A lot of people, French, too, doubted - and probably still doubt - Didier Deschamps' side. It's a side that is without star player Franck Ribery and Samir Nasri, also out, dropped by the French manager.
But so far so good for the French squad, who made quick work of their CONCACAF opponents.
Karim Benzema was a one-man wrecking crew today, and the Hondurans had no response for his quality strikes.
The second goal, attributed as an own goal to goalkeeper Valladares, was actually more great work by Benzema.
And Deschamps truly proved that he had Honduras all pegged. Right down to their overly-physical style of playing, which Wilson Palacios alone proved time and time again up to his red card sending-off.
So far, this is the only group in which all European teams involved have gotten a positive start.
Highlights:
France vs Honduras 3-0 All Goals and Highlights...
Showing posts with label France. Show all posts
Showing posts with label France. Show all posts
Sunday, 15 June 2014
Friday, 18 October 2013
2013.10.18 - The Results
ITALY: Serie A
20:45 -- Roma - Napoli 2-0 highlights
45' + 4' Miralem Pjanic
71' Miralem Pjanic (pen.)
Current standings:
1 Roma 8 8 0 0 22-1 +21 24p
2 Napoli 8 6 1 1 18-6 +12 19p
3 Juventus 7 6 1 0 14-6 +8 19p
4 Inter 7 4 2 1 16-6 +10 14p
5 Verona 7 4 1 2 13-10 +3 13p
FRANCE: Ligue 1
20:30 -- Nice - Marseille 1-0 highlights
40' Dario Cvitanich
20:30 -- Reims - Toulouse 1-2 (0-1)
Current standings:
1 Monaco 9 6 3 0 16-5 +11 21p
2 PSG 9 6 3 0 14-5 +9 21p
3 Lille 9 5 2 2 11-4 +7 17p
4 Marseille 10 5 2 3 13-8 +5 17p
5 Nice 10 5 2 3 12-10 +2 17p
UKRAINE: Premier League
16:00 -- Volyn - Hoverla 0-1 (0-0)
Current standings:
1 Metalist Kharkiv 11 9 2 0 26-7 +19 29p
2 Shakhtar Donetsk 12 8 2 2 31-11 +20 26p
3 Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk 11 8 2 1 21-9 +12 26p
20:45 -- Roma - Napoli 2-0 highlights
45' + 4' Miralem Pjanic
71' Miralem Pjanic (pen.)
Current standings:
1 Roma 8 8 0 0 22-1 +21 24p
2 Napoli 8 6 1 1 18-6 +12 19p
3 Juventus 7 6 1 0 14-6 +8 19p
4 Inter 7 4 2 1 16-6 +10 14p
5 Verona 7 4 1 2 13-10 +3 13p
FRANCE: Ligue 1
20:30 -- Nice - Marseille 1-0 highlights
40' Dario Cvitanich
20:30 -- Reims - Toulouse 1-2 (0-1)
Current standings:
1 Monaco 9 6 3 0 16-5 +11 21p
2 PSG 9 6 3 0 14-5 +9 21p
3 Lille 9 5 2 2 11-4 +7 17p
4 Marseille 10 5 2 3 13-8 +5 17p
5 Nice 10 5 2 3 12-10 +2 17p
UKRAINE: Premier League
16:00 -- Volyn - Hoverla 0-1 (0-0)
Current standings:
1 Metalist Kharkiv 11 9 2 0 26-7 +19 29p
2 Shakhtar Donetsk 12 8 2 2 31-11 +20 26p
3 Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk 11 8 2 1 21-9 +12 26p
Marseille Screws Up Again
Olympique Marseille just does not look like a Champions League team anymore.
They won't make it out of this year's Champions League group stage, and, if they keep going like this, they won't be there, at all, next year.
The team from the south of France had a chance to get within one point of leaders Monaco (and PSG), but they failed to get any points from Nice.
As it stands, they stay fourth, trailing Lille, on goal difference, with 17 points.
