France vs. Spain in World Cup: One Year Ago Today

I remember the french commentator went nuts when Ribery scored the equalizer

I remember the Henry dive as he went down and clutched his face in pain. Then I saw the replay showing absolutely no contact and almost vomited. It was worse than the Rivaldo incident back in Korea. Football needs instant replay now.

Look at this:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TGHoBuQjWxw
YouTube – France-Spain — Puyol fouls Henry — 2nd goal — WC 2006
On the first plan, you clearly see Puyol make a large detour in his run, he don’t play the ball, but try to block the henry ’s run toward the ball: this foul is called obstruction(in french,may be the same in english), it ’s a characteristic anti play foul which deserve a yellow, the fact that the defensor injure the player or not have only importance for a red card. Henry “play” the foul like many footballers who prefer fall when they are foulled. It would be considered by the rule as a simulation if there is no intention to make a foul, and no contact, but here the intention and the contact are evident.

That was a good match.France had a pretty hard path to the final.Les Bleus faced Brazil,Spain, and Portugal.Italy faced Australia,Ukraine, and Germany.I still can’t believe we ended that great run because of Zidane.

He was also the reason why that run even began in the first place. No reason to point a finger at Zizou. I will never forget his swan song performance.

The return of the obnoxious skillz.

The foul against Henry was a foul — it was a legitimate call from the referee.

Brilliant game against Spain after the Spanish papers all predicted a route against the aging French team. They kept calling zizou an “old man.”

Also, search on youtube for some great clips of the game.

Blame France’s loss in the final on Domenech — his conservatism, his unwillingness to take a risk, left Henry and the midfield without options. The 2006 wc was all about the managers and the true victor in the final was Lippi v. Domenech. Lippi was bolder (see that Germany game) and more flexible.

Actually Julien, If past World cups have taught us anything it’s that there really are no “easy” or “lesser” teams anymore. Football is a sport with no logic and anything can happen. I think it’s better to play “stronger” teams that have their pride on the line (Spain, Brazil etc.) rather than teams that have nothing to lose. Might I add that France only had a “hard” road to the final because they failed to win their group, which I’m still pissed off about by the way. I really think Germany was the team to beat this tournament. They showed strength in all aspects of their game. We had an easier semi-final than Italy did and in the final it showed. The Italians were completely wiped out on the hour mark. We played great in the second half and in Extra time but we were also lucky they hit that post in the first half and the penalty…believe me I didn’t protest but Malouda went to ground with purpose and I could have killed Zizou for chipping the ball, I mean he almost missed, that would have been embarrasing. I’m not going to start a debate but France really could have done more, maybe Domenech was out of ideas, I don’t know. Perhaps we have a shot at the Euro. Just a quick comment on the so called Henry “dive” well Henry himself actually admitted that he simulated injury to get the refs attention. I can hardly blame him because Peyol was pulling that sort of BS all night. Sometimes when an important game is on the line players take some liberties to gain an advantage. That is the sport we love so everyone better get used to it because it’s never going to change. These players are under so much preasure to perform, they have the hopes of an entire nation resting on their shoulders, I guess they do what they have to do in the moment.

and Julien..please stop blaming Zidane for France’s loss. It was a team failure. Even if Zidane had stayed in the game who’s to say we would have won. I think it was meant to be and we’re just going to have to accept it as such.

Francois, great post!