Tags: Euro 2008

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By pat | October 15th, 2009 at 1:39 pm

“Escude looked ok. Squillaci made me nervous once or twice”… The exact opposite for me. I think Escude is partly responsible on the goal we take.

Posted from France

By Jeff | October 15th, 2009 at 7:01 pm

I read somewhere else that Escude was poor. Thankfully I was mostly able to ignore it.

Fanni was the star man at the back for me.

By Jean-Michel | October 15th, 2009 at 8:05 pm

I was hoping Sissoko would have done better. He’s more attack minded than Toulalan. Gignac inspires confidence and always looks like scoring. Benzema showed something with the header.

Posted from United States

By leo laporte | October 15th, 2009 at 8:49 pm

That Fanni is a big c**t.

That dive should either earn him a couple days off or we might as well just forget about this whole diving thing.

Its not hard. Review the matches and hand out the sanctions or shut up about all those meaningles campaigns.

It was much worse than Eduardo’s blatant dive.

Posted from Canada

By Benjamin | October 15th, 2009 at 9:02 pm

Leo,

I do not think that Fanni’s dive was intentional. There was absolutely no one around him, its just too ridiculous to be categorized as a dive. If i remember correctly the commentators on TF1 were saying at the beginning of the match how the pitch was very soggy…it is extremely possible that Fanni had his feet stuck in the soggy turf and was not able to pivot like he wanted to. Its happened to me before with my cleats stuck in mud, so im just saying.

Posted from United States

By Picard | October 15th, 2009 at 9:22 pm

Agree with Benjamin. The fault lies with the referee–who should receive a suspension or some form of example-setting punishment. It is not always a case of deliberate diving–here it did look like a slip and Fanni did not really seem to appeal for the penalty too hard. As a referee you simply must be able to position yourself so that you can clearly see when a player falls with no one within FEET of him inside the box. Absolutely disgraceful–reminded me of an ANelka dive for Chelsea recently that earned a penalty though no one was within feet of him. Disgraceful refereeing

Posted from United States

By Inara | October 16th, 2009 at 4:08 am

I don’t blame Fanni for that fall, it wasn’t a dive. But at the same time, Fanni didn’t “earn” that penalty either. It was his clumsiness more than anything else. I also wasn’t impressed with his performance, and while he didn’t play himself out of Les Bleus, he made a couple of flubs that isn’t acceptable at this level.

The rest of defense looked okay to me, and both DMs were so-so. I wasn’t impressed enough to see them ahead of Lassana or Toulalan in the pecking order. Lloris on the other hand looked terrific.

Gignac looks great, but while I’m happy to see him score, he’s only managed it against Austria (1) and the Feroe Islands (3). I’d like to see him against tougher teams. I hope he’s the real deal though, it’s rare to see a player able to play well for both club AND country.

It was Malouda who really made me happy, not because he was spectacular, but it’s been a long time since I’ve seen him play like that, and I’m happy to see some of his old Lyon form and spirit emerge again (maybe it has at Chelsea, but I don’t watch the EPL, so I only see him for Les Bleus).

Posted from United States

By Michel-Olivier | October 16th, 2009 at 7:25 am

when the french team dive, you say “pitch was very soggy”. however when other team dive you go haywire.

Posted from United States

By lefutur | October 16th, 2009 at 3:32 pm

It looked like a dive to me too.

Posted from United States

By Inara | October 16th, 2009 at 5:11 pm

Really, you guys think so? I watched a replay of it again, and Fanni looks like an ice skater unable to make a turn more than anything else. I mean, the entire thing is so out there that it seems impossible to believe Fanni was trying to earn a penalty, especially when the nearest player was too far away. Honestly, that penalty was humiliating.

Then again, stranger dives have happened.

Posted from United States

By Jean-François | October 16th, 2009 at 8:24 pm

Monday is too long to wait damn I want to know who we are playing!

By Aditya | October 16th, 2009 at 11:27 pm

I see no point discussing dives or wrong penalty calls. This penalty call evened out by the Serbian penalty.

By Doumé | October 17th, 2009 at 2:59 am

Here are a few interesting bits (in French, from l’Equipe):
Trezeguet declares himself ready and willing to play in the barrage games
http://www.lequipe.fr/Football/breves2009/20091013_080706_trezeguet-pret-pour-les-barrages.html
“If the coach thinks I would be useful, I am ready to play the barrages”
and Domenech’s response:
http://www.lequipe.fr/Football/breves2009/20091013_182454_l-appel-de-trezeguet-est-sain.html
“This is healthy, this is good” (meaning?), and Henry says “the coach has made his choices”

By jeff | October 17th, 2009 at 7:32 am

Doume – There’s a lot of choices for up front now!