Nice also has 17 points, but worse goal difference than Marseille, still. (They would have needed a 3-0 win to jump over O.M.)
They won't make it out of this year's Champions League group stage, and, if they keep going like this, they won't be there, at all, next year.
The team from the south of France had a chance to get within one point of leaders Monaco (and PSG), but they failed to get any points from Nice.
As it stands, they stay fourth, trailing Lille, on goal difference, with 17 points.
Nice also has 17 points, but worse goal difference than Marseille, still. (They would have needed a 3-0 win to jump over O.M.)
Thursday, 6 June 2013
France - UEFA Club Competitions Participants - 2013-2014
Paris Saint-Germain --> Champions League Group Stage
Olympique Marseille --> Champions League Group Stage
Olympique Lyon(nais) --> Champions League Third Qualifying Round
OGC Nice --> Europa League Play-off Round
Saint-Etienne --> Europa League Third Qualifying Round
Girondins Bordeaux --> Europa League Group Stage
Olympique Marseille --> Champions League Group Stage
Olympique Lyon(nais) --> Champions League Third Qualifying Round
OGC Nice --> Europa League Play-off Round
Saint-Etienne --> Europa League Third Qualifying Round
Girondins Bordeaux --> Europa League Group Stage
Saturday, 23 June 2012
History Does Not Always Repeat Itself
Before this Euro 2012 quarter-final, Spain had never beaten France in a competitive match.
But France made more of the errors that plagued their performance in the match against Sweden. And Spain, naturally, punished the French.
Only 19 minutes passed before Malouda stopped paying attention, and Iniesta found Alba on the left-hand side, the latter crossed the ball perfectly, and Xabi Alonso headed an unstoppable strike past Lloris.
And then Spain did very well to control the ball, thereby limiting the French attacks to whatever could come from flashes of individual brilliance.
But Benzema, the attacker that the French were hoping could unsettle the Spanish, was extremely weak in this match. He was never able to wrong-foot the opposing defense.
Ribery was slightly better, but he only got about one or two half-chances in the entire match.
The best French occasions came from Cabaye, following a long-distance free kick, in the first half, and Debuchy, with a header, early in the second half.
(And none of these two guys are forwards.)
Nasri came on late in the game, but he was as good as absent.
The best substitution in this match was performed by Vicente del Bosque.
He put in Pedro Rodriguez, and the Barcelona player succeeded in getting a penalty kick, in injury time, after being fouled by Reveillere.
On his 100th appearance for Spain, Alonso was allowed to take the spot kick, and he scored his fifteenth for the national team. 2-0 for Spain, in the 91st, and everybody watching knew that there was no way back for the French, with 3 minutes left.
Spain will meet Portugal, on Wednesday, in the first semifinal. And the Spanish will be playing in Donetsk, again.
Highlights:
But France made more of the errors that plagued their performance in the match against Sweden. And Spain, naturally, punished the French.
Only 19 minutes passed before Malouda stopped paying attention, and Iniesta found Alba on the left-hand side, the latter crossed the ball perfectly, and Xabi Alonso headed an unstoppable strike past Lloris.
And then Spain did very well to control the ball, thereby limiting the French attacks to whatever could come from flashes of individual brilliance.
But Benzema, the attacker that the French were hoping could unsettle the Spanish, was extremely weak in this match. He was never able to wrong-foot the opposing defense.
Ribery was slightly better, but he only got about one or two half-chances in the entire match.
The best French occasions came from Cabaye, following a long-distance free kick, in the first half, and Debuchy, with a header, early in the second half.
(And none of these two guys are forwards.)
Nasri came on late in the game, but he was as good as absent.
The best substitution in this match was performed by Vicente del Bosque.
He put in Pedro Rodriguez, and the Barcelona player succeeded in getting a penalty kick, in injury time, after being fouled by Reveillere.
On his 100th appearance for Spain, Alonso was allowed to take the spot kick, and he scored his fifteenth for the national team. 2-0 for Spain, in the 91st, and everybody watching knew that there was no way back for the French, with 3 minutes left.
