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Technical Difficulties (And: Argentina 1-0 France)

February 7th, 2007 | By: Laurie | 18 Comments »

Okay, first thing. Argentina 1-0 France. Argentina scored in the fifteenth minute. France didn’t score at all. (And why does Domenech keep requiring yet MORE proof that the Henry-Trezeguet pairing Does Not Work?!? Three words, Raymond. A. Nel. Ka. In place of either one. Although Anelka was subbed in in the 72nd and it apparently didn’t make a difference.)

Yes, this sucks. Although not as bad as it could have, given all the injuries.

And to make matters worse. No, I have not seen the game. Yet. This is a very sore subject. The #$%^& French Football Federation website was more than happy to take my money, but then they wouldn’t give me anything but a “Video Not Available” error message. So let’s just say I’m NOT recommending them in the future unless I can see some proof that this will work. I’ll let you know if they give me my money back. And I will keep seearching for more options for myself and other US fans of my beloved Bleus/Tricolores.

On top of that, two of the three French liveblogs I usually rely on when I can’t see the matches kept crashing. (And yes, one of these was the FFF website. Go figure.) So I don’t even have a great idea of how things played out. Yet. (Although it looks like Ribery played well.)

But here’s the good news. My delightful husband (aka the enabler of my addiction) knows the owner of an Irish pub that has Setanta. And Setanta is showing a replay at 4:00 our time. And I told my husband that if he could get them to play the France Argentina game for me, he would be totally off the hook for Valentine’s Day. Completely. I’m not kidding.

(Sorry, guys. There are not a lot of women like me out there. You’re still on the hook for that diamond bracelet.)

So I’m heading out soon to watch my beloved French guys lose. I’ll let you know how much fun that is.

Tags: Argentina, FFF, France

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Comments

By Laurie | February 7th, 2007 at 5:06 pm

Woohoo!! Comments are up!!!

Posted from United States

By Martha | February 7th, 2007 at 5:22 pm

Let’s all play in the comments, let’s all play in the comments!

I hope you at last fired off a nasty email (in French, of course) to the website that took your money in exchange for a black screen.

Posted from United States

By Fair | February 7th, 2007 at 5:46 pm

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAH,

What are yall gonna say now??????

yall were sayin France is better than Argentina. well what happend today??????????? whats your excuse now???

How sad. you lost at home. infront of your fans????

Imagine what the score line would have been if this game was in Argentina????

4-0???

Imagine what the score line would have been, had Messi, Aimar, Tevez, Mascherano and the likes played???

France will never be near Argentina. adios

Posted from United States

By Sam | February 7th, 2007 at 6:20 pm

Comments are back up! But a pretty bad effort by the French, as I hear (lack of video: argh!) but very solid game by the Argies.

Posted from Canada

By Luis | February 7th, 2007 at 9:22 pm

Losses are always tough and Argentine fans do love to gloat. I haven’t seen the game yet either Laurie, but will look for highlights later. Keep up the great blogging.

Posted from United States

By fab | February 7th, 2007 at 10:28 pm

im an argie and i think france is the best euro country

not all people are the same

for those french who did not watch

ribery and viera id say were the best french players

gago and saviola ours tonight

Posted from Canada

By Bib | February 7th, 2007 at 10:42 pm

France losing is always a good thing. I’m praying for the continued defeat of France…GO Lituania!!!!

Posted from Canada

By Native Son | February 7th, 2007 at 11:29 pm

France beat Brazil in the quarter finals. That made my life all the more worth it.

I am an ardent Argentina fan, didn’t watch the game but considering that Aimar, Messi, Tevez, Mascherano (from what I have read) weren’t playing on Wednesday against France, my team is in good shape.

Go Arg. go!!!!!!!!!!!!

Posted from United States

By Laurie | February 8th, 2007 at 12:15 am

I just got back from watching the replay, and it wasn’t as bad as I’d feared. My guys let the game go for the first twenty minutes, but after that they played solidly. Except for the freakin’ offense, who kind of forgot to show up. Especially (as much as it pains me to say it) Trezeguet. We’re going to have to do something about that if we’re going to go anywhere in Euro ‘08.

