Liberte, Egalite, Jules Rimet

Take heart from last night’s game…Germany lost due to the fatigue of their epic quarter-final battle with Argentina causing a lapse in concentration in the last minute. France had an easier match against Brazil than Portugal did against England, and should be better fit to go the distance. Good luck tonight, with the US and Germany out, today I’m a French football fan…go Les Bleus!

For those who don’t speak french, it means:

“Liberty, Equality, Jules Rimet”

Jules Rimet being the founder of FIFA, and the inventor of the World Cup. The first WC throphy was named after him.

France has give a lot to football, and surely, France must be rewarded for this.

God’s luck be with you France.

Tascien

I hope France wins today, too. This question is somewhat on subject. Can anyone tell me why FIFA hasn’t penalized Figo for his voluntary head butt in the game against the Netherlands?

The referee robbed Portugal of one penalty against Cristiano at 39′
Shame on France

Preview (Semis): France vs Portugal

France is confident they can get to the finals with Zizou playing his usual game and his usual game happens to be an enormous defensive problem for opposing teams.

Zidane’s last game against Brazil proved his age together with Patrick Vieira i…

Sorry antonio but me and the whole world saw the replay … and it’s not a penalty . referee made a good call , he was right there 2 feet away .

Sorry antonio, Ronaldo went flying on his own…watch the replay, that’s a correct no call. The ref has missed some clear yellows though… not nearly as good as last night’s ref.

Stuart is right

No saha for next match ( , so hopefully Domenech will have to give out some minutes for Trezeguet.

Does anyone knows whats the problem between the coach and Trezeguet?

Congats France ! I know it was the plan but a little TOO casual I think . But you could afford it against Portugal as they are just not capable of scoring .

Anyway , you conserved energy and you avoided yellow cards . So good job .

They will win you, and it gonna feel so good, you spent all these days putting pressure on the reffere, guess what, it worked, congratulations to im, he made the result…

Go Squadra Azurra.

wow it is gonna happen, cant believe this is gonna happen dudes? again`??
i am a muslim but i will pray for the french team to win the match..
long live french democracy and beautiful footballlllll

Congratulations to France!!
France to the Final.
Next game against Italy won´t be an easy task! but neither were supposed to be against Spain, Brazil or Portugal.

Good luck!!!.

Congratulations, France!! Not as good a game as the one with Brazil but as Serb said, you conserved your energy. And you know a team is diving and faking fouls far too much when even American commentators start mentioning it. Usually they’re pretty polite and overly complementary – this time even they got sick of Portugal’s antics.

Clearly that was not a penalty…france has made two dives during this tournament and they have been lucky to have been rewarded.

Portugal did some dividing as well…but France should not have won like this………..clearly it was not a penalty….

Portugal is a better team then france …..sorry french people but you guys robbed you way to the final.

As a Portugal fan I will say no one robbed anyone. France got the penalty, France won. We couldn’t crack your defense. I was a bit ashamed of Pauleta and Ronaldo looking for a penalty. If we’re gonna win, I want to win the right way. I’m glad the ref didn’t call anything.

It’s just a shame noone applauds our good football when we play it, and only talks about dives, like we’re the only team to do it. Still, I wish the players would earn their goals instead of getting them from the ref. Well done France.

Worst game I ever seen.

Seriously

france sucks donkey balls

they have no chance against Italy

Welcome to the Final Match France!!! It’ll be Great!!! …but you must play better than with Portugal if you want to play seriously against us…

FORZA AZZURRI!!!!

Egalité???????
Where is justice?! One more time you win on penalty basis…lol…if you deserve 1 penalty kick, how many mr. uruguai spear from penalising you? You have great players but don´t need the referee….sorry for you…Wining like this only mean a thing: Sunday I´m italian since I was born…lol..Alou de Portugal (le terre des villains et bruits comme vous dire;))

France did not have to play well..

they had 5 players on a Yellow and thus cautious… that’s what they did…

As for portugal, please go have a few dives at the beautiful portugues beaches!!!!

Mrs. Jorge Larrionda & Ivanov:
VA FANCULO
whit all love form Portugal

well Tascien, seems that portuguese playes are not unique when we talk about diving….thanks for the complements for beachs:)

Yup, that wasn’t a very good game. Neither was Italy vs. Germany, which was donkey dung, Massimo. Italy has looked good for approximately one minute of this entire World Cup.

Both Italy and France have strong defenses. Italy’s is much-vaunted; France’s is dangerously underestimated. I agree, Scout, France has to play better than the Portugal match to beat Italy. But they’ve already shown that they’re up to it (Spain, Brazil). I would suggest putting up two forwards – Henry and Trezeguet – for the final. The Italian defense is good, but it’s not that good.