Spain will meet Portugal, on Wednesday, in the first semifinal. And the Spanish will be playing in Donetsk, again.
Highlights:
Tuesday, 19 June 2012
How the Mighty Have Fallen
France looked very good, after beating the hosts, Ukraine, in a very decisive manner on the second matchday. And, knowing that they looked better than the English, on the first matchday, too, most people would have probably bet on Blanc's team to win the group.
But Ibrahimovic and his Swedes begged to differ.
In the other match, England was assured of going through with a draw or better. Ukraine needed a win.
All France had to do to advance was not lose by more than one goal. So, they were assured of progressing even with a loss by just one goal, no matter what happened anywhere else!
Sweden, of course, could not finish higher than fourth!
But Sweden really did show up to play for pride, and I guess that's their best incentive.
The best chance of the first half belonged to the Swedes, and came after roughly ten minutes. Toivonen rounded Lloris, after escaping on goal, and sent the ball towards the empty net from an acute angle, but his shot hit the post.
In the other match, Ukraine was pressing England. In the first 15 minutes, or so, Ukraine had 7 goal-scoring opportunities, England had zero.
There were no goals before half-time, in either of the two matches.
And then, 3 minutes after kick-off in the second half, one large defensive error by the Ukrainians, especially goalkeeper Pyatov, allowed the ball to bounce perfectly towards the far post where an unmarked Rooney had only to nudge the ball into the empty net, in characteristic Manchester-United fashion. (Let's admit it, we see quite a few Man.-U. goals like that.)
England was winning the group. And the Ukraine players were seeing their dream slip away.
Roughly ten minutes into the second half, Sweden scored, too. Ibrahimovic was the goalscorer, naturally. And this one was, and probably will be, the goal of the tournament. The Milan striker put the ball past Lloris with a wonderful volley, side-scissor-kick-like, from the edge of the French penalty area.
It wasn't as spectacular as some of the goals Marco van Basten used to score, but it certainly reminded older viewers of those amazing efforts by the Dutch forward.
France was still guaranteed a place in the quarter-finals at this score, though.
Going back to the match in Donetsk, Ukraine should have had their equalizer right after the hour-mark. Ukraine substitute Devic managed to kick the ball strongly enough to make it still go in even after Joe Hart's intervention, but Terry ran after it and saved right on the line.
Or did he?
Replays would show that the ball was actually inside the goal by a (small but reasonable) distance.
The goal was not awarded to Ukraine, though, for reasons unknown. (Maybe it was to compensate England for the refereeing error that helped eliminate them from World Cup 2010, because otherwise it's ridiculous that the entire stadium sees the goal but the referees and it's the referees' dumb decision that stands.)
What we do know is that these organizations, FIFA and UEFA, continue to defend their inability to guarantee 100%-correct refereeing, and continue to protect these inept referees too much.
I, for one, believe the referees who make a bad decision that influence a match that much should be punished by not being able to be a referee again (and make money from such a job) for a very long period of time, such as five years. And that should be for the first offense, mind you. Doing it a second time should be automatic lifetime ban from ever being an official referee again. That would teach them for playing God (or devil) with decisions that could hurt millions of people when they go wrong.
Anyway, though, despite the late introduction of injured Shevchenko, and despite playing better than England, Ukraine could not even get one point in Donetsk.
What a bad stadium and a bad city for Ukraine! Maybe they should have continued to play in the Ukrainian-speaking part of their country.
England, on the other hand, said "thank you very much" and won the group.
Yes, they won the group, because France lost.
But Sweden ended up winning 2-0, not just 1-0.
They had many chances of making it 2-0, but only in minute 90' + 1' did they finally succeed. Larsson was the one who thundered the ball into the French net after Holmen made the French defensive line dizzy with an effort that rebounded off the bar to Larsson.
Thus, the French were humbled.
