World Cup 2006 - Semi-Finals Day Two
Benny
PORTUGAL 0-1 FRANCE
Zidane 33 (Pen)
The Portuguese defence got caught on a longball out of defence, Malouda,
probably because he was being shadowed by the brilliant Miguel, wasted the
opportunity by snatching at his shot. Barthez flapped at a tame Deco effort but
no one was on hand to take advantage. Just past the half hour mark Malouda
dribbled his way past a couple of Portuguese players before giving a reverse
pass to Henry and he made the most of Carvalho's clumsy challenge as he turned
inside the defender to win a penalty. Up stepped Zidane to blast the ball into
the bottom left corner. Henry wasted a good opening with a poor finish and
Ricardo, like slap-head Barthez, made hard work of a tame long range shot.
The French should have finished off Portugal on the break early in the second
half but Zidane screwed up a pass to Henry with the striker open in the box.
Les Blues made no concerted attempts to attack probably confident in the
knowledge that Portugal's strikers would have problems scoring in the MLS &
J-League let alone in the World Cup but with prize clown Barthez in goal there's
always a chance. He dropped an almighty bollock when he scooped a Ronaldo free
kick high in the air with both hands but Figo bailed him out by heading over. In
injury time Thuram fell under a challenge from Postiga when they battled for a
longball but Meira smashed it into row Z.
After last night's classic both teams served up a magnitude of shite. As far as
Portugal are concerned good riddance to bad rubbish. One goal in three games
in the knockout stages speaks for itself and their part in the disgraceful match
against the Dutch cannot be overlooked. I expected more from Scolari, especially
given the way Brazil played in 2002 and Portugal in 2004 but I guess, given the
abysmal quality of the squad he had to work with, surely one of the worst teams
to ever play in a World Cup semi-final, he did well to get them this far.
Ronaldo was unmercifully booed by the French, presumably because people thought
he was disingenuous in his comments over the Rooney red card and because he
continues the long tradition of simulation that plagues Portuguese players
(Greeks and Turks are equally as bad). Ronaldo and Postiga should have been
booked for diving in the box.
Zidane looked exhausted after 60 minutes, as did many of the other players which
makes Sunday's midfield battle all the more intriguing. Gattuso and Pirlo can
keep going for 90 minutes and beyond, can Vieira and Makelele? Unfortunately for
Italy Saha is out of the final having picked up his second yellow of the
knockout stages which means Trezeguet will play some part and we all know what
happened last time he played against Italy.
Attendance : 66,000
Assist : Henry (won pen)
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ruud
wrote:
>5 July 2006
>
>PORTUGAL 0-1 FRANCE
> Zidane 33 (Pen)
thanks for these posts during the tournament. I haven't had enough
time to watch games (but have been taping them all) so it's been
useful to get the reports and know which games to watch (or not).
allez les grenouille
--
"Art thou a witch, viva espana?"
--
The Spanish Inquisition (Tadfield version) in action - Terry Pratchett & Neil Gaiman, Good Omens.
Grant Flowers
Pauleta was dogshit bad. I mean, the only way he could have been more
invisible is if Camoranesi was the one trying to provide him with service.
Scolari should have picked Postiga for this one; he seems to be better in
the air, and the only way Portugal seemed likely to score was avoiding
Vieira and Makelele and crossing in from the flanks. Almost every nation
seems to have a weakness, and for Portugal it's at striker. They could have
used McBride tonight, or half the strikers in MLS.
Meanwhile, France played like they were on cruise control. I really like
Ribery. He's taken some of the attacking load off Zidane and Henry.
I get the feeling we haven't seen the last of the Barthez Follies...
Grant
Benny
> From : ruud <no_e...@hotmail.scum>
>thanks for these posts during the tournament. I haven't had enough
>time to watch games (but have been taping them all) so it's been
>useful to get the reports and know which games to watch (or not).
I'd give this one a wide berth, 1/10. Yesterday's match was of course
10/10.
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Manuel
Pauleta has always be shite with the NT. Postiga is even worse. Leave
it at that.
We had a great WC, we finally played a good game today, we were not
inferior to France and in fact were superior for most of the first
half. Zidane was nowhere to be seen for most of the match and Henry had
a grand total of 2 shots on goal. But without strikers we couldn't have
asked for more. Congrats to France.
- Manuel.
Mark V.
I agree. I am not a Portugal fan, but certainly don't think that after
one has ignored the diving that you played badly today. France was
lucky that this one didn't go into extra time.
