Comments on: France 3, Austria 1

By: Doumé

Doumé — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 16:39:22 +0000

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.

By: GFC

GFC — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 19:31:48 +0000

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

By: Benjamin

Benjamin — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 16:55:11 +0000

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.

By: Jean-François

Jean-François — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 16:15:09 +0000

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

By: Jao

Jao — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 15:17:33 +0000

Nice.

By: Doumé

Doumé — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 14:25:02 +0000

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.

By: Frédéric

Frédéric — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 14:07:06 +0000

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

By: Jean-François

Jean-François — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 20:53:06 +0000

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.

By: jeanpierre

jeanpierre — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 19:15:54 +0000

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

By: gfc

gfc — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 02:05:44 +0000

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