In these conditions, it's interesting to note that, even if Ukraine had managed to turn around the result to 2-1, from 0-1, in injury time, considering the French loss by two goals, England would have still stayed in the competition. If the scores were 2-1 for Ukraine and 2-0 for Sweden, France would have gone home.
But, with the English win, despite the hard defeat, France still advances. They will have to play Spain now, though.
And England is going to play Italy, on Sunday, in Kyiv.
If they had finished second, hmm, the English would have stayed in Donetsk, for their quarter-final match, too. (But yeah, their team base-camp is in Krakow, so I guess it wouldn't have really helped them that much. And, speaking of team base-camps, another interesting fact is that the French will now play their quarter-final match in Donetsk, and their base-camp just happens to be in... Donetsk! Yes, where they won against Ukraine, their best match of the tournament. Hmm, again, one might say. Could that be a good sign for them?)
Highlights from England - Ukraine 1-0:
England Ukraine by anastasio7
Highlights from Sweden - France 2-0:
Sweden France by anastasio7
Oh, and, by the way, by "the Mighty" (that "Have Fallen"), I do mean the French, of course.
The English themselves admitted to having low expectations.
But Ibrahimovic and his Swedes begged to differ.
In the other match, England was assured of going through with a draw or better. Ukraine needed a win.
All France had to do to advance was not lose by more than one goal. So, they were assured of progressing even with a loss by just one goal, no matter what happened anywhere else!
Sweden, of course, could not finish higher than fourth!
But Sweden really did show up to play for pride, and I guess that's their best incentive.
The best chance of the first half belonged to the Swedes, and came after roughly ten minutes. Toivonen rounded Lloris, after escaping on goal, and sent the ball towards the empty net from an acute angle, but his shot hit the post.
In the other match, Ukraine was pressing England. In the first 15 minutes, or so, Ukraine had 7 goal-scoring opportunities, England had zero.
There were no goals before half-time, in either of the two matches.
And then, 3 minutes after kick-off in the second half, one large defensive error by the Ukrainians, especially goalkeeper Pyatov, allowed the ball to bounce perfectly towards the far post where an unmarked Rooney had only to nudge the ball into the empty net, in characteristic Manchester-United fashion. (Let's admit it, we see quite a few Man.-U. goals like that.)
England was winning the group. And the Ukraine players were seeing their dream slip away.
Roughly ten minutes into the second half, Sweden scored, too. Ibrahimovic was the goalscorer, naturally. And this one was, and probably will be, the goal of the tournament. The Milan striker put the ball past Lloris with a wonderful volley, side-scissor-kick-like, from the edge of the French penalty area.
It wasn't as spectacular as some of the goals Marco van Basten used to score, but it certainly reminded older viewers of those amazing efforts by the Dutch forward.
France was still guaranteed a place in the quarter-finals at this score, though.
Going back to the match in Donetsk, Ukraine should have had their equalizer right after the hour-mark. Ukraine substitute Devic managed to kick the ball strongly enough to make it still go in even after Joe Hart's intervention, but Terry ran after it and saved right on the line.
Or did he?
Replays would show that the ball was actually inside the goal by a (small but reasonable) distance.
The goal was not awarded to Ukraine, though, for reasons unknown. (Maybe it was to compensate England for the refereeing error that helped eliminate them from World Cup 2010, because otherwise it's ridiculous that the entire stadium sees the goal but the referees and it's the referees' dumb decision that stands.)
What we do know is that these organizations, FIFA and UEFA, continue to defend their inability to guarantee 100%-correct refereeing, and continue to protect these inept referees too much.
I, for one, believe the referees who make a bad decision that influence a match that much should be punished by not being able to be a referee again (and make money from such a job) for a very long period of time, such as five years. And that should be for the first offense, mind you. Doing it a second time should be automatic lifetime ban from ever being an official referee again. That would teach them for playing God (or devil) with decisions that could hurt millions of people when they go wrong.