For all the French here, from a Portuguese. Well done, you won well, we lost well. I salute you, and hope you get the cup (not to beat Italy, just because I believe that of the final four, you are the better team). My only sorrow is that we met on the semis and not in the finals…
Mes amis, vive la France, Zizou est un grand joueur, mais toute l’equipe aussi. Je vous salue, et vive la France!

Good franch to see that you nearly lost, some how you a lucky to get a free penalty from stupid ref.

Well Italy will show you who to play. ha ha ha!

you almost lost, big man

Massimo, i’d be very worried if I were you. So far the french have shown they have the BEST mid-field left in the tourney. Based on performance, Zizou, Viera and Makelele, they have DOMINATED everybody, especially Viera and Makelele. Whom have been great since the beginning of the tourney.

If Viera and Makelele, are great again in the championship game, then look for Zizou and Henry to get off on Italy and win the WC.

France 2
Italy 1 (or 0)

“Le bleus??? LE BLEUS???
It should be called Le NOIRS judging from all the blacks on the French team! ”

“What has happened to the proud Gaulic tradition of French footbal?
Am I watching the French team or some team from Cameroon, Senegal or Gabon? What is this??? ”

I love how the French team makes all the racist ignorant morons crawl out of the maggot-infested woodwork. These players consider themselve proud FRENCHMEN, they call themselves FRENCH. They went to French schools, grew up in French society, are full and complete members of France, citizens all.

This is the first time you’ve seen the French team? Where’ve you been? These are FRENCH players, almost all of them born and raised in France. They don’t know Africa from mars. They’ve never been there, don’t speak any African languages, their first language is FRENCH. All they know of Africa is what they see on TV.

Notice how several of them actually KNEW the words to the Marsellaise (as opposed to most of white and black Americans who don’t know the words to their own anthem). There are millions of French people of African/Arab/Asian descent, whose families emigrated to France decades and decades ago. Some even longer ago than that. They are *citizens* of France, France is the only country they’ve ever grown up in. Those few players not born in France were born in French territories and came to France at a young age — they too have FRENCH as their first language.

Grow the hell up and deal with the real world: Europe has millions of people of color now who are full citizens of their countries, raised there, born there (or moved there quite young), work and go to school there, are full citizens.

Get the hell over it. It’s not going to change.

Let’s give a hand to our poor Portuguese friends here . I was there with you against Holland and England but the game against England showed that you just don’t have the finishing touch and/or were running out of steam.

But the whole world knows that you play attractive football and that you are top 4 in the world so don’t worry .

France is the better team though and the better team won a fair game today .

zidaneisking, I concur.

FIFA be proud be very proud this is the clowns world cup!!! Referis are there to judge to to help FIFA in the quest for a world champion! I hope your all franch puppets are happy. Sad… Sad…

The tipical comments for a canadian… by the way fotball isn´t that game played whit a stik …

Viva los Portugese!!!

At least they play with their own native players.

Why can’t we be friend, why can’t we be friend,why can’t we be friend….

Ihave to give it to Portugal. they were the surprise of the tournament.

France gogogogo!!!

The game already as finished… don´t turn this blog to the sad coments that french jounalists made…Congradulations France…we were best but you get the chance! good luck

Well done france for putting the biggest cheaters out of the competition. Portugal were a disgrace!

Allez Les Bleus!

If you don’t know Deco was born in Brasil. I don’t care if he was born there or not. And we’ve african origin players too( Miguel for exemple) but i think they are as much portuguese as me.

If you don’t know Deco was in Brazil. And we’ve african origin players ( miguel) they are as much portuguese as i am.

Congratulations to the French.

I was rooting for Portugal…but oh well.

A good team one today.

Congrats to the French.

I wanted Portugal to win, but oh well.

I hope the Portugese can beat Germany on Saturday.

to all the portugese fans im sorry for your loss, but dont be sad, keep your heads up you still have the 2008 Summer olympic’s diving event to look forward to.
Good Luck to France!

To all French supporters,

I am Portuguese and despite sad for loosing with you, I am happy for this game.

It was a great and fair game with both sides trying hard to score.

I liked it. France has a very consistent team and plays very well! Zidane will retire with a final of the world cup, he deserves it, he is playing very well!

Allez les Bleus!

thanck you dan lourenço for your honesty, I had a doubdt myself, I saw the game on the beach at cannes, so when I came back I looked at the replay, ricardo kicks henry in the right leg.

