The Aftermath from the France Games

First off, thanks so much for posting all of the links in the comments after the games. I’ve had African Cup of Nations going on at the World Cup Blog main page. (And I’ve also had my first experiences liveblogging. It was more fun than I expected. Now I’m probably going to volunteer to do at least a few games for Euros this summer, especially the France games.) Covering the tournament has been fun, but it’s taken a lot of time. And one of my co-bloggers had a death in the family, so I’ve been spending a lot of time filling in on The Offside main page as well, which has not left a lot of time for my first love, this blog. So I really appreciate your more or less taking over for me.

Now, about those games. They’re both a blur for me. The second one literally. I could only make the pirate stream work for half the game, and even then it was just a bunch of red blurs and yellow blurs fighting over a white blur. When I get some time I’m going to go in and read as many match reports and watch as many YouTube videos as I can find. It will probably be after this weekend, though.

Did any of you actually see the game enough to analyze the players? What did you think? Do you agree with the Football365 player ratings Glatisant posted in the comments?

France
Coupet : 5,5
Sagnol : 5,5
Thuram : 7
(Escudé, 46eme : 5,5)
Gallas : 6
Abidal : 5
Vieira (cap) : 4,5
(Ben Arfa, 82eme)
Toulalan : 4
L.Diarra : 4,5
Malouda : 4
Anelka : 5
(Benzema, 60eme)
Henry : 4,5

Looks pretty sad in general, except for central defense. Were they really that good? Should I rethink my belief that Thuram shouldn’t play in Euros?

And last, I’m trying to search out some kind of e-mail addres for the FFF where we can let them know that we are fans of the team who would have been thrilled to have a legit way to watch the game, even for pay. Even the Sport5 site that offered all of the other friendlies that day didn’t offer this one. I have to think that if they believed they could make money at it, they’d offer it. So when I find an address, I’ll post it here and we can all contact them. Sound good?

Oh, and last, I’m hesitant and a little embarrassed to bring this up, but I’m among friends, right? My Galaxy blog over at The Offside was nominated for a Best Blogger of 2007 award over at SoccerLens. (And don’t judge the Galaxy blog by the fact that the most recent posts are pretty much all about Landon Donovan peeing on the pitch in Jalisco, Mexico.)

I have no problem with not winning (especially if Chris from the Roma blog wins it instead), but to be honest, I would really prefer not to come in last. It’s a pride thing. If you feel inclined to keep this from happening, here’s the link. And if you don’t, I’ll still love you.