Halftime France 1-0 Georgia

France is dominating completely but up by only one. They’ve had some great chances, though, and Georgia is barely touching the ball, so with luck that will change second half. We NEED more goals!!

A few thoughts:

– It really annoys me when broadcasts don’t include the clock on the screen. And it was kind of humorous when the announcer identified Bakary Sagna as “Karim Benzema, the only player from Auxerre.” Uh…right.

– The lineup is identical to Saturday’s, except with Mikael Landreau in goal.

– The goal was Francois Clerc up the right side to Franck Ribery with a perfect pass to Samir Nasri in the middle. Very pretty teamwork. But there have been a lot of those. This was just the only one that actually went in.

– Ribery is much more visible today than he was Saturday. Florent Malouda is also playing fairly well.

– Nasri is still young, but SO much potential. He’ll give the ball away with a bad pass and then manage to win it back two seconds later. Imagine him in five years!!

– I’m a little disappointed with both fullbacks. I adore Eric Abidal, but he hasn’t done much and has sent off a number of long balls to nowhere. What’s up with him lately? I’ve seen him play SO much better than he has in 2007. Francois Clerc hasn’t made a lot of glaring errors, and his role in the goal was nice, but otherwise he’s a little underwhelming. He is good in the air, though, and does a good job of winning the long balls that Georgia sends his way. I’m thinking if France can get another goal or two, Sagna may get to come in for his first cap.

– Nicolas Anelka seems to be having an off day. He normally has the most exquisite first touch and ball control, but today he’s just been a little off. I’m wondering if we’ll see Cisse second half.

– Landreau may be getting the cap, but he’s not gettin much chance to show his stuff. Let’s keep it that way. Lilian Thuram and William Gallas are clearing everything pretty easily.

Cross your fingers for several more second half goals!