I would like to answer to Jc from Panama: As far as we know Domenech founds Trezeget too slow, and preferes putting malouda on the left using it also as a defensor.
We won the last 3 games like that, but on the other hand Malouda is the worst french player since the debute, he has never been dangerous in any game, and makes some very stupid mistakes, and yet our left side wasn’t good at all tonight abidal was in very bad shape, I don’t trust this player since the semi final of Lyon against Milan AC in the champions league,

So tonight was a very poor game, I hope the team is not tired, it seems they were exausted after the 60′ min, it’s the end of this wcup played with very hot temperatures, 28° for tonights game

good job old rivals. It will be a great game against us italians. May the best team win…and may the best team be italy. See you on sunday.

Thanks for the answer toch , at this phase of the tournament there is no time for trying new things so i guess he will go for diarra and wiltord or even govou but not trezeguet.

Go France , you guys just need to take care of pirlo and luca.

Regards

jc

Allez les Bleus!!! I love how France is beating all predictions. In 1998, France was one of the favorites, but before and during this world cup, Les Bleus were so harshly critized about everything: their coach, their age, their “inability to score” and yadayadayada! After watching almost every single game, I think France has the most compact, consistent team. Great defense, exceptional midfield and forwards, and pretty much some of the best players in the world! Go Zizou! Go Viera! Go Ribery! Go Henry! Allez la France!

This is pathetic. The game was even. The PK was justified. A team won. Another one lost. Get over it. How do you want to lose? 1-0 on PK or FK, that’s not good enough? May be you prefer to lose with a 5-0… Sport is supposed to rally everybody, not to divide them. Cursing others won’t bring your team back to the WC. They sweat their shirt. They ran and suffered. You did not. So, you cannot judge them. Keep continuing to blame and curse other countries if you really want to see the world showing little respect to your countries. If you really believe that hate and anger are the only available answers, that means that you do not really understand what is football but use it as an excuse to hide the fact that you are just a bunch of hooligans.

Congratulations to France! I was glad to see the French team play so well. Once again I expect the good play of the French team.
I will always cheer for France in korea!

http://photo-media.hanmail.net/200607/06/nocut/20060706071212.691.0.jpg

Forza Azzurri – the best team will win!

p.s. the referees of this world cup – what is going on? Are they all blind?!

France will see how Brazil felt in 98. Go Italy

Good game France! Nobody injured, only Saha out for the finals, and you did it without going past 90 minutes. That extra energy will be mighty useful against Italy. The trend in the latter stages in this Cup is for the team that is coming off of extra time to lose the next game. That bodes well for France! But Italy is playing damn fine football, so it should be a great final!

thuram-canavaro.

Results (Semis): France 1 vs Portugal 0

Zidane’s goal is all that matters, another chapter to a decade of greatness.

Few of the greatest athletes in any sport could write a fairy tale story book ending as Zidane is presented with. Few if perhaps none of them came out of retiremen…

A couple of points…
Larrionda did a good job. He called the critical calls correctly and made a couple of other inconsequential errors along the way. So what?

Carvalho tripped Henry. Plain and simple. He made the mistake by committing the foul, not the referee for calling it.

Portugal was unable to score. That’s their fault.

And lastly, football is about unity. Only one team wins. Celebrate the winners and thank the losers for taking part.

Leave your racist stupidity at the door. Our game embraces everyone. If you can’t handle it, find another hobby. Football doesn’t need or want you.

Peace,
AC

good game france.! good luck sunday!

White Willaim (you can’t even spell your own name correctly?)

Please see zidaneisking’s comment. He hits the nail on the head. The members of the French team are French. Many of the players are first, second, and third generation Frenchmen. Like America, France is made up of many races and nationalities. Maybe if you left your redneck town you’d realize this.

One thing that makes the World Cup the biggest sports event in the world is its greatness in being able to unify millions of individuals from different backgrounds and cultures through one simple thing, and that is our love for football. Lets follow the official WC motto ” A time to make friends” and “Say no to racism”!
Please don’t mess up with the celebration of football or as I would say it in Spanish: “la fiesta del futbol”.

I’m a portuguese fan and I would like to congratulate France for the victory!

A todos os portugueses: “Nao vamos fazer a figura que os Laranjas e os bifes fizeram. Nos sabemos perder e sair com orgulho. Os nossos homens bateram-se como bravos e estao de parabens!”

France played an excellent game, diligent, poised, and focused as always. The cup is in France’s hands. It’s time to play at their peak careful not to let their guard down.
Excellente et formidable! Bonne chance cette dimanche!

That was tough. We won. I am super happy. Portugal played amazingly well…we didn’t expect less from them. Figo is one of the very top player! I love that guy…but I am glad that zizou gets to play one more final.
Italie-France…let see what happens…maybe a second star on the French jersey! I hope so…that’d be sooo cool!

