Matchday Thread | GROUP E

Like who?? lol What Golden Generation??

This is news to me m8.. same generation that got bounced out by Guyana? lol

 

Deserved red.

 

I was joking but in CONCACAF anything is possible.

 

Yea, no. lol I think unless a serious team steps-up it'll be the same four in Russia.

 

Ecuador only need a goal to progress, but will be tough with only 10 men.
Honduras turn out to be group whipping boys.

 

Somebody needs to tell Ecuador the 0-0 eliminates them. They seem pretty cool with this score!?!

 

20 minutes left.

 

Ecuador need 2 now

I thought France beating the Swiss 5-2 and the 3-0 in 10 showed that Honduras is clearly the better team

 

Ecuador blowing it late against the Swiss really ended up biting them in the behind.

 

All I can say is this group is terribly poor in terms of football quality.

 

Disappointed performance by France.

 

Still... easily dominating this game.

Ecuador, Switzerland and Honduras several rungs lower in quality.

 

Damn and I thought that the Swiss would call up this guy.

 

Domingues with arguably the best GK performance of the tournament so far. All to naught if Ecaudor don't score.

 

Disappointing from France and Ecuador .

 

Decent game. It was frustrating seeing all the wasted chances, but I figured we were due for a draw after the two first games. If anything, the players will probably be more rested and more determined to go for the win against Nigeria.

Glad to hear about Switzerland. This WC is starting to seriously lack European teams.

 

Will be one less after Switzerland lose to Argentina

 

Well of course, I'm definitely not saying they'll beat Argentina (then again, stranger things have happened), I'm just happy for them that they're advancing even if it's not going to last long.

 

Guess Ecuador took a few pages from the Honduras playbook in the first half. Hope the French team doctors brought lots of supplies and the ice chest at the hotel is full.
France, on the other hand, were trying to be Italy and just barely stumble backwards into the next round by playing at half steam and not losing.

 

OK, belatedly because I worked all day long and avoided the results in order to see my DVR recordings as if live, I finally watched today's matches, and here is what I have to say:

I sincerely wonder now if France is as good as it seemed at first. I confess I haven't followed French football for a while. People were saying this morning during my commute in a British football radio show (which was reproduced on satellite radio in the US) that the team is performing better without Ribéry because he tends to slow down the offense. OK. Hard to believe, but oh well, like I said I haven't been following. But then, we get to this game. Sure, France had little to lose since they'd keep first group place on goal differential even with a defeat, and maybe they weren't trying too hard, thinking already of the knock-out phase.

But they surely did give the impression that they were trying hard, so, how couldn't they get passed a 10-men Ecuador? I mean, Ecuador may have impressed the spectator, but people who are less familiar with South American football maybe haven't realized that Ecuador didn't win *a single* match outside of the Quito high altitude, during the qualifiers. Pretty much every time they played at sea level, they crashed. So, then they manage to win an official game for the first time in three years, out of their altitude, and it is against Honduras, the weakest of the CONCACAF teams. OK, so, then they go to play France and look very impressive, and bother the French a lot in spite of having ten men, and almost score several times?

So, Switzerland... oh well, not very impressive either. Sure, they beat Honduras 3-0 but also the score doesn't really do justice to the match. What we saw, again, was Honduras giving a lot of trouble to the Swiss, except for some atrocious finishing. So, what made the difference was that Switzerland didn't have as atrocious finishing and three of their balls got in. But it could easily have ended 3-3.

So, are the French so impressive because they are arguably in the weakest World Cup group, with a seeded team that didn't really deserve the seeding, and two of the weakest South American and Central American teams?

I'm asking seriously. No bias. People who know this French team better than I do, what do you think? How well will they do in the knock-out phase?

It also looked to me like France got away with two players extensively using their elbows and not collecting any cards, while the red card to Ecuador was clearly in an accidental play. The Ecuador player clearly went for the ball, which got caught between his foot and the Frenchman' leg, and then there was an unlucky bounce and his foot slid down the Frenchman's chin. Sure, a very harsh foul, but it did look entirely accidental, with no intention whatsoever to harm his colleague. OK, still probably a red card offense because intent is hard to gauge, but then, deliberate harsh elbowing might also be red card offenses. What would have been the score of this game, if Ecuador did not play one man down for most of second half?

Now, a Honduras fan earlier in this thread berated me for calling his team a weak one. I told him, "let's wait and see; maybe I'll be proven right." Well, I guess I was proven right. Points, zero. Goals for, one. Goals against, eight. I'm sorry that he took offense, but I was just speaking the truth. I told him at the time - "what do you want me to say; lie and state that Honduras is a great team? It just isn't."

 

agree, Valencia did not deserve a red. a yellow at most. Ecuador did good despite being a man down for so long. they rely much more on physicality and individual play. their strategy more counter attacking, but that can only take you so far. France took full advantage of this group. took care of business but still not convinced until i see them face a good side. Switzerland really did not deserve that seeding. wow FIFA. honduras still have a loong way to go, with Costa Rica going super saiyan, México coming back from the dead and USA being top dog of CONCACAF the past couple of years... its not looking good for the catrachos.

 

I'm still not happy with our play at this WC but I wouldn't go that far. The win was well deserved and we also missed some clear chances.

Anyway, very pleased with the "revenge" against Honduras. All the paper pressures (including the silly 6th place ranking) are now gone and we have nothing to lose against Argentina. Also pleased for Hitzfeld. Another Honduras spoiler truly would have put a stain on his tenure as Switzerland coach. As it stands it's quite mixed:

South Africa 2010 - Qualified. Failed in WC group stage.
Ukraine/Poland 2012 - Did not qualify. Only major tournament missed since qualifying for Portugal 2004.
Brazil 2014 - TBD

Also scored seven goals in the group stage - not bad. Now if only the defense would settle.