Our French Guys Do Champions League

Laurie,

I posted about an AC Milan player that you might not know of yet, check out Yoann Gourcuff on my site.

L’Américain

Laurie – a couple bad breaks for Lille today. The first goal should have been allowed.

Luis, I was watching Real Madrid and Bayern Munich. (What a game!) But I caught the final score for Lille and it wasn’t nearly as lopsided as I’d expected. I think I’ll have to catch a replay on this one.

You’re probably the fourth person who’s told me to check out Yoann Gourcuff. (Always described as “the next [fill in the name of an aged and formerly fantastic player.]” I’ll definitely have to check him out.

Laurie, this is my first year in which I made a decided effort to become a league soccer fan (as opposed to waiting around for the French national side to play). I chose the Premiership because the level of play is better on whole and well my French as of yet has not ventured into soccer terms (6 years of French and no football terms?) Anyway, the other main thing keeping me from taking the dive to try to get into the French league is that everyone talks about Lyons, but they’re way too good. I couldn’t have started following Man U or Chelsea when I started watching the Premiership and so I can’t start with Lyons… all this to say, who do you support in France? How did you choose? Seriously, this feels like a Dear Abby letter… sorry.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3-3qcq4hCf8

gourcuff vs some guy named zidane, good movie

I think ESPN Deportes is showing Roma-Lyon. I have Setanta too, but it disappoints me sometimes because I purchased it just to watch Lyon, but they try to be fair to the other Ligue 1 teams, so they’ll only show a Lyon game every three or four weeks.

I will be watching Roma-Lyon using sopcast, which is pretty good for using a stream, and you can get English commentary (which is key – I don’t like watching games with commentary in Russian or Chinese, it confuses me).

Whb, I think we should all start a glossary of French soccer terms. (To start: Guess what the French word “corner” translates to.)

And don’t be so quick to rule out Lyon as a new favorite team. If you’re a France NT fan, it might feel like wrapping up in a comfy old blanket because you will know SO many names and faces! I loved my NT guys, but also quickly fell in love with guys like Juninho, Fred and Cris, and… Well, it just went from there. A full-blown love affair. (Don’t tell my husband.) At least learn to love them for Champions League, where they’re still kind of the underdogs. (As France generally is.)

For me, I tend to love players, and then to follow them back to their teams. Recently, Ribery (and now Cisse) to Marseille, Mavuba to Bordeaux, etc.

A fun book I would recommend is “Le Foot” by Christov Ruhn. It’s one of very few English language books on French soccer, and it has a lot of interesting history, from Auxerre’s youth development system to the 1998 World Cup winners to Marseille’s match-fixing scandal. (No, Italy does not have a monopoly.) Sometimes it’s easier to learn to love if you have a connection to the past. Just a thought. The book is available from Amazon, but you might have to wait a month or so.

I enjoy finding other US fans of French soccer. I would write this blog for my own amusement, but it’s fun when I don’t have to.

Well, it’s quite nice to find other French fans. We weren’t that popular when we were in the bars cheering “Allez Les Bleus” this past summer.
I’ll spend some time looking over the French league and maybe make an effort next season.
After this past week, though, I think I’ll put Lille out of the running for French teams to follow.

Setanta showed Lille vs. ManU, and it’s now in the archives. I’m going to have to watch this to see the controversy! (Plus I adore Patrice Evra.)

Dang, not a very good set of matches for your guys! But yes, JOHAN GOURCUFF, BONJOUR! Get to know him, because he’s the next Zidane. (Along with 277 other young frenchmen)

If anyone cares why I follow French football… I’m Brazilian-Italian (born in Rio) and I never followed European football closely until I discovered Les Bleus in the mid-90s. The only European national team I followed occasionally were Spain because they were the only ones in Europe (to me anyway) who represented the kind of football we Brazilians love: open, positive, attacking, expansive football with flair. I know the Dutch in the 70s played beautiful football but I wasn’t paying attention then.

I followed the Spanish league a little and knew of the big name European clubs and players but they just were not part of my regular football universe. Most of my focus was entirely in South America.

Until, that is, the mid-90s when I discovered Les Bleus and learned how the French had worked hard since 1974 to develop their national squad. I was living in Italy and saw zizou play at Juve, then caught some games of the French national team. Then of course, there was the 98 wc where a French team won without even a proper striker, yet still playing attacking football.

They set up an amazing national academy at Clairefontaine and their approach was to meld the kind of open attacking football (with flair) that Brazilians love with the strong defensive tradition of Italy. Their pragmatism told them to learn from the Italians to be effective but their ultimate commitment was always to open, attacking, possession football first.

They didn’t and don’t always succeed in that commitment, good teams must be flexible, but the belief in that syle of football is always there. That’s why I supported France in the wc last summer — I had hoped Argentina would win but France were the only team left that represented the kind of football I am passionate about.

Also, no other team – club or national – in the sport has ever had to deal with the level of racist abuse that the French squad has had to over the years. That abuse has come from both within France and without. Throughout, the French squad has handled themselves with pride, grace, dignity and ntelligence.

I live for games like the recent friendly between Argentina and France. That’s football. Not those mindnumbingly boring 1-0 longball super-defensive affairs where players just come out to kick each other to death.

The 1986 wc Brazil-France match is considered the most entertaining in that tournament. You can get it on ebay – trust me, you’ll be glad to buy it, it’s fabulous. I’ve also seen (on videos and dvds) the wonderful French squad that won the ‘84 European championship. Brilliant stuff.