Anyway, though, despite the late introduction of injured Shevchenko, and despite playing better than England, Ukraine could not even get one point in Donetsk.
What a bad stadium and a bad city for Ukraine! Maybe they should have continued to play in the Ukrainian-speaking part of their country.
England, on the other hand, said "thank you very much" and won the group.
Yes, they won the group, because France lost.
But Sweden ended up winning 2-0, not just 1-0.
They had many chances of making it 2-0, but only in minute 90' + 1' did they finally succeed. Larsson was the one who thundered the ball into the French net after Holmen made the French defensive line dizzy with an effort that rebounded off the bar to Larsson.
Thus, the French were humbled.
In these conditions, it's interesting to note that, even if Ukraine had managed to turn around the result to 2-1, from 0-1, in injury time, considering the French loss by two goals, England would have still stayed in the competition. If the scores were 2-1 for Ukraine and 2-0 for Sweden, France would have gone home.
But, with the English win, despite the hard defeat, France still advances. They will have to play Spain now, though.
And England is going to play Italy, on Sunday, in Kyiv.
If they had finished second, hmm, the English would have stayed in Donetsk, for their quarter-final match, too. (But yeah, their team base-camp is in Krakow, so I guess it wouldn't have really helped them that much. And, speaking of team base-camps, another interesting fact is that the French will now play their quarter-final match in Donetsk, and their base-camp just happens to be in... Donetsk! Yes, where they won against Ukraine, their best match of the tournament. Hmm, again, one might say. Could that be a good sign for them?)
Highlights from England - Ukraine 1-0:
England Ukraine by anastasio7
Highlights from Sweden - France 2-0:
Sweden France by anastasio7
Oh, and, by the way, by "the Mighty" (that "Have Fallen"), I do mean the French, of course.
The English themselves admitted to having low expectations.
Monday, 18 June 2012
Group D - Possible Scenarios
Here's what could happen on the final matchday of Group D:
1) England wins & Sweden wins:
England 7p, France 4p, Ukraine 3p, Sweden 3p
(Ukraine would finish third because of the win against Sweden.)
2) England wins & draw in the other match:
England 7p, France 5p, Ukraine 3p, Sweden 1p
3) England wins & France wins
3-1. France wins by a larger margin than England or wins by the same margin as England or wins by a margin of one goal less than England's margin but scores at least two more goals than England in doing so:
France 7p, England 7p, Ukraine 3p, Sweden 0p
(France would win the group thanks to better goal difference and/or more goals scored.)
3-2. England wins by a margin larger by two goals or more than France's margin or wins by a margin larger by one goal than France's margin but France does not score more than the number of goals England scores plus one:
England 7p, France 7p, Ukraine 3p, Sweden 0p
(England would win the group thanks to better goal difference and/or more goals scored and/or higher UEFA national team coefficient.)
4) draw in the first match & Sweden wins:
England 5p, France 4p, Ukraine 4p, Sweden 3p
(France would advance because of the win against Ukraine.)
5) draws in both matches:
France 5p, England 5p, Ukraine 4p, Sweden 1p
(France would win the group thanks to better goal difference.)
6) draw in the first match & France wins:
France 7p, England 5p, Ukraine 4p, Sweden 0p
7) Ukraine wins & Sweden wins
7-1. France loses by a smaller margin than England or loses by the same margin as England or loses by a margin larger by one goal than England's margin but scores at least two more goals than England in doing so:
Ukraine 6p, France 4p, England 4p, Sweden 3p
(France would advance because of better goal difference and/or more goals scored.)
7-2. England loses by a margin smaller by two goals or more than France's margin or loses by a margin smaller by one goal than France's margin but France does not score more than the number of goals England scores plus one:
Ukraine 6p, England 4p, France 4p, Sweden 3p
(England would advance because of better goal difference and/or more goals scored and/or higher UEFA national team coefficient.)