To the Bleus – the best of luck against Italy. You played an excellent, smart game and deserved the victory.

Unfortunately, the Portuguese blog has deteriorated into a bunch of hate & name calling nonsense.

I’m extremely proud of my team and my players. I feel it’s unfortunate that we’ve been labeled so many things – none of which are fair or necessarily accurate.

I thank both teams for playing “Fair Play” and not just paying lip service.

And…your team has shown tremendous heart and poise – truly a team to be proud of and support.

Many do not think you will get past the Italians, but I disagree – your players and Z are showing the true depth required to win.

Que le meilleur gagne!
Che vinca il migliore!

And most of all , i wish from all my heart and soul that Zidane plays the best game of his life this sunday, because he deserves a beautiful final to his exceptionnal carreer and grace.

Let me say this, anyone who says the penalty was not fair maybe they were watching another game or danegreously idiots and sore losers. You can tell that France was slowing down the game on purpose right from the start and they have succeeded. Solid defence lead by Lillian Thuram and Gallas ruled the game and also Makelele did not allow Deco to even think.
They won with minimum effort and that shows professionalism from the part of a great team.
Looking forward for a great tactical game on Suday.

Go france!

allez france !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Italy-Germany was the game of the tournament, especially the 1st half and extra-time. It was nothing but end to end action. Germany didn’t lose because of fatigue, they lost on a great shot on a great play. Italy went in and beat Germany at home in a stadium in which they had never lost. Yet, many people still cannot give credit where credit is due but rather make excuses. These are prifessional players in the most prestigious tournament in their sport, and none of the German players looked fatigued. Toni looked more tired than any of the Germans. As for France, this game is not a given for either team. France is aging and this will probably be the final time many of them will play, or at least have a starting role for France, while most of Italy’s players could have another 2 World Cup tournaments in them. Regardless of who wins, these have been the best 2 teams in the knock-out phases. Of course, most people probably will never be able to give either of these teams the credit they deserve.

Congrats France.

Zidaine did not do well today. His play making skills were missing. How will France win in the finals if he plays like this.

What will the French do after this world cup. There are no emerging stars.

I expect a boring final between Italy and France. Guess what the final scores will be 1-0. Gain the initial lead and sit on it like Rooster.

Allez les Bleus!!! One more game to take it home!!!
All for one for friendship in this beautiful game!!!

I don’t think France played well yesterday, they looked tired, they missed and wasted a lot of balls and controls. That wasn’t a great match on our part but I think there was a huge pressure on the players for this game.

Concerning Henry and the Pk, of course there was a PK even if he exagerate its dive (as he did against Spain, but in both cases the fouls were real).

Concerning Portugal, they did well and could really have scored 2 times. I think that it’s a very good team that will have good results the following years.
Even if I know that Portuguese don’t like to hear it I think that they have to dive less to be respected as they deserve to be (all teams have diving players but yesterday it was sometimes quite ridiculous)

Congratulations for Portuguese people for being really fairplay on this blog (most of them)and good luck against Germany

John and AC, you totally get the point here, thanks and good luck for france and Italy for the final.

GOOOOO France

Respect for FRANCE! Zidane is a genius , the best!
Let’s see you on sunday!
And go Italy go!
FORZA AZZURRI

Yes Yes Yes portugal are out, cheating diving muppetts with a manager who agree’s with cheating shame on you portugal with the players you have you dont need to cheat and what goes around comes around and zidane is back controllin matches again its great ot see such a brilliant player finishing his career on a high as he has been pretty mediocre last 2 seasons hopefully he will be lifting the holy grail sunday

Congratulations France, I am so pleased for you. Thankyou so much for beating Portugal you did England a favour, we owe you one! Who knows it could have been France/England final if it had not been for such underhand behaviour from Portugal. However we must move passed that and wish you all the best for the Cup Final. May you achieve your goal and walk away with your heads held high looking at and carrying the cup.

i got a friend to photoshop a little homage to Les Bleus aka Team Zizou:

http://img301.imageshack.us/img301/7342/teamzizouwithlogo022cr.th.jpg

France, please beat Italy
On behalf of Australia, i think that we all want Italy beat.
If you don’t
we’ll all go crazy…
please…

White Willaim, France’s team is made up of mostly native Frenchmen and a few immigrants from French territories who moved to France at a young age and grew up there. Leave your ignorance and stupidity away from this forum.