Brazil has not beaten France since 1958 – the closest we’ve ever come is a 0-0 draw in a 2004 friendly – the one where the French were wearing those strange, uncomfortable long white shorts and buttoned shirts (they had to change kits at halftime).

It was the French who invented the world cup and the European championship trophy. French football has always preferred the attacking flair of South America – after the 1930 wc, the French were very taken by the stylish winning Uruguayans, more so than by the victorious Italians of the next 2 world cups and it was that preference that has always dominated the French approach. Despite all the obvious reasons for the need for defensive football, the French maintain a belief in entertainment, style and flair as much as possible. Like Wenger at Arsenal, they know it isn’t always possible – but they don’t abandon it.

Oh and here’s a popular Brazilian joke about zidane: he was born in Brazil, got kidnapped by Algerian pirates and was taken to France.

By the way, Laurie, just as you feel motherly toward the French squad, I feel that way about the Brazilian squad.

What a great post sandrahn. As a french-canadian, its easier for me to find fellow French soccer fans to talk about French soccer with. Being bilingual also helps with the French media. So i feel bad for French-American fans on that level. (theres nothing quite like an intelligent French soccer/culture converstaion!) This blog is great because its interesting to connect with French fans all over North America.

That being said – my two cents – I check this blog frequently hoping to see some articles about Willy Sagnol. I cant get enough of this guy, he’s amazing, definetely the immediate future of French defence along with Abidal. Im glad that youre starting to talk about how underrated he is Laurie, He’s my personal hero, and while I know he’s not the type to enjoy the spotlight, I would love for him to get more credit for his contributions.

Allez les Bleus, Vive Sagnol.

Brandon, I also adore Willy Sagnol, but the guy is just not in the news enough! He needs to go out and smash some windows or something. (Ditto also for Sydney Govou and Louis Saha. I rarely get anything on them either.)

It also doesn’t help that he’s in Germany and I don’t speak German.

But hey, in the future I’ll be on the lookout for Sagnol news just for you.

Sandra, very well said. It’s beautiful football. When I watch them, my heart sings. Even when they lose. (Although it sings a prettier tune when they win.)

I would eat worms to be able to see this summer’s France-Brazil game again. I don’t suppose you know where I could find it?

And speaking of beautiful French and Argentinian football. I watched France-Argentina and then immediately followed it with US-Mexico. The difference in style was jarring. It was like they were playing an entirely different game.

Omigod, the difference is so incredibly GLARING between those two games, Laurie, it’s just too sad a spectacle to watch!

And count me in as a Sagnol fan! The guy was just amazing at the wc. Absolutely critical to brining them to the final. Thing is, he plays in the Bundesliga, which gets so little coverage.

Brandon, I’m envious of all those who can read and understand French better than my appallingly rudimentary knowledge. I studied it in high school and taught English in Paris for a few months in 1996. While there I got a grasp of some casual conversation. And my fluency in Portuguese and Spanish helps in understanding French (Italian too). But I miss a whole lot. There’s an interview with Arsene Wenger over on youtube I just found and it’s all in French and I missed most of it. Very frustrating! (I adore the professor!)

Anyway, it’s great to discover fellow fans of French football — esp. Americans who are told routinely that they’re supposed to hate all things France.

And Laurie, as to the France-Brazil game…fortunately Fox Soccer Channel here in the US has a contract to air all Brazil friendlies and international competition matches. I get FSC on my Time Warner digital cable set up here in NYC. I will of course be taping the game. The best I can do for you is send you a copy – not as good as seeing the game live of course. FSC is available on DirecTV and some digital cable packages.

Sandrahn, it’s nice to read someone explain themselves as well as you did. Argentina and France (those teams from the 80s were stylish) do play the most complete style. Brazil and Spain do play a more improvised style. Yes, the Dutch are technical masters. And you are quite accurate with your history. The Uruguayans were a model for the French but Pozzo and the Italians were extremely skillful and Pozzo was an innovator playing a 2-3-2-3 formation. Heck, we may as well throw in the great Austrians of the 1920s and Hungarians of the 1950s (the Hungarians were the first to use the 4-2-4 perfected by Brazil). But you wil never sell me on the notion that it’s the only way to play. We hear this in sports a lot. “They play the way it was meant to be played.” In a game like soccer it’s tough to defend this. I do feel, and I am in the minority, the Italians play a style that (while cynical at times) is carefully deliberate and calibrated. The best way to describe it is where Michaelangelo meets Machiavelli. I like to see all sorts of interpretations. Remember: sports are about results. There’s a certain sophistication to how they play. In this light, the criticism against Italy (while fair) is quite tiresome. There is flair to their game; it’s just very under stated. The two goals they scored against Germany were crafty works of art. By contrast, the French were not as good as they were made out to be in 2006. Not even close. They played their best soccer in the final and even then it was not clinical despite possession – possession is over rated some times. As a whole Italy played very well – nonsensical hysterics against them notwithstanding. France Football and L’Equpe were quite clear on this stance. I also enjoy German soccer. The irony is that while the catenaccio has been dead for years – the Italians do not play it any longer, the Azzurri have always had a strike focre that was world class. It’s a prevailing misconception that they pay defensively. If people played close attention (and I had to for radio work) the Italians played attacking football. Even when they went a man down against the valiant Australians they moved to an offensive posture. That was rare what Lippi did and Italians were happy. Like the Italians, the Germans are masters of teamwork. Last but not least, yes watch out for Gourcuff. I happen to be an AC Milan fan (one of those teams that play a classical style). That’s it for me. Thanks for the interesting comments.

I happen to like Milan, actually.