8) Ukraine wins & draw in the other match:
Ukraine 6p, France 5p, England 4p, Sweden 1p
9) Ukraine wins & France wins:
France 7p, Ukraine 6p, England 4p, Sweden 0p
1) England wins & Sweden wins:
England 7p, France 4p, Ukraine 3p, Sweden 3p
(Ukraine would finish third because of the win against Sweden.)
2) England wins & draw in the other match:
England 7p, France 5p, Ukraine 3p, Sweden 1p
3) England wins & France wins
3-1. France wins by a larger margin than England or wins by the same margin as England or wins by a margin of one goal less than England's margin but scores at least two more goals than England in doing so:
France 7p, England 7p, Ukraine 3p, Sweden 0p
(France would win the group thanks to better goal difference and/or more goals scored.)
3-2. England wins by a margin larger by two goals or more than France's margin or wins by a margin larger by one goal than France's margin but France does not score more than the number of goals England scores plus one:
England 7p, France 7p, Ukraine 3p, Sweden 0p
(England would win the group thanks to better goal difference and/or more goals scored and/or higher UEFA national team coefficient.)
4) draw in the first match & Sweden wins:
England 5p, France 4p, Ukraine 4p, Sweden 3p
(France would advance because of the win against Ukraine.)
5) draws in both matches:
France 5p, England 5p, Ukraine 4p, Sweden 1p
(France would win the group thanks to better goal difference.)
6) draw in the first match & France wins:
France 7p, England 5p, Ukraine 4p, Sweden 0p
7) Ukraine wins & Sweden wins
7-1. France loses by a smaller margin than England or loses by the same margin as England or loses by a margin larger by one goal than England's margin but scores at least two more goals than England in doing so:
Ukraine 6p, France 4p, England 4p, Sweden 3p
(France would advance because of better goal difference and/or more goals scored.)
7-2. England loses by a margin smaller by two goals or more than France's margin or loses by a margin smaller by one goal than France's margin but France does not score more than the number of goals England scores plus one:
Ukraine 6p, England 4p, France 4p, Sweden 3p
(England would advance because of better goal difference and/or more goals scored and/or higher UEFA national team coefficient.)
8) Ukraine wins & draw in the other match:
Ukraine 6p, France 5p, England 4p, Sweden 1p
9) Ukraine wins & France wins:
France 7p, Ukraine 6p, England 4p, Sweden 0p
Friday, 15 June 2012
La pluie a Donetsk
... Or "The Rain at Donetsk"
The one thing I really don't understand about the organization of this tournament is why the host countries, Poland and Ukraine, haven't been scheduled to play all of their matches in their own capitals, Warsaw and Kyiv, respectively.
It can't possibly be because they were warned playing all matches in the same city would create an unfair advantage, because the Czechs are playing all of their matches in Wroclaw and the Swedes are playing all of their matches in Kyiv (and Netherlands and Spain also have all of their matches in only one city, too).
Switching from Kyiv to Donetsk certainly was not a good omen for the hosts, and it started with a thunder storm that prompted the referee to postpone the match by 55 minutes after only 4-5 minutes played in the first half.
Thus, a two-hour first half ended scoreless, but the French were looking slightly better even during the first 45 minutes of play.
And, after the interval, within just three minutes (53-56), Menez and Cabaye scored with some very precise shots to extend France's unbeaten streak as a national football team to 22 matches.
The Ukrainians tried to threaten Lloris' goal, but the final result was never in doubt. (If anything, the French were closer to score a third, as they hit the post, too, at 2-0.)
Highlights:
Uktaine 0 2 France hoofoot.com highlights & All... by hoofoot
The one thing I really don't understand about the organization of this tournament is why the host countries, Poland and Ukraine, haven't been scheduled to play all of their matches in their own capitals, Warsaw and Kyiv, respectively.
It can't possibly be because they were warned playing all matches in the same city would create an unfair advantage, because the Czechs are playing all of their matches in Wroclaw and the Swedes are playing all of their matches in Kyiv (and Netherlands and Spain also have all of their matches in only one city, too).