Catenaccio
Portugal were the epitome of the word "toothless" in attack. As noted
before they were absolutely pathetic centrally against England sans
Deco but yesterday even with him they weren't much better.
encor...@yahoo.com
Grant Flowers wrote:
> Almost every nation
> seems to have a weakness, and for Portugal it's at striker. They could have
> used McBride tonight, or half the strikers in MLS.
>
Nuno Gomes is the only Portugal striker who can ( could ) score
goals against top class defences. He was inconsistent,
though.
Pauleta is rubbish, he is the Portuguese Batistuta.
Mark V.
Benny wrote:
>
> After last night's classic both teams served up a magnitude of shite.
How is a game a "classic" when the side that ultimately wins manages
two shots in the second half and only one is threatening? Take away the
extra period and Italy looks no better than Portugal did today.
Anto
If you want to reduce a game with all it the complex facets of play to
one single criteria. It just shows how stupid a quantitative approach
to football can be.
I watched both games and ITA:GER was ten times the game, even leaving
out extra time.
Anto
Anto wrote:
> If you want to reduce a game with all it the complex facets of play to
> one single criteria. It just shows how stupid a quantitative approach
> to football can be.
Sorry, not very coherent of me... will try again
"If you want to reduce a game with all its complexities to one single
criteria ..."
As you were.
Anto
Grant Flowers wrote:
> Meanwhile, France played like they were on cruise control. I really like
> Ribery. He's taken some of the attacking load off Zidane and Henry.
>
I agree - as soon as France was one up I thought Zidane and Vieira were
conserving themselves for the final as much as possible.
santana....@get2net.dk
What puzzled me was how invisible Deco was. In other games he has been
absolutely central feeding balls to attackers, last night he seemed
off.
Was that why there were so few coordinated Portuguese attacks?
Figo seed tired, which was not much of a surprice.
Congrats to France, they played their match well.
/Martin
symbi...@yahoo.com
several famous players each, players who have proven elsewhere that
they can do something). France sleepwalked through the game, was given
a penalty by Larrionda on a clear dive (come on, guys...), and only its
indestructible tractors kept it from collapsing. The only French
football was contributed by the kid Ribery, who obviously misunderstood
the spirit of this recreational exercise.
Portugal was the image of futility: no firepower whatsoever, an awful
Pauleta, an absent Deco, a Figo who fell into individual play and was
promptly dispossessed or cornered by the Sagnols of this world (whose
purpose is to rob just such suckers). Only the kid Ronaldo tried to
play football -- when he was not busy planning his next dive. A
hormonal display by Portugal, alone, could have won them this game
against a decrepit France. Yet only in the last couple of minutes did
Portugal corner Italy. Disgraceful.
The only thing to cap this dispirited exercise would be a declaration
that Zidane is the best player in the World Cup. That would end it for
me -- and it has been bad enough already.
I rate this the worst World Cup I have witnessed. It is worse than
Italy 1990.
Best,
SMT
Lléo
news:1152163884.8...@j8g2000cwa.googlegroups.com...
Funny you should mention this - both are the top goalscorers in the history
of their respective national teams.
Maybe it is down to the fact that nts seem to play more nowadays than they
did in the past. But it is still a somewhat telling statistic.
--
Lléo
Bob
<symbi...@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:1152178573.2...@m79g2000cwm.googlegroups.com...
LOL a tad bitter may be? what's your team btw?
symbi...@yahoo.com
Bob wrote:
> LOL a tad bitter may be? what's your team btw?
I dislike awful spectacles. I also dislike sudden enthusiasms by the
notoriously venal sports press. I supported Spain, long gone after
being soundly beaten by France. Other than that, I do tend to like
Italy, sometimes Argentina, sometimes Brazil -- but only when they play
well, no particular allegiance.
Best,
SMT
Bob
<symbi...@yahoo.com> wrote in
There must be an awful lot of soccer you dislike then because, if
unspectacular, yesterday's semi final was fairly typical considering the
stake and the tactics required to stay alive with a full squad. In fact, the
difference between this semi final and GER-ITA was the score at the half
which implied clear roles for the 2nd half, and .... the eyes of the
beholder.
Benny
>How is a game a "classic" when the side that ultimately wins manages
>two shots in the second half and only one is threatening? Take away the
>extra period and Italy looks no better than Portugal did today.
