France-Paraguay Liveblog. Stop by and Leave Comments

May 31st, 2008 | by: Laurie | View Comments

Final score France 0-0 Paraguay

Welcome to our liveblog of the France-Paraguay game, being played today in Toulouse, France. Start time is 21h00 local, 3:00 pm Eastern, noon Pacific. Hit “refresh” for updates.

Okay, that’s it. Game over. The crowd is booing. France played much better first half. Second half was scary.

92+3′ If they don’t end this soon, we’re going to lose. Why did Boumsong get the call over Mexes?

90+1 What the HELL?!?!? Evra backpasses to Coupet, but there is a Paraguayan player coming on strong. They reach the ball at the same time. Coupet grabs it, but is nearly taken out by the other player’s knee.

90′ This one’s almost over. Paraguay is trying to run down the clock. No word on stoppage time.

89′ Govou sends the ball to Nasri outside the box. He blasts it but it goes just wide.

88′ Santana shoots, but sends the ball straight to Coupet.

87′ Shot wide for Paraguay. The replay of that last play show that Gomis was the hero in delivering the ball to Govou, who hit the post. That one should have gone in.

85′ Oh my gosh, two wonderful chances. First off the post (Govou), second (Nasri) to the keeper. But for a minute we put together a pretty attack.

84′ Gomis is playing back to goal. He collects the ball and sends it back to Malouda who has a great chance but sends it high.

83′ Caceres off, Santana on for Paraguay.

82′ Anelka delivers a nice long ball into the box for Gomis from mid-field, but he can’t quite reach it in time and the keeper gets it.

80′ Oh, so close! Gomis almost gets a shot off but is heavily defended, but he’s able to get it to Anelka who has a clear shot but slips! And then for some reason the ref calls offside anyway. didn’t look offside to me, but what do i know?

79′ This is definitely not the team we’re going to want to play in Euros. They’re tentative and giving Paraguay way too much room.

78′ Long ball heads toward Coupet, with players from each team running hard for it. Coupet barely makes it in time at the edge of the box.

77′ Foul called on Diarra. Not sure what it was. Free kick from maybe fifteen yards outside and to the left of the box, fortunately too hard and out for a goal kick.

75′ Uh-oh. Evra is down, rolling on the ground. He gets back up, but Abidal is warming up.

72′ Corner for Paraguay. The crowd did not like this — they thought it was a goal kick. The corner is delivered perfectly and Coupet is flat-footed on the wrong side of the goal. Fortunately Lassana Diarra is there to clear it off the line. Have I mentioned we suck on set pieces?

71′ I was wrong. It’s Toulalan off. This should be interesting.

70′ ACK! Major defensive screwups in the back almost let Paraguay score. Cardoza is down and perhaps injured. Nasri is warming up. Probably going in for Malouda?

69′ Valdez off, Lopez on for Paraguay.

68′ Good play from multiple players in the box. Anelka gets a shot off, but it’s blocked by a defender.

67′ Long balls delivered back and forth, box to box both ways. Estigarribia gets a shot off, but it goes wide. Diarra may have had the last touch, but it’s called a goal kick.

65′ It is SO strange to see Anelka as #8.

64′ Clerc saves a possible goal on a counter after the corner by intercepting a cross and sending it out for a throw-in.

62′ Benzema is taken down with an elbow to the gut. He takes the free kick from maybe ten yards out of the box. It heads straight for goal, but Villar bats it away. Benzema off, Anelka on for France.

60′ France is missing something this half. My stream is frozen, but the announcer said that “France was almost caught napping.” Whatever that means.

59′ Cardozo barely keeps the ball from going over the endline and volleys it back into play. France thought it was out, so nobody defended as it crossed the goalmouth. Fortunately most of Paraguay must have thought it was out too, because nobody was there to tap it in.

57′ Santa Cruz off, Cardoza on for Paraguay. Govou delivers a ball into the box, but it goes straight to the keeper.

56′ Clerc delivers a good cross into the box, and Benzema just barely heads it wide

55′ Clerc fouls Santa Cruz maybe 20 yards outside the box. France gets to the free kick first in the box.

53′ Malouda pushed down at midfield. The team seems to be missing Makelele at midfield. Diarra just isn’t quite as powerful.

52′ The player down is Caceres, and he’s carried off on a stretcher. Still not sure what happened. Paraguay passes the ball back to Coupet for the restart.

51′ Injured player for Paragay. It happened off the ball, so I’m not sure what happened.

49′ Govou is also on, for Ribery. He gets pulled back by a Paraguayan player and the foul is called, to the right of the box. Malouda sends a lovely free kick into the box right in front of the goal, but nobody gets to it. I wish we had somebody good in the air.

48′ Boumsong bobbles a ball and has to do a quick backpass to Coupet. Boumsong scares me.

47′ Anelka and Nasri warming up. Woohoo!