To anonymous from Australia: I’m with you. I sincerely hope France beats the crap out of Italy, a team that got thru its group using cynical cheating methods. What they did to Australia was disgusting. But I think it will be a very tough job because Italy looks stronger than France. At least France played a more relaxed game yesterday so they conserved some energy.

As for Portugal, you know things are bad when even the very polite American commentators feel the need to mention the constant diving and deliberate, obvious search for fouls. One of the American commentators, Julie Foudy (a star of the US women’s football team) referred to French player’s William Gallas’ public comments before the match in front of the press. He said how France would have to be careful about Portugal’s provocations and attempts to get players kicked off the pitch, and their constant flopping and diving. Gallas said that he and his teammates would have to be careful not to be drawn into these tactics.

Foudy said this was a smart thing for him to do because it made the referee and the press ready to take extra notice of both Portugal’s and France’s behavior in the game.

So every time Portugese players would flop or hang around the penalty area looking for a foul, the referee was having none of it, which made Portugal play better and try less of these tactics. This made the match go smoother.

well, that didn’t come out right…i’ll learn this internets thing _one day_!

http://img207.imageshack.us/my.php?image=teamzizouwebnologo6vt.jpg

L’Equipe Zizou, Life Aquatic-style!

Italy has shown their class throughout this tournament with stable performance in most matches. Whoever criticised Italy’s defence style and players’ skills should think twice for a fairer view because the semi-final with strong Germany proved the opposite. Italy knows how to put in a beautiful show of defence skills with their tactful attacking style. Enthusiasm, strong will and excellent cooperation have produced Italy’s quality games in this WC party. I feel that this World Cup is a new page for Squadra Azzurri. I wish them best of luck with all my love as a tifosa from Vietnam. I am confident that their final performance will convince the world. Forza Squadra Azzurri!

Thierry “I fall down when you touch me” Henry. What a pansy! Sadly football has become nothing more than a bunch of divers flopping onto the pitch everytime anyone even rubs up against them. Pathetic!!!

What a pansy! Sadly football has become nothing more than a bunch of divers flopping onto the pitch everytime anyone even rubs up against them. Pathetic!!!

You can’t say that and support Italy (even if Italy is probably the best team of this WC)
It’s like portuguese fans accusing Henry to be a diver. Come on…

Pansy? haha.. Thats all that I was thinking durring the entire game about France’s gay coach. All his pansy facial gestures and hand signals. What a blatent fag!

Also..

Haarf,

Portugal wasnt the only team in the WC to accuse Henry of diving ..
He has a history of it!

France (or should I say Haiti?) won.. but they didn’t do it with any class or dignity!

It was the second time in three World Cup games that opposition players said France scored after Henry faked a foul. Patrick Vieira’s header in a 3-1 victory over Spain in the round of 16 followed a free kick awarded when Henry collided with Carles Puyol.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601100&sid=a8M4GuArh0nU&refer=germany

well done france they tried to con the ref but he was strong. the big cheats are out and you have done the game a big favour.

France Sucks the whole world hates your shameful team, you are nothing but cheaters and sissy’s you will be the only country in this world cup to lose twice! Shame Shame France!

lol Where do this funny frustrated guys come from ?

Robert, both times there were fouls on Henry wether you like it or not. The fact that he exagerate his fall doesn’t mean there wasn’t fouls.

Ajax, I love you too. Your analysis is so clever that we all have to show some respect.

Haarf, ignore them

oh btw : http://i6.tinypic.com/1z38g0p.jpg

Nice defense, he??

a dive is a dive.. no matter how you look at it. Portugal was guilty of it.. but so was France.. Portugal got the short end of the stick.. Maybe this has something to do with it:

The calls made by ref Jorge Larrionda seemed very one-sided to me. He appeared to be completely biased to the French.

Im not sure if anybody has seen this info… It doesn’t do Portugal any good now, but it is pretty obvious that a ref like this should have no place in futebol whatsoever. Especially in a WC game!

Jorge Luis Larrionda Pietrafesa (born March 9, 1968) is a FIFA football referee from Uruguay who has officiated at international matches since 2000. The top moment of his career has been the 2006 FIFA World Cup, in which he officiated four matches, including a semifinal between Portugal and France. However, he made the headlines in the match between Italy and the United States, in which he sent three players off. His performance was severely criticized, most in the US, a country that was eventually disqualified in the group stage. However, he also received acclaim for following specific FIFA procedures aiming at punishing violence on the pitch, which led him to be selected to officiate a semifinal match.

Larrionda was suspended for 6 months by the Uruguayan football federation after being selected for the Korea- Japan World Cup 2002. There were suspected irregularities. The particulars of these irregularities are not known, although bribes are suspected. He was suspended with four other Uruguayan referees.

