Ouf, i feel a bit better. Now the real thing begins. But we definately got more chances with such a team. I'm a bit worried bout our defence from time to time though.
from The Guardian: Zidane celebrates comeback with classy 3-0 win By Julien Pretot MONTPELLIER, France, Aug 17 (Reuters) - Zinedine Zidane marked his international comeback with a goal in France's 3-0 win over Ivory Coast in a friendly on Wednesday. The Real Madrid playmaker, returning to the France team with Juventus defender Lilian Thuram and Chelsea midfielder Claude Makelele, treated the fans to some tricks but failed to make a real impact until his goal shortly after the hour. Before and after, defender William Gallas and striker Thierry Henry celebrated their 28th birthdays with goals, scoring in the 28th and 67th minutes respectively. Zidane received a deafening welcome from the crowd at Montpellier's Mosson stadium, with both France and Ivory Coast fans chanting his name, 11 years to the day after he won his first cap in a 2-2 draw with the Czech Republic in Bordeaux. "Zizou, France say thank you," read a banner. "Zizou, show us the way to the World Cup," said another. France were hoping for a good warm-up before resuming their World Cup qualifying campaign in two weeks time. They are fourth in European Group Four behind leaders Ireland, Switzerland and Israel. But the Ivory Coast "Elefants" made the better start with RC Lens forward Aruna Dindane wreaking havoc in the French defence. France had two clear chances early in the game but Henry and midfielder Florent Malouda, who replaced the injured Patrick Vieira in the starting line-up, shot wide. THURAM INJURED Ivory Coast almost went ahead in the 20th minute but keeper Gregory Coupet parried a powerful Didier Drogba volley from just outside the box. In the 22nd minute, Thuram, who became France's second most capped player with his 104th appearance overtaking former captain Didier Deschamps, limped off. "It looks like a thigh injury," said France coach Raymond Domenech. Monaco centre back Sebastien Squillaci stepped in as the Ivorians were increasing their pressure. However, Gallas netted his first France goal when he headed home a Sylvain Wiltord corner in the 28th minute. Drogba had a good opportunity to cancel France's advantage just after the interval when he headed a cross from defender Arthur Boka just over Coupet's crossbar. Zidane, who had been a bit disappointing so far, stepped up a gear. He latched on to a Sylvain Wiltord corner to double the tally in the 63rd minute. Three minutes later, Henry, set up by a through pass from Paris St Germain midfielder Vikash Dhorasoo, made it three after dribbling past Ivory Coast goalkeeper Jean-Jacques Tizie. The French consulate in Ivory Coast had warned its citizens to avoid the streets of Abidjan on Wednesday night. Political tension is high between the two countries with many Ivorians accusing the French of being too soft on or even backing rebels who seized the north of the country in a 2002 civil war which grew out of a failed coup. France's next competitive game will be on September 3 when they host the Faroe Islands in a World Cup qualifier. Ivory Coast will qualify for the 2006 tournament in Germany if they beat Cameroon at home the day after.
eh i don't agree with that assessment. Zidane was all over the first 20 minutes, had a lot of shots, and set up some great opportunities. Both sides had their chances in the beginning, but it seemed more likely that france would score as they had the edge, and I really did not think Didane was "wreaking havoc" at all. drogba was more impressive.
