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France v Switzerland

June 13th, 2006 | By: Chriso | 37 Comments »

Raymond Domenech has been bold in his team selection for today’s opener with Switzerland by picking Franck Ribery and dropping David Trezeguet to the bench.

I’m excited to see this game, the team he’s picked has a good balance, a strong midfield with Makelele anchoring and I like the inclusion of Sylvain Wiltord because he always works really hard for the team and gets forward into a lot of dangerous scoring positions.

Ribery getting a chance to link with Thierry Henry is the thing that gives France a good buzz ahead of this match. Playing against a Swiss defense that includes Senderos I think France have a great chance to get behind them if Zidane can play the early ball as well as Totti did for Italy against Ghana last night.

Dropping Trezeguet whose scoring record is second to none is Domenech’s big decision. It says to me he plans to move the Swiss defense around if he can rather than put a target man like Trezeguet up to battle it out with big defenders.

The full team is Barthez, Sagnol, Gallas, Thuram, Abidal, Makelele, Vieira, Zidane, Henry , Ribery, Wiltord.

With the game in Stuttgart France should have a ton of support there, I’ve been in Berlin since yesterday and haven’t seen too many French supporter’s around the fanfest areas.
It’s time for Les Bleus to show the rest of the World Cup what they’ve got and I’m going for a 3-1 win to erase memories of 2002.

Tags: Group G

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Comments

Displaying the most recent 25 comments from a total of 37 comments.

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By Alesandro | June 13th, 2006 at 8:01 pm

Zzzzzzzzzz… Is it over?

By Ken | June 13th, 2006 at 8:11 pm

Where is Trezeget in this match ??? Dumpest decision from french coach to leave him out of the match; he has experience in scoring goals instead they put a inexperience player who never play in the cup and has not proven anything yet !!! who need talent like Trezeget. pfff poor coaching decision!!!!

Posted from United States

By Baggy | June 13th, 2006 at 8:29 pm

Henrry
Whats the point of having a fantastic goal poacher like Henry then stick him out on the wing . Poor Henry no wonder his shots were lame – so was the managers brain —
silvan wiltord ??? go figure what he was doing?i cant

Posted from United Kingdom

By sam | June 13th, 2006 at 9:03 pm

ribery is pathetic! he wasted chances every time he touched the ball! why was he on the pitch?

Posted from United States

By otariq | June 13th, 2006 at 10:29 pm

This coach is pathetic, Ribery holds the ball too damn long. Ribery needs to come to Arsenal and let Wenger redefine his game. Trezeguet should have started along side Henry, these two are currently the two best strikers in the World today. I’m pissed off as hell, I picked France to win the entire thing.

Posted from Canada

By Orlando Pasto | June 14th, 2006 at 12:39 am

wow france needs to step up their game (if they want to advance

By Adrian Wagner | June 14th, 2006 at 3:53 am

Hm. I excpected a little bit more knowledge about football here. Yes, yesterday’s game wasn’t an attacking spectacle and France had a hard time – but they were playing against one of the best organized teams on the Cup. The way Switzerland occupies the room in its own half is absolutely fantastic. It was not primarily the inability of the French, but the system of the Swiss, which led to the 0-0. You’ll see what I mean in France’s game against Korea, where they will score, because they will find the space. They are still up there in the second choice of contenders for me (First choice: Czech Rep, Brazil, Argentina; Second choice: France, Holland, Spain, England).

So, appreciate system and tactics as much a goals, please. I think the Swiss fans are much happier with their ‘dull’ draw against France than American fans with the spectacle they allowed the Czech to create!

And otariq: WTF? What you write makes NO sense at all (the part about the coaches). If Ribery holds the ball too long, then that’s the Marseille coaches doing and not Domenech!

Posted from Australia

By otariq | June 14th, 2006 at 4:30 am

Adrian Wagner ,
I do agree with you about the Swiss organization. As much as I love the French team I must say that Brazil would have found a way to beat this team. The French is playing like crap. Did you see the mid-fielders arguing? They are dis organize and that has to be manager’s problem. Yes Ribery will be great but he hold the ball too damn long while trying to dribble.

Posted from United States

By otariq | June 14th, 2006 at 4:32 am

This Coach is poor he has the best players in the world but can’t get them to play together.

Posted from United States

By Roland | June 14th, 2006 at 4:36 am

France is a disaster this cup. They will be eliminated in the first round if they continue to play this way.

Posted from United States

By dila | June 14th, 2006 at 5:23 am

well put Roland.
i thought Zizou played beautifully overall but henry was yet at his best. trezeguet should’ve been on the field.he and henry make a great pair, i’d say

Posted from Malaysia

By Adrian Wagner | June 14th, 2006 at 5:33 am

I predicted the 0-0. And now I predict that France will trash both Korea and Togo. That will also put the Swiss achievment into the right light!