Were you one of Trezeguet’s vocal supporters?

What do you make of Benzema and Gignac (even together).

If Henry and Ribery will play wide, then France could start with a lot of attacking power, with players like Anelka in reserve. Who’s next in line after that?

By Jean-François | October 17th, 2009 at 11:48 am

I think that Trezeguet’s return will be great for everyone. Even if he doesn’t play well, it ends the hostilities that have been around way too long. Trezeguet is a wonderful player and I would love to see him play in the next World Cup. It really isn’t his fault France lost in 2006, He missed the penalty, but seriously, we were supposed to have beaten Italy before extra time. I think also Zidane should consider being on the roster for 2010, and just benching all the games, just to be with the team. I can also see Zidane as coach someday. I am really excited because for once our team is starting to look like they should. I believe that these playoffs are optimal for France too because, if we stomp some team and qualify, that’s a lot more satisfying than just winning the group I think. How about France ascending to rank 9 this month? Serbia is down to like 20 now. I have not been this confident about my team since France beat Spain in 2006.

By gfc | October 17th, 2009 at 9:05 pm

I agree that Les Bleus looked good the past two matches. But let us not get ahead of ourselves. They played the Faroe Islands, who sit behind football giants Cape Verde, Singapore and Suriname to name a few, and then played an Austrian team with nothing left to play for. Granted it was nice to see 8 goals for, but I remain cautious about this team. As long as Domenech is at the helm and we still do not have a real system in place, we risk deceiving. Will he go back to a 4-2-3-1? Stay with the 4-4-2, which gave much more of an offensive showing? I will be interested to see who Les Bleus draw on Monday, that will tell us much to the chances of being at the WC.

As for Escude…I just didn’t see it, I think he looked very hesitant during the game against Austria. He did have a nice chance on the offensive end, but just does not seem to have the confidence you want from your central defenders!

http://thebeantownfrog.blogspot.com/2009/10/group-play-is-overnow-real-work-begins.html

By jeanpierre | October 18th, 2009 at 2:15 pm

what are games in the barrages? and are they broadcasted?
i hope france dont’ need to play russia with that guy called arshavin

Posted from Netherlands

By Jean-François | October 18th, 2009 at 3:53 pm

Jean-Pierre, there are two pools in the barrage, Pool one (Russia, France, Portugal, and Greece) and Pool two (Ukraine, Bosnia, Ireland, and Slovenia). The drawing is tomorrow, France can only draw a team from pool two. They play 2 games, one home and one away, against the team they draw, and the winner qualifies. The games are on the 14th and 18th of November. They should be Broadcasted.

Posted from United States

By Frédéric | October 19th, 2009 at 9:07 am

France will meet Ireland in the play-offs: http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/2009/10/19/sports/sports-uk-soccer-world-playoffs.html

Posted from United States

By Doumé | October 19th, 2009 at 9:25 am

Ireland…Domenech said it’s going to be hard, it’s like playing England’s twin, but at least we know them because many players play in the EPL.

By the way, Portugal got Bosnia, and Russia got Slovenia.

Posted from France

By Jao | October 19th, 2009 at 10:17 am

Nice.

Posted from United States

By Jean-François | October 19th, 2009 at 11:15 am

At least we didn’t draw Ukraine, Greece v. Ukraine is like an equal game.

By Benjamin | October 19th, 2009 at 11:55 am

Ireland will be tough.
They are going to play very defensive and try to score on the counter/freekicks/corners.
I don’t have a good feeling about this, unless our players step it up big time.

Posted from United States

By GFC | October 19th, 2009 at 2:31 pm

I am not thrilled in getting Ireland…it was a struggle during the 2006 WC qualifiers!

http://thebeantownfrog.blogspot.com/2009/10/2nd-place-draw-is-out-france-to-meet.html

Posted from United States

By Doumé | October 30th, 2009 at 11:39 am

Jeff,
Sorry, I was offline for a while (a storm in SW France totally messed up my connection).

>>Were you one of Trezeguet’s vocal supporters?<<

well, I like the guy, I respect his talent but his play is too static for the style of the team as it is now. He would be isolated up front in the middle of 5 defenders. Because that's what most teams found to nullify France's talent- big defensive crowding.
IMO Gignac and Anelka (and also Henry) have done what Trez hasn't: to be able to drop back, on the side, to get balls, and then make something happen, including long shots. He has the talent to do that, of course, but I'm not sure he has the will.
Great player, though. His missed penalty kick was very very close, and Buffon was beaten.