Enjoyable Friendly at Stade de France: France 1, USA 0

November 12th, 2011 | by: jeff | Comments Off

That friendly, for me, felt like the third in a series after the friendlies versus Brazil (also a 1-0 victory) and England (a 2-1 victory). There have been other friendlies mixed in, but these three were played at a high competitive level, and France showed surprising promise in each of them.

For this match, Blanc tried a 4-4-2, basically, with Gameiro up front with Benzema. Honestly, it is a very subtle difference to the standard 4-2-3-1 formation. It’s 4-4-2 if Gameiro is staying next to Benzema, and a 4-2-3-1 if he’s usually behind Benzema. Because Gameiro and Benzema both play the lone-striker role for PSG and Real Madrid, respectively, it felt like a 4-4-2, even if Gameiro would sometimes take up a position in the “hole” behind Benzema.

While we’re on the subject, I should say that it didn’t really click for Gameiro.

Other than that, everything else seemed to work.

Playing Menez worked. He stood out, especially in the first half. Menez is a type of player that I love watching, but I don’t know if everyone does. His runs remind me of Diaby. I see a player beating opponents and creating opportunities. Others often see a player wasting opportunities. “He held onto it too long, and ruined everything,” is a typical response. For me, it’s fantastic to incorporate this type of element into the team, but the other players have to put themselves into positions to take advantage.

Here’s how they lined up:

Benzema Gameiro
Ribery M’Vila A.Diarra Menez
Mathieu Koscielny Rami Debuchy
Lloris (C)

That “C” by Lloris is unofficial confirmation that Blanc’s armband rotation is over. Lloris is the captain. This should come as absolutely no surprise to anyone. Previously, when Alou got a start, he got the captaincy. Alou was in a pretty foul mood ahead of the match in his press conference. Maybe Blanc had just told him that Lloris would be captain.

But Alou did ok in this match, and France had control of midfield.

One argument against the 4-4-2 is that there can be an annoying vacant space between the block of two in midfield and the block of two up front. Menez used that as his running track at times, but Gameiro and Alou never found a way to use that space. There’s an argument to be made that Nasri, Cabaye, Martin or Gourcuff could have played better in either position (Alou’s or Gameiro’s). They like that space between midfield and striker. We have a lot of options. Cabaye and Nasri were out injured. They’re both probably first choice right now.

Overall the rest of the team looked good. Mathieu had a lot of the ball, making forward runs from left back. There’s no reason to drop him based on that performance. Evra is still a bit of a train wreck right now. Even his mother must struggle to love him at times, and I say that as one of his biggest supporters/apologists. Abidal is probably still first choice, but Mathieu is worthy of consideration. He’s a good player to watch.

Koscielny, Rami, and Debuchy were great. Kos nearly earned a second yellow card in 2nd half stoppage time, which would have put a really negative reflection on his match, but at times in the match he played some great football, breaking up play. These three played tenacious, stingy defense. Rami is automatic first choice, with good reason. Debuchy and Koscielny looked to be at a similar level. We were playing with three new defenders, and we looked as good as ever at the back, so Blanc is going to have to think through this one. Debuchy looked great at getting in blocks, even higher up the pitch he defended with real intensity.

I always note M’Vila’s mistakes to try to temper my enthusiasm for the player, and he had some giveaways, but his long passing was so good – he does a decent impersonation of Marvin Martin with some of his passing.

Of course it took Martin himself to set up the goal, with a ball over the top to Remy. Remy did really well, held off his defender, and scored the winner. Brilliant, and great fun for a friendly.

Giroud had a chance to score a late 2nd, and 2-0 would have been the right result. He sliced it wide.

Ribery and Benzema both looked fine. There’s no threat, I hope, of them losing their spots. They’re our two best attacking players.

If we’re making snap judgments, we could say that Gameiro up front with Benzema didn’t work. He didn’t suddenly transform into the #10 playmaker. This was coupled with Blanc also playing Alou, so build-up on the ground to set up strikers was not happening.

The chances seemed to be coming from runs from Mathieu and Menez, and balls over the top from M’Vila.

The US rarely threatened. They (we) (I’m a dual citizen) were missing Donavan, and Dempsey couldn’t get a touch. The player I really like is Altidore. He makes up for limited technical ability with endeavor. He can hold up the ball and bring other players into the attack. It’s a completely legitimate approach, and even though he doesn’t look likely to score, he still looks like the danger man. I don’t know what his personality is like, but on the pitch, he’s all heart. I like that guy.

France had almost all of the ball and almost all of the attack, so the US defended well. It was heading toward a 0-0 draw.

Martin and Remy were a couple astute substitutions from Blanc.

The stadium was packed. There was a turnout from some Americans – there are plenty living in Paris – but it was all French flags in the air when France scored. The boos at halftime were cheers at full time.

Update: I did not realize how much press coverage the “US Men’s National Team” received. I apparently omitted a key element of the match: the US midfield was reportedly dreadful, to the point that people are questioning Klinsmann’s competence for selecting some of them. These reports tend to restrict discussion of France to “European powerhouse with no losses in 16 matches,” as part of the explanation for how terrible the US was. The US midfield, in particular, is being skewered, with player ratings ranging from 3 to 4.