Larrionda has been criticized in the past for being lenient. Allowing fouls to go unpunished in a Brazil -Colombia qualifier in October 2005.

The Guardian notes that he made a controversial call disallowing a Brazil goal vs Uruguay in a 2004 match. Replays showed clearly that the ball was a half meter into the goal.

Also in a 2004 match between Brazil and Colombia, disallowing goals for both sides.

Forca Portugal!

Ajax,

If you like italy, there is an italian blog here:
http://italy.worldcupblog.org

We’re are still drinking champagne and we really don’t have time to respond to you now…

Allez les bleus… Allez les blues… Allez les blues….

Allez les Bleus~~

Definitely a tough match between France and Italy.

But I guess France slightly have advantages because they crowned a couple of times World Cup Champion title and they co-operate well as a team. Plus, from what I’ve seen, France team has higher morale than Italy.

May all the luck be with France on Sunday match (Monday 2am here in Malaysia).

Could we stop all this nonsense about the PK ? Carvallho admits he tripped Henry but still people will claim we cheated our way to the final.

http://www.channel4.com/news/content/news-storypage.jsp?id=1403365

And ajax, it will be hard for us to lose twice since we haven’t lost yet.

Get ready. This Sunday, Juy 9th France will be crowned World Cup Champions 2006 after a dominating and humiliating 4-0 win over Italy. France is too talented, too experienced, and looking fresher than ever. France dominated and humiliated Portugal and we will do the same to Italy. Like 1998, this Final will be no challenge. France will go down as the greatest team in football history and Italy will once again choke like in Euro 2000, and WC 1998, 1994, 1990, etc. Italy has not defeated France in the last 3 tournament meetings and that streak will not end this time around. Vive le France. Henry is better than Pele ever was.

good luck and bon chance to France on Sunday. Wish we were there with you!! Barnsley Reds FC Supporters, England.

I am amazed that the Portugal team is officially claiming there was no penalty against Henry. I expect it of fans but the coach and team are now officially saying this when the video has been replayed and replayed and replayed again and again, it’s so incredibly obvious. I was watching Univision when it happened and the Spanish commentator freaked! He was in the middle of describing the play when suddenly, in the same voice he uses to shout GOOOOL!, he shouts “PENAL! PENAL! PENAL! PENAL! PENAL!” They replayed it over and over and over again. And Univision played up the Portgual team far more than it did France, they tend to play up the Latin American and both Iberian teams a little more than all the others. Just incredible that the coach and team don’t see it.

Italy has not defeated France in 28 years and there is no reason to think this streak will end anytime soon. France has Italy’s number.

2-Jul-2000 ROTTERDAM (Netherlands) France vs. Italy 2:1 UEFA EURO 2000

3-Jul-1998 SAINT-DENIS (France) Italy vs. France 0:0 (3:4 on PKs)

FIFA Friendly
11-Jun-1997 PARIS (France) France vs. Italy 2:2

16-Feb-1994 Friendly, NAPLES (Italy) Italy vs. France 0:1

17-Jun-1986 World Cup, MEXICO CITY (Mexico) Italy vs. France 0:2

2-Jun-1978 World Cup, MAR DEL PLATA (Argentina) Italy vs. France 2:1

12-Jun-1938 World Cup. COLOMBES-PARIS (France) Italy vs. France 3:1

France is useless. You got here by beating an impotent Portugal. The only way you could score on Portugal is a penalty- and you can bet thats the only way you will score on the italian defence. Vengeance time for italians. italy 1-france 0.

vive le france- Henry is a mediocre striker in world cup. He has never won a golden boot, and has 3 goals in this world cup. Henry is not worthy to tie peles shoes.

You compare france to 1960’s era brazil, but france didnt score a goal in 2002 and lost to Greece in 2004. Talk about choking. Vive le france, Come to college street when italy wins and join in our celebration. I guarentee you that france is too impotent to score on Italy.

italian, italian. why are you in this blog? Are you so scared to come here and bother US.

We are still drunk from last night now… we will focus on you on Saturday.

Let’s see:

France beat:
SPAIN, BRAZIL, PORTUGAL

Italy beat:
AUSTRALIA (cheat. penalty), UKRAINE(mediocre), GERMANY(mediocre)

for your information, the italian blog is here:
http://italy.worldcupblog.org

Seb,

His actual words were: ” I made contact with Henry” and you take that as “I tripped Henry” ?