46′ Okay, L. Diarra is on for Makelele. Probably smart to rest Make.

Okay, we’re back. Gomis is on the field and so is Benzema, so I’m assuming Henry is off. Lassana Diarra is on, not sure if it’s for Makelele or Toulalan

If I were Raymond, for second half I’d take off Boumsong and put Abidal in the center. I’d also like to see Gomis in there, maybe for Henry? Other than that it’s a good lineup for this team. I think Clerc is looking better than Sagnol on Tuesday, but I’d be interested to see him against a team where he’s required to defend more.

45+2 That’s the half. France again dominating but not yet able to put it in the net. (How often have I written this about France?) On the positive side, Ribery is amazing, and he and Benzema have chemistry.

45+1 Evra charges up the right, Estigarribia sends it out over the endline for a corner, but that corner goes nowhere.

45′ Damn, Ribery’s fast. He wasn’t about to go anywhere this time, but…Damn.

45′ Patrice Evra gets called for a kick to the knee of Valdez.

42′ Aquino off, and I Estigarribia?? is on. (They only showed the name for a second, but that’s what it sounds like.)

42′ Henry does a pretty little backheel, but Benzema doesn’t see it coming and Paraguay takes over..

41′ I love Patrice Evra. That is all.

40′ Benzema delivers a ball from midfield to Ribery on the right. Ribery sends in a hard cross (or maybe it’s a shot?) that Henry can’t get to. Goal kick.

39′ Ribery is taken down to the right of the box. Free kick is taken by Malouda. Wait, no, it’s Ribery. (Yes, I can tell the difference. Malouda lined it up, Ribery took it.) Headed out by Caniza. Nice free kick, though.

37′ Aquino is down and may be out for Paraguay.

37′ Benzema is taken down in the box, but for some reason the ref does not call a penalty and play continues

34′ Pretty combination play — Malouda to Toulalan to Clerc to Benzema, but Paraguay defends well in the box and it eventually goes back to the keeper.

32′ Benzema sends it to Ribery at the top of the box. He gets off a shot but it goes wide. Henry was open — too bad.

31′ Santa Cruz gets a dangerous shot, but Coupet is there.

30′ The French seem to be settling down into their standard possession-oriented technical game. When Paraguay gets possession, Titi comes back and snatches the ball with a nice tackle at midfield.

29′ Clerc delivers a ball aimed for Ribery on the right, but Paraguay gets there first.

27′ Malouda tries to head the ball but delivers an arm to a Paraguayan player’s face instead.

26′ Torres sends a pretty, arcing free kick straight to Coupet

25′ Valdez wins a free kick to the right of the box for a pretty blatant dive.

25′ Dangerous ball in the box. Boumsong bobbles it.

23′ Paraguay looks threatening in the box, but Evra is able to clear.

23′ Malouda is offside.

22′ Complete BS foul called on Benzema for a little tug on a Paraguayan player.

20′ We have a clock now, and I wasn’t that far off.

19′ Squillaci heads it back to Coupet in a very dangerous way. A Paraguayan is there and Coupet has to fall on it.

18′ Benzema gets the ball in the box and sends it toward the far post, but it just barely goes wide outside.

18′ish. Nothing dramatic going on. Both teams are holding the ball until they get into the final third.

17′ Clerc does a nice run up the right and delivers it into the box, but it goes to a Paraguayan head

15′ Okay, we’re in, but no clock. So I’m going go guess at our time.

13′ Okay, the Portugal game is over, so I should get Setanta soon.

-1′ I was able to catch some of the TF1 preamble, but now my screen is frozen. the Portugal game is in the 86th minute on Setanta, so it shouldn’t be too long. Leave comments if anything exciting happens.

-3′ Out boys are in blue, and the Paraguay team is in red and white stripes.

-4′ I can see/hear enough of the match to know that the players are on the field for the National Anthems.

-5′ I’m trying to get the TF1 stream, but it’s cutting in and out. They’re interviewing Sagnol.

-10′ Ooh, new lineup! In central midfield we have Makelele and Toulalan, and in the back we have Clerc, Squillaci, Boumsong and Evra! Everybody else is the same. For the Paraguay lineup, go here: http://www.sport24.com/var/storage/multiplex/football/equipe_de_france/match_amical/france-paraguay-live-9057.html

Setanta will not be broadcasting the start of this match. (Boo, Setanta!) So the liveblog will probably start in about the fifteenth minute. But I’ll be trying to catch the first few minutes on a pirate stream, as will most other people living outside of France.

Again, here’s the expected France lineup: Coupet – Clerc, Boumsong, Gallas, Evra – Makelele, Vieira (ou Toulalan) – Ribéry, Malouda – Henry, Benzema.

I’ll post the Paraguay lineup when I find it.

Stream options. (Be sure to download the software before the games.) And leave any other streams in the comments.

Myp2p.eu has several. Reader Minal says TF1 works well.