Haven't found a torrent for the full game yet, but if you want to see the goals only, here they are: Gallas, 1-0 http://s1.11mbit.de/p3Ez1urpm2dxl6yvOqxPsp024xu0cMovjz57r231yDKmF68fz2lkeBrg/759od2Gj Zidane, 2-0 http://s7.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=2MN4HHJ8RDXEP1KKYQ25OR34RB Henry, 3-0 http://s7.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=2JQXCD8TIYT9N2V33GDRNOAQRU First-half ( and soon second-half) highlights are also available at http://www.soccerpulse.com/forum/index.php (you have to register)
Do you know if any sites offer the brazil game? check it out guys... brand new site.. lots of videos, news, reviews and info.... jump in and get in the game: www.giantsofbrasil.com
sp probably has highlights of the brazil game too. nice site btw yea i'm trying to find the torrent as well, but having pretty bad luck. in any case here are football365.fr's player ratings: Coupet (7) : Pas beaucoup de travail pendant la première période mais beaucoup de vigilance sur une terrible volée de Drogba (19eme) et sur une frappe de Dindane (26eme). Même assurance après la pause avec quelques parades décisives et un peu de réussite sur l’ultime occasion ratée par Koné. Sagnol (8,5): L’un des Bleus les plus en vue lors d’une première mi-temps de haute qualité. Sur son côté droit, le défenseur du Bayern Munich a multiplié les montées et les centres. Egalement décisif lors d’un retour sur Didier Drogba (25eme), il a su garder le même rythme au retour des vestiaires pour rendre finalement l’une des ses copies les plus brillantes en équipe de France. Boumsong (6,5) : Appliqué, il a livré un gros duel physique avec les attaquants ivoiriens. Il évite d’ailleurs le pire lors d’un duel avec Drogba (5eme) avant de se montrer encore décisif en contrant une frappe de ce même Drogba (17eme). S’il a été battu à quelques reprises dans les airs, il a su garder une grosse intensité dans chacune de ses interventions. Thuram (Non noté) : Un très bon début de match, aussi bien défensivement que dans la relance. Mais touché à une cuisse, il a laissé rapidement sa place à Squillaci (23eme). Le Monégasque (6) a surtout essayé d’être juste dans ses interventions et il n’a pris aucune risque dans ses relances. Gallas (7) : Il a toujours beaucoup de mal à venir en soutien lors des phases défensives. En revanche, il a remporté la majorité de ses duels et a surtout ouvert le score de la tête à la réception d’un corner de Wiltord (28eme). Très solide dans ses interventions et à l’arrivée, un match satisfaisant pour lui à un poste qu’il ne souhaite pourtant plus occuper. Makélélé (7) : Plutôt discret lors de l’entame, il a essayé de balayer une large zone, surtout quand Dhorasoo montait d’un cran. Propre dans ses relances, costaud dans ses duels, le joueur de Chelsea a rendu une bonne copie. D’autant plus qu’il est monté en puissance au fil des minutes. Un carton jaune rapide (17eme) et un remplacement en fin de match par A.Diarra (88eme). Dhorasoo (7,5) : Aux côtés de Makélélé, il n’a pas récupéré autant de ballons que son partenaire mais il a nettement plus participé aux offensives des Bleus. Une évidente volonté d’aller toujours de l’avant et beaucoup de variété dans ses relances et ouvertures. Une passe décisive pour Henry (66eme) et une grosse impression laissée par le néo-Parisien. Malouda (6) : Une très bonne entrée en matière avec un tir non cadré (10eme) et un centre presque décisif pour Zidane (20eme). Il a ensuite baissé un peu de régime et a surtout eu du mal à trouver rapidement ses attaquants, Henry en tête. Il a peut-être été un peu trop timide par moments mais sa complémentarité avec les autres éléments offensifs ne demande qu’à se peaufiner. Remplacé par Rothen (71eme), bêtement sifflé par une majorité de la Mosson. Le joueur du PSG a essayé de trouver des espaces sur son côté gauche mais il a surtout beaucoup défendu. Zidane (8) : Le meneur de jeu des Bleus était attendu au tournant et sa première mi-temps a été un récital. Point de départ de toutes les actions, Zizou a souvent éclairé le jeu. Quelques pertes de balle quand il a joué trop facile mais un déchet très faible. Il a même failli ouvrir le score sur un centre de Malouda et une reprise trop enlevée (20eme). Au repos, et après un petit passage à vide, il a repris son festival et a été récompensé par un but (62eme). Du grand Zidane donc. Comme s’il n’était jamais parti. Wiltord (7,5) : Une grosse activité dans le couloir droit et une bonne entente avec Sagnol. A l’arrivée d’un une-deux avec Henry dans la surface, il lui manque