He made contact with Henry on the shin. He did not trip him.. No matter what team we are talking about.. Portugal, France, Italy.. A guy shouldnt dive when he is “touched”. That is exactly what Henry did.. And this time, His dive cost Portugal.. Just like it cost Spain when Henry took a dive against them.

italian…
First of, it is “Vive la France” and not “vive le france”…
Hope it helps you with your French
Secondly, it is very nice of you to compare Henry to Pele…I would not even have dared, even though Henry is an awesome player.
Finally “Vengeance time for italiens. italy 1- france 0″. That’s all? 1-0….vengeance?? Petit, petit, petit, petit….
Allez les bleus!
Que le meilleur gagne!

Ajax, here you are!

As funny as ever! I wondered where you had gone…

Robert,
we have a French expression for your attitude you would certainly love: Mauvaise foi…I think the English equivalent is bad faith.
So sad…
Anyway, we’re in the final and we deserve it. Bottom line.
Allez les bleus!

Hey,
does anyone here remember France in 2002?

yep! And…we’re in 2006? Nope?

Je suis désolée Virgine. Je ne voulais pas te rappeler des mauvais souvenirs…

Tous les équipes en a…

ok Robert just imagine this Zidane is passing to you a great pass inside the box when you run you do a quick sprinting plant when out of the blue you see someone take out your planting foot and your other foot is in the air cause when you run you drive your knees in the air that is how the proper way of running is personally i would fall to if someone took out my planting foot and i know you would to i can say this because i had the same thing done to me except not in the box best wishes to both Italy and France and may the best team win ALLEZ LES BLEUS!!!

If France has been so mediocre all these years, how come Italy hasn’t beaten France since 1978?

Beat you in 1998 world cup and 2000 eurocup finals. Need I say more?

Ajax, give us a break with your non sense comments… r u on drug or sth? BTW it’s squadra azzura not squadra azzuri dumbass.

Two great teams, two great nations on a beautiful continent…May the best win !

Forza Azzuri!!

so let’s get in this very exciting final

Italy as one advantage on us:

Del Pierro -Gilardino- Iaquinta

They’re gone be substitued around the 60 or 75′ min, it depends on the score, and if the french team is tired at that time we’ve got a very serious problem!
the only good point is that against germany the rest of the italian team was so tired and these players so fast that the midfield had disapeared, and the defense was 60 meters away, you could see a gigantisc hole in La Nazional.

Mais c’est pas grave ma petite Catherine, c’est pas grave. Le principal c’est de savourer le moment present…

th futur french stars?

thuram replaced by Mexes excellent player

makelele by??? balmont cheyrou Dabo they’re all young and don’t forget makelele became the player he is only 5 years ago

Zidane by? maybe one of his 4 sons

Barthez By Landreau I hope, coupet is at old as him

Take a look of this:http://www.dailymotion.com/popular/tag/france/video/316214

Virginie, tu as raison… l’italie aussi a souffert en 2002… Je déteste la coupe 2002… au moins la 2006 est plus interessante…

To Catherine
C’est clair!
En 2002, j’etais au Luxembourg et la France n’etait pas tres populaire (je serais curieuse de savoir si c’est le cas cette annee encore). Les bleus avaient un peu trop la grosse tete je pense, et les Luxembourgeois etaient trop heureux de nous voir perdre…bouhou…esperons que dimanche ca ira mieux!
Italie-France, ca va chauffer!

Well done for showing those floppers that you really do have to play football to make it through to the final of the WC!

Hey Italian,
You said that Henry is a mediocre striker because he never got the golden boots. Wawww, I am very impressed by your football knowledges. This post is so funny. you heve no clue about football so keep sticking to your illarous statistics and get a life.

This match up between France and Italy is fairly even I think. It could go either way. True, France has a very dorminant mid field and strong defense but I have observed some slow response from the left full back position. This position is highly vulnerable to attack from speedy wingers. The person who plays this position often allows play to develop before he reacts. Sometimes this move results in a lot of corners or dangerous crosses. France has to fix this problem otherwise Italy will take advantage of this weakness and punch one in.

I would like to see France send more than Henry forward when attacking. That might cut down on the off side and put more pressure on the Italian defense. With Zidane in command Italy will have to play tight on defense to avoid henry goals. Italy will rely on fast break counter attack to keep France honest. If France maintains discipline on defense, they win otherwise Italy wins.

Here’s my bold prediction…France 2, Italy 1

I’m rarely optimistic and i’m afraid I won’t start today.

Both teams have good defense but I think Italy’s one is slightly better.
If France use the same tactical scheme we have a few chances to put a goal while Italy really have some (their bench is so rich it can make the difference at the end).
So do we have to play the same way and expect for PK at the end ? Dunno perhaps RD will change the tactics to increase the strenght of the attack.
There’s one thing i’m sure of : French players will give anything they have, and that’s the most important thing.