Switching from Kyiv to Donetsk certainly was not a good omen for the hosts, and it started with a thunder storm that prompted the referee to postpone the match by 55 minutes after only 4-5 minutes played in the first half.
Thus, a two-hour first half ended scoreless, but the French were looking slightly better even during the first 45 minutes of play.
And, after the interval, within just three minutes (53-56), Menez and Cabaye scored with some very precise shots to extend France's unbeaten streak as a national football team to 22 matches.
The Ukrainians tried to threaten Lloris' goal, but the final result was never in doubt. (If anything, the French were closer to score a third, as they hit the post, too, at 2-0.)
Highlights:
Uktaine 0 2 France hoofoot.com highlights & All... by hoofoot
Monday, 11 June 2012
The Slower Giants
Unlike Spain and Italy, in Gdansk, France and England played at a much slower tempo their derby encounter in Donetsk.
Surely, the intense heat in far-Eastern Ukraine contributed to the players' conserving their energy.
France was the better team, but not by much.
In the 30th minute, Lescott opened the scoring with a great header, which reminded fans of the Premier League of his goal against Manchester United that gave Man. City the lead in the title chase, this past April.
But another City player, Samir Nasri, took advantage of a bad decision in an otherwise very well-disciplined English defense, to beat Joe Hart with a shot from just outside the box. 1-1, in the 39th minute, equalizing for France. And the French kept coming.
However, that was to be the final score, because neither the French nor the English risked too much in the second half.
There's no doubt that both teams accepted a draw in supposedly their toughest encounter, waiting to fight for the full three points against the weaker opponents, Ukraine and Sweden.
The man of the match, at least for me, must have been Joleon Lescott. Not only did he score England's goal, but he also deflected into a corner kick the best shot by the French that wasn't a goal. Cabaye, in the 80th minute, may have had Hart beaten with a very powerful shot, but the ball was directed outside of the goal frame by the English defender.
Overall, the result was not unexpected at all, but I'm sure everybody expects better performances than this, at least in the future, from both England and France.
Highlights:
France v England by shmooot
Surely, the intense heat in far-Eastern Ukraine contributed to the players' conserving their energy.
France was the better team, but not by much.
In the 30th minute, Lescott opened the scoring with a great header, which reminded fans of the Premier League of his goal against Manchester United that gave Man. City the lead in the title chase, this past April.
But another City player, Samir Nasri, took advantage of a bad decision in an otherwise very well-disciplined English defense, to beat Joe Hart with a shot from just outside the box. 1-1, in the 39th minute, equalizing for France. And the French kept coming.
However, that was to be the final score, because neither the French nor the English risked too much in the second half.
There's no doubt that both teams accepted a draw in supposedly their toughest encounter, waiting to fight for the full three points against the weaker opponents, Ukraine and Sweden.
The man of the match, at least for me, must have been Joleon Lescott. Not only did he score England's goal, but he also deflected into a corner kick the best shot by the French that wasn't a goal. Cabaye, in the 80th minute, may have had Hart beaten with a very powerful shot, but the ball was directed outside of the goal frame by the English defender.
Overall, the result was not unexpected at all, but I'm sure everybody expects better performances than this, at least in the future, from both England and France.
Highlights:
France v England by shmooot
Monday, 4 June 2012
France - UEFA Club Competitions Participants - 2012-2013
Montpellier HSC --> Champions League Group Stage
Paris Saint-Germain --> Champions League Group Stage
Lille OSC --> Champions League Play-off Round
Olympique Lyon(nais) --> Europa League Group Stage
Girondins Bordeaux --> Europa League Play-off Round
Olympique Marseille --> Europa League Third Qualifying Round
Paris Saint-Germain --> Champions League Group Stage
Lille OSC --> Champions League Play-off Round
Olympique Lyon(nais) --> Europa League Group Stage
Girondins Bordeaux --> Europa League Play-off Round
Olympique Marseille --> Europa League Third Qualifying Round
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