Posted from Australia

By Welsh | June 14th, 2006 at 7:43 am

What is the use of having a great play like Zinedine Zidane if he does not get help in the midfield. Zidane as we all know past his prime, but he is still the greatest passer of the ball, why does the coach on making him labour. A player of his caliber should have a couple of work horses around him and today there were none except for mekelele who I thin a great job in winning balls, but I did not see Viera and whoever else was suppose to support. I suggest that Viera should start from the bench and Dhorasu starts the game next time. Henry despite his form in the premiereship he seems to lack the cutting edge in international games, is it because he does not get the adequete supply or he is a club player no more? Abidal wasn’t sharp in defense either. The coach needs to do major changes for next time and a clear tactics. I still think this team can go far, if only the right tactics are deployed.

Posted from United States

By Alessandro | June 14th, 2006 at 10:40 am

I think France has one of the best team on paper… But:
1/ They played SWISS, SWISS mainly played the draw and both team kept denying each other
2/French tactic with Henry alone was not the solution
3/French players were quiet under pressure and inhibited, see little individual actions/strikes, especialy Ribery who didn t play his true football
4/The team is getting old, that’s a fact

I think this team’s psychology is weak, for now and that mediocre collective game alienates each players’ talent. For now I feel like in 2002… A big waist… Back at that time they had the best striker from England, the best striker from Italy and the best striker from France yet they managed to mess up…

By Julian | June 14th, 2006 at 5:06 pm

This was indeed a boring match. Germany-Costa Rica was a lot more entertaining. But who are we kidding here? The fact is that the Swiss and the French are two solid teams who fear and respect each other. The French however have a lot to lose; they are clearly favorite and have to prove that 2002 is part of the past. The Swiss on the other hand have nothing to lose, this is just a preparation for the 2008 Euro championship for them. I am convinced that both teams are kind of relieved with the draw and that France will show their true colors against Korea. Zidane was a bit upset about the lack of support from the back players, that will change against Korea.I do agree with Welsh though he needs more support from behind.

Posted from Thailand

By otariq | June 14th, 2006 at 7:06 pm

Adrian Wagner ,

I totally agree with you about France. All said France has the best players in every position in this world cup, they are better in most position than Brazil, but guess what? They are not the best team. This coach can not get them to play together.

Posted from United States

By Jenny Poussin | June 14th, 2006 at 8:22 pm

[COLOR="Magenta"]
Matche Nul?

Nous sommes capables de faire mieux!!!

ALLEZ LES BLEUS!!!

[URL=http://img43.imagevenue.com/img.php?loc=loc252&image=07981_Allez_Les_Bleus_small.jpg][IMG]http://img43.imagevenue.com/loc252/th_07981_Allez_Les_Bleus_small.jpg[/IMG][/URL]

Big Kiss,

jenny p.

[/COLOR]

By jean | June 14th, 2006 at 8:56 pm

I’m very dissapointed by the result. And it was hardly a thrilling match, given the defensive and disciplined Swiss approach, combined with lack of offensive flair from France.
The problems with the French attack seem pretty obvious. Ribery and Wiltford couldn’t take advantage of Zidane’s passing – which as always was sublime – and Henry was too isolated up front to be effective. Hopefully in the next game there will be a second attacker up front and Malouda on the wing.
The positive aspect is that the french defense looks very good, in particular Gallas and Makelele. One doesn’t go far in the World Cup without a strong defense.

Or without scoring goals of course! France has the players to be able to raise their level and go far, but they need to play better together.
If they don’t, I think a lot of the blame should go on the coach, who makes some strange decisions and is also disliked by many of the players.
( I still cannot understand why Anelka is not on the team. There’s a fast, powerful player who can create goals by himself!)

Posted from United States

By Sean | June 15th, 2006 at 5:23 am

French are pussies!!! We the US saved their asses during WWII, remember??? Neither can they score a goal in soccer nor can they score with their women. French are homos!!

By Julian | June 15th, 2006 at 11:29 am

Billant comments Sean, this is exactly the kind of subtle anlysis that gives us a bad reputation abroad. I’m sure you were among those who fought in WII. By the way, ths blog is about football, with your obvious deep understanding of international issues you couldn’t have missed that… could you???

Posted from Australia

By Blue | June 15th, 2006 at 1:39 pm

Why didn’t Silvestre play? Is he injured?

Posted from United Kingdom

By Alessandro | June 15th, 2006 at 8:23 pm

Hey Sean get lost, do you want me to remind you how deep the US team took it up the ass??

In case you forgot watch the next game Italy – USA carefuly… And buy some vaseline… Hahahah…

By Ed Rossignol | June 17th, 2006 at 10:03 pm

May i just ask why British people hate french people so much? and by the way u cant exactly say england scored against paraguay, wasn’t it an own goal.. hmm.. just as crap…

I openly admit france played a shocking game… tactically we were a mess, i hope Saha will start along Henry, he has great aerial strengh and is able to hold up the ball, and give Henry the kind of throughballs he deserves unlike Ribery, why didn’t he just take it with his left foot and pass it into the net?

Oh well, bring on korea haha… actually they are a strong fast team… it should be a challenge

Posted from United Kingdom

By ? | September 2nd, 2006 at 4:40 am

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Posted from United States

By luis zidane | December 1st, 2006 at 11:00 am

francia es el mejor equipo umilde silencioso y si saben jugar al futbol y zidan es u mago no se en verda si el creo el futbol o el futbol fue creado para que el lo jugara

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