World Cup Warm-up – France 0, Spain 2, Spain Among this Summer’s Favorites

March 6th, 2010 | by: jeff | Comments (13)

Here’s how France lined up against Spain in their friendly at the Stade de France in Paris on Wednesday night:

Anelka
Henry Gourcuff Ribery
Toulalan L. Diarra
Evra Escude Ciani Sagna
Lloris

Spain won 2-0, scoring both goals in the first half while Xavi and Torres rested. Iniesta, Fabregas, Villa, and Ramos were more than enough for France to handle, but France weren’t quite as hopeless as the final scoreline suggests.

I watched the match on tape delay thanks to the useful ESPN360, and I knew the result going in. I was expecting the worst, so I was somewhat relieved to see that France do have a few players in form: Evra, Sagna, Lloris, and L. Diarra; and a few others just a bit off the pace: Ribery, Toulalan, and Anelka.

Gourcuff looked a little farther off the pace, but it looks like most of his problems are related to fitness. He could be back to his best by this summer; let’s hope.

Henry was some distance off the pace, and looks like he might not be able to earn his spot on current form. Domenech will probably play him regardless.

Escude and Ciani was an experimental centerback pairing. Ciani is a Bordeaux and former Lorient player, and this was his France debut. They weren’t terrible, but they didn’t look like World Cup winners. Ciani had a shocking giveaway early on, which luckily led to nothing, and Escude was beaten for the 2nd goal, and got the deflection to ensure Lloris couldn’t save Ramos’s shot.

France had a lot of possession but very few shots on goal. They hit the post late on when D. Cisse crossed to Malouda, and his header was just a bit wide. In the short time he was on, Cisse looked useful.

Ribery looks like France’s most promising prospect. He was in and out of the match a bit, but he’s been out for most of this season with injuries, so I think that’s to be expected. When he was involved, he looked useful, and comparable to Spain’s best players, which is saying something because Iniesta and Fabregas are fantastic. Torres, when he came on in the second half, looked like the best of the lot.

Lassana Diarra, who was France’s worst player in the infamous match against Ireland, was perhaps the best player against Spain: many successful tackles and pushing forward more effectively than the often-anonymous Toulalan.

France is a bit of a patchwork side right now with so many players missing their best form, but this was not one of the most diabolical France performances we’ve suffered through in recent years. France were carved open with some good counter-attacking play from Spain, but France controlled large portions of the game, although they didn’t create enough opportunities.

The Paris crowd booed them, especially at the end of the first half right after Spain’s 2nd goal. If you go to a restaurant and order a steak and the waiter brings you a burger, then you’re probably going to have a moan, especially if it’s a repeat offense, and I think there was that kind of feeling in the crowd. There was a good turnout, over 70,000, but they’re obviously disappointed watching Spain effectively stroll to victory.

A couple counterattacks was all Spain needed because they were tight at the back. Jesus Navas nearly got a third Spain goal late on.

France have to do more to create goals, and have to be better organized defending counterattacks. If we can just iron out the attack and the defense before this summer, we’ll be in good shape.

Update: For more on the match, see the comments in the previous post, many of which are excellent, and include comments from some long-time participants of this site.