Posted from United States

By Brandon | February 8th, 2007 at 12:50 am

yes yes Messi, Aimar, Tevez all didnt play. but either did Thuram or Gallas. Look at France’s defence (Squillaci and Escude starting). They are in a transition state. To say that France will never be close to Argentina again is a pretty short sighted comment. 1-0 when France didnt have her full defence and didnt play her strongest forwards correctly isnt exactly a blowout. congrats argentina but as a huge France fan, im really not too phased by this.

What does bother me is Sagnol getting subbed continuously. This had better just be Domenech testing out Clerc, and not Domenech looking for an immediate Sagnol replacement. Willy (with Abidal)is the best defense they have right now and with all this defensive transition going on, I really feel he needs to lead them to Euro 2008.

Posted from Canada

By fab | February 8th, 2007 at 5:04 am

yes but argentina had none of its midfield stars

zenetti is a defender may i point out yet he had to play in mid

messi aimar and maxi are way more important to argentina

than Thuram or Gallas would be to france

Posted from Canada

By Negcon | February 8th, 2007 at 7:15 am

yes yes Messi, Aimar, Tevez all didnt play. but either did Thuram or Gallas
France didnt have her full defence and didnt play her strongest forwards

Posted from Malaysia

By Negconz | February 8th, 2007 at 7:22 am

oh brandon..you just think about france..
Lol,How about Argentina?
think about them..argentina without their main star players..We don’t have our key player..messi,aimar,tevez,sorin,marsherano..without their key player…ours is more important than your thuram and gallas..
if they’re all there..
u think thuram and gallas can stop them?then u’re dreaming..
argentina will just outclass france

Posted from Malaysia

By Jeremy | February 8th, 2007 at 9:27 am

Heh, France dominated Argentina! Argentina got so lucky that the French goalkeeper dropped the ball lol.
Argentina is still a great team but hell, they got so lucky to beat France

Posted from United States

By whb | February 8th, 2007 at 11:20 am

I missed the game, because I opted to watch the American-Mexico game instead. (Pardonnez-moi).
Mostly it’s because my beloved soccer bar (which is actually just an obnoxious sports bar that happens to have Setanta) started opening up at 4PM during the week, which means I either have to miss every game (Premiership games especially) or avoid the news and wait for the replay (I don’t have the strength to watch a game when I know les bleus won’t win).
Oh and it might be a tough thing for France to be close to Argentina… There’s an ocean to deal with. But let me know if you work it out.

Posted from United States

By Connor | February 8th, 2007 at 11:44 am

Have fun watching the game Laurie!

Posted from United States

By Thierry | February 8th, 2007 at 12:53 pm

Hi, Lauie,

Argentina played a good match, but a very closed and defensif match. Argies were lucky to score against an inexperiment defense Escudé only play against Feroë( is it an experience? And not at this post). Milito and Gago did great job. Basile was probably frightened by France because Argentina played with nine defensif players and two offensif middlefields(Saviola and Crespo). In these conditions and even for a strong offensive team it is difficult to play like we saw it with Argentina Mexico or France feroë or Fr Scotland. So in such closed game , it is preferable to have a good defense but Escudé-Squillaci were newb and Escudé was mystified by Saviola.
French look like tired, in fact they are. Ribery came from pubalgy and was not at his top, Henry play with Arsenal, Trezeguet was too static for this kind of match, the lyonnais were like the tradition in a “frebuary form”.
Well done Argentina, but for the Argies fans who think that with Messi or Tevez, Argentina against France was far superior, i answer them “Let Basile try” but i’m not sure Messi or Tevez could be so efficient in defense than a cambiasso ,a gago a lucho gonzales(awesome in his defensif placement) or a zanetti… Good wind with you argies…

Posted from France

By skywalker | February 8th, 2007 at 3:28 pm

Thierry…

you wrote: two offensive middlefields being Saviola and Crespo…

first off they are strikers. And how do you claim we just sat back and played 9 defensive guys. Anyone who knows Arg soccer worth a lick will tell you Lucho is not there for his ‘defensive’ skills. Zanetti is definately not a better defensive player as he is going forward offsenively.

Due to injuries, we were forced to withold some of our better attacking MF / Strikers (Aimar, Messi, Tevez, etc) but to say Arg went into a defensive shell is a little off.

True, the Arg passing was nice but their general offence left much to be desired, I think it’s a gross misunderstatement to say that Arg played with a totally defensive mindset. Sometimes, the score, circumstances and injuries dictate the outcome…

Posted from Canada

Comments are closed