France-Austria Thoughts After a Second Viewing

Yes, I did sit down and watch the game a second time last night. It was worth it. Really beautiful, dominant play. Plus I’ve discovered that one viewing of a game doesn’t always give you an accurate impression, since you can’t possibly watch all 22 players at one time. (This would be why several writers said that France played a great game last Saturday.)

First off, I’m feeling pretty comfortable recommending JumpTV as a PPV option. Did anybody have problems with it? I had some issues getting the On Demand feature to run, and their tech support responded to me within fifteen minutes. A personal response, too, not a form letter. And since theirs was the ONLY site showing the game, and I was able to go in and watch bits and pieces and highlights of other games on my $7.95, 24-hour pass? Well, it’s good stuff and ALWAYS great to have a reliable option. Let’s hope they keep offering it.

First observation from the second time around: Yes, I was too hard on the newer players Nasri, Mavuba, Diaby and Lassana Diarra. They really did play quite well, especially given how new they are to the team. Diarra especially seems to have grown in his play since Saturday. And Nasri had a couple of solid, dramatic shots that would have been spectacular if they’d gone in. Domenech is going to have some tough decisions coming up before June.

The defense really didn’t have much to do. I think Coupet had, what, two saves the entire game? Thuram was solid but more or less invisible. Ditto Escudé when he moved to the center at the half. Gallas got a bit more dramatic but wasn’t needed much. Mexes had that one brilliant play where he cleared the ball with the gorgeous diving header (I’m going to look for a video of that one,) but otherwise wasn’t terribly necessary.

The two who really impressed me on the second viewing, though? Julien Escudé (when he was playing left back first half) and Francois Clerc at right back. Before Saturday’s game, when I saw how defensive the midfield was going to be, I had visions of Sagnol and Abidal marauding up the wings and really helping with the attack. Didn’t really happen. But it happened seriously yesterday with Escudé and Clerc — there was some really beautiful play on both sides. Yes, part of it was that Lithuania put up more of a fight, and part of it was the ugly pitch on Saturday, but part of it was just that Escudé and Clerc played really, really well. When Abidal came in on the left at half, he just didn’t have nearly the same impact. I’m thinking my new dream back line might be Sagnol or Clerc–Mexes–Gallas–Escudé. (It almost causes me physical pain to say that, because I love Sagnol and Abidal.

And speaking of Escudé, does this guy have the most amazing first touch or what? It seemed like no matter where the ball hit on his body, it immediately had all of the momentum sucked out of it and dropped like a stone right to his feet. No rebound whatsoever. Very, very pretty. (And, okay, speaking of pretty and Escude… I know I should not be noticing these things, but…well…I may be married and old, but this has not rendered me blind. I’m amazed that the teenage girls don’t seem to have really discovered him yet. I’m expecting Escudé fanzines to spring up all over very soon.)

And on attack? Benzema and Anelka. I see some really smokin’ potential here. I really think that should be the number one pairing at least through Euro ‘08.

To sum up the game? Right now there are some France veterans who are sweating bullets.