I root for France of course but I’m afraid Italy will win. Italy has an amazing goalkeeper and Canavaro is amazing. Still, the win-lose histories of certain teams seems to be holding out: Brazil-France; Germany-Italy; England-Portugal; Portugal-France.

As to Italy, they have one good game against a mostly inexperienced Germany and now suddenly they’re the most overhyped team on the planet. Italy’s play has traditionally been incredibly unimaginative, cynical, with lots of theatrical fouling, no real attacking and total emphasis on defense. The quintessential Anti-Footbal Team. Yes, Canavaro is an exceptional defender. Buffon is an exceptional goalkeeper. The other players — while skillful and talented in some measure — have never struck me as exceptional. The Vieira- Makelele pairing is superior to the Italian midfield.

This suddenly golden Italy team had to force a cynical, theatrical foul against Australia to beat a mid-level team by 1 goal. That’s the only way they could score. They scored a lot against a very poor Ukrainian team, and then had to fight hard in the 2nd half to prevent a suddenly strong attacking Ukraine from scoring. And they struggled to tie against a very poor US team. France too performed poorly in the early stages. But it’s somehow Italy that’s suddenly become this megastar team on the strength of one match against a German team that came quite close to winning the match on penalties.

Basically its proven champions (France) vs seasoned chokers (Italy), I’ll take the former to emerge victorious. Iaquinta, Gilardino, or Del Piero are nothing to worry about. Remember in 2000, Del Piero missed 2 chances a foot in front a wide open net. If it comes down to it, he’ll miss again. He’s that type of player. Iaquinta and Gilardino? Are they even in the world cup, they’ve done absolutely nothing I thought they were mere spectators. Totti? This guy’s supposed to be the “Golden Boy” of Italian football? His career is defined by one incident – spitting on an opposing player. Italy’s attack is a nonfactor, at least against quality opposition, and if France can exploit Italy’s defensive lapses, which Italy tends to have, then the French will win again. The best Italy can play for are penalties, and we all know what happens when Italy is in those situation in the world cup – Italy loses 100% of the time.Either way, the odds are on France’s side.

HENRY is the Frances most shameful player….DIVING …DIVING AND MORE DIVING..

They talked about Portugal diving….thanks to henry diving it got them a penalty.

BOO HENRY …BOO FRANCE….you will not win the cup…TRUST ME.

BOTH ITALY AND FRANCE CHEATED BY DIVING AND GETTING A PENALTY…..

BOO TO BOTH TEAMS…more to france then italy….

BOO HENRY …boo FRANCE….you will not win..tomorrow..

I will remind all that the original Jules Rimet trophy is in PERMAMENT custody of the Brasilian national team!!!!

In time, this newer version of the World Cup trophy shall be as well.

Jogo bonito!

Dave hamildav@yahoo.com

Serbia like Nokia, every time gets smaller.

And France gets uglier.

Monkeys everywhere.

IL n’y a pas d’excuse!!! Moi quand je pratiquais un art martial, on m’avait bien expliqué que si je me battais dans la rue, ma licence me serait retirée et le maitre du dojo ne me laisserai plus pratiquer.
Tout foot balleur qui se comprte comme ça devrait être banni à vie, Quel exemple donne il aux jeunes?
There is no excuse what so ever. When I was a professional martial artist, I was explained that if I got involved in a brawl, I would get my licence and access to the Dojo withdrawn.
All footballer behaving like Zidane did should be banned without appeal. What kind of exemple do they give to the youth? There can’t be any excuse.
As a french I feel more ambarassed and ashame for that than for loosing the game. In fact we deserve to loose the game for that reason. Being red carded ZZ didnot take part in the penatty shoot out.
Zizou abruti!/Dumwit!
What pisses me off even more is that despite this the all French press says that HE WAS WRIGHT! That he must have had a good reason for acting like that! Lip readers are analysing the tapes to find out what was said. This SHAME FULL. And yes a good exercise in French hypocrisie.
THEIR IS NO EXCUSE TO VIOLENCE IN SPORT!
VIOLENT PEOPLE MUST BE EXCLUDED FROM PROFESSIONAL SPORT. THEY CAN ADRESS THEIR PROBLEM WITH A PSY OR EVACUATE THEIR ANGER IN A AMATEUR CLUB.

Philippe

ADIEU ZIZOU MERCI POUR TOUT!!

I LOVE FRENCH PEOPLE
I LOVE ZIDANE

LIBERTE’, EGALITE’, MERCI TREZEGUET

If somebody want to speak with hungarien people:)my MSN address:csilla0317@citromail.hu