You were watching a different game. There were a combined 26 shots on
goal, 13 each, Italy got 8 on target, Germany 2. Both teams played
patient, precise football. If you want to see mistakes in defence and
poor passing in midfield this wasn't the game for you.
JK
> <symbi...@yahoo.com> wrote in
>
>
> There must be an awful lot of soccer you dislike then because, if
> unspectacular, yesterday's semi final was fairly typical considering the
> stake and the tactics required to stay alive with a full squad.
Both teams were playing with two goals: 1) win, 2)but don't get booked.
I think France played a pretty smart and solid game given the
self-imposed constraints and did what you would expect once they went
up. Portugal as time went on had less reason to hold back and I thought
clearly controlled (or were allowed to control) the match for most of
the second half. But as has been pointed out, they can't score.
I think France-Italy is going to be amazing.
Erdal Paksoy
"Benny" <Be...@soccer-europe.com> wrote in message news:cejcbbCI...@mail.soccer-europe.com...
>> Subject : World Cup 2006 - Semi-Finals Day Two
>> From : ruud <no_e...@hotmail.scum>
>
>>thanks for these posts during the tournament. I haven't had enough
>>time to watch games (but have been taping them all) so it's been
>>useful to get the reports and know which games to watch (or not).
>
> I'd give this one a wide berth, 1/10. Yesterday's match was of course
> 10/10.
>
Just curious, what would it have been without Grosso's goal, and the inevitable Germany win in PKs?
Erdal
Erdal Paksoy
"Benny" <Be...@soccer-europe.com> wrote in message news:itAjnXBH$FrE...@mail.soccer-europe.com...
>5 July 2006
>
> PORTUGAL 0-1 FRANCE
> Zidane 33 (Pen)
> Les Blues made no concerted attempts to attack probably confident in the
> knowledge that Portugal's strikers would have problems scoring in the MLS &
> J-League let alone in the World Cup
:-)
When Pauleta shot into the side netting, one of my friends thought it went in.
I had to tell him that it's not worth getting too excited whenever Pauleta shoots.
When Postiga came on, I had to explain that he is a "striker", emphasizing the airquotes.
I wonder if Portugal would have looked more effective overall if they just had a credible target up front.
> After last night's classic both teams served up a magnitude of shite.
Very poor performance by France. Zidane looked spent, Vieira and Makelele lost
countless balls under mild pressure. I hope this was an aberration, and we will
see a great final. One good thing: no significant yellow card suspensions.
Erdal
Florian
> France sleepwalked through the game, was given
> a penalty by Larrionda on a clear dive (come on, guys...)
Nope.
Carvalho's left foot on Henry's right ankle. See second camera angle :
http://youtube.com/watch?v=fxw3X90pVUQ&search=henry%20carvalho
--
Florian
"Tout est au mieux dans le meilleur des mondes possible"
Voltaire vs Leibniz
Benny
>Just curious, what would it have been without Grosso's goal, and the inevitable
>Germany win in PKs?
>
>Erdal
About 7/10. If Germany won in extra time without penalties it would
still be 10/10.
Manuel
Erdal Paksoy wrote:
>
> I wonder if Portugal would have looked more effective overall if they just had a credible target up front.
>
I don't think it would have made much of a difference. I agree with
those who called for Nuno Gomes. For whatever reason, he seems to do
better than all others in the NT. Pauleta is a great poacher but alone
in the box he's too easy to defend against. To make things worse, we
kept insisting on the crossing game which clearly is not Portugal's
game. I found that uterly agonizing as a fan, knowing that we could
have been there all day and not get a single goal from a cross.
Yesterday we wen as far as having Pauleta crossing the ball to no one
:-)
As far as Deco, he never had the time to settle in during this WC. He
came into the WC tired, had to sit 2 games, and never really got going.
Too bad.
Overall I'm incredibly pleased with our teams campaign. It wasn't the
pretties but it was efficient and given out shortcomings, a semi-final
ain't too shaby. It may just make us a seeded team in the next WC.
- Manuel.
Erdal Paksoy
"Benny" <Be...@soccer-europe.com> wrote in message news:k8tyzICz...@mail.soccer-europe.com...
>> Subject : World Cup 2006 - Semi-Finals Day Two
>> From : Erdal Paksoy <pak...@ti.com>
>
>>Just curious, what would it have been without Grosso's goal, and the inevitable
>>Germany win in PKs?
>>
>>Erdal
>
> About 7/10. If Germany won in extra time without penalties it would
> still be 10/10.
>
Yes, 7 is about right.
Erdal