France vs. Colombia, June 3 2008 [R]

[bwiorly]

Last friendly before the start of Euro 2008 and 100th cap for Henry.

For those of us in the US, Setanta US is carrying the game live starting at 3 pm EDT.

The match should tell us a lot more about Domenech's choices and the players' current form than the games vs. Ecuador and Paraguay. No final word on the starting 11 yet, but the media is mentioning the following as a strong possibility:

Coupet
Sagnol-Thuram-Gallas-Abidal
Ribery-Makelele-Toulalan-Malouda
Henry-Anelka

It should be fairly close to what Domenech has in mind for the Romania game, the two question marks being Abidal and Anelka, who could (should IMO) lose their starting job to Evra and Benzema respectively.

In any case, I'm off to the pub at 2:45... :)

[bwiorly]

Mods--Sorry, didn't see the earlier thread on this game. Can you merge the two threads? Thanks.

[lefutur]

i'd rather see Benzema start over Henry or Anelka. I'd also like to see Gomis come in late in the game as a super-sub.

[bwiorly]

Starting 11 officially announced:

Coupet
Sagnol-Thuram-Gallas-Abidal
Ribery-Makelele-Toulalan-Malouda
Henry-Benzema

[MathematicalOdegbami]

any live links?

[sixer1]

Ribery PK makes it 1-0.

[marighand]

Penalty!!

Ribery Scores!!!

1-0 France

[sixer1]

France 1-0 HT. Colombia looked the better in the first 25 minutes with a Bustos shot off the post. However, France has done better since the PK with a Thierry Henry FK that was parried away. Benzema has looked good so far.

[lefutur]

not watching the game but eurosport said that Ribery is playing in the #10 role. is that true?

[SuperSebGrimaldi]

Yes, more or less, Toulalan is siding quite a lot to the right, while Malouda is doing his typical good work in helping the defense. I think it is important to keep in mind that Franck plays on the left at Bayern, so this could be a good decision, allowing him to roam around and wreck havoc on defenses.

[Inara]

http://www.soccerstream.de.tl/LIVE_Stream-Channel-1.htm

That's a link to the game. Use IE and make sure you have flash installed. It's in French.

[lefutur]

Yes, more or less, Toulalan is siding quite a lot to the right, while Malouda is doing his typical good work in helping the defense. I think it is important to keep in mind that Franck plays on the left at Bayern, so this could be a good decision, allowing him to roam around and wreck havoc on defenses.

so its a 4-3-1-2?

[SportBoy333]

I'm watching the Setanta feed. I like this announcer. Ive heard him do Bundesliga matches on Gol tv.

[sixer1]

Lassana Diara in for Benzema

[SuperSebGrimaldi]

so its a 4-3-1-2?

Yes, it was, although Sagnol often overlapped on the right.

[sixer1]

Anelka in for Henry and Nasri in for Ribery.

[zizouForlife]

not a convicing win, france has be more attacking oriented than that otherwise they will be in trouble.

and benzema needs to learn to how to score goal. he does it for lyon but doesn't seem to do it for france

[Suyuntuy]

not watching the game but eurosport said that Ribery is playing in the #10 role. is that true?
He's playing more and more in that role.

Usually, Ray plays 4-4-2 which becomes a 4-2-2-2 in attack. Of late, he's been experimenting with two variations:

Toulalan (or whoever is the second DM) move to the centre, the winger move to the middle-forward and it's a 4-3-1-2.

Ribéry moves to the centre and forward, with Toulalan (or whoever is the second DM) moving to the right, to make a 4-1-2-1-2.

With Toulalan or Flamini there, the 4-3-1-2 becomes a good alternative. The 4-1-2-1-2 only happens in attack, when France is dominating. I wish it were seen more often.

I'm still somewhat worried because all of Domenech's formations depend heavily on a good understanding between the fullbacks and the sides of the midfield, and Ribéry and Malouda (or whoever plays in their place) are vital to keep a connection with the attack.

Malouda is not playing as he used to, so we're depending too much on Ribéry at this point. That's why keeping Nasri as a permanent #10 would be ideal, in case the wings get disconnected --what I suspect is what Romania will try to do, with Chivu and Contra, which are very fast wingbacks.

[AfrcnHrbMan]

I'm glad we played such a tough team before the tourney. This was a good test, and Colombia could have beaten us. What I see from the team offensively still impresses me even though our only goal came off a penalty.

[lefutur]

Romania isn't going to be a walk in the park either. I just hope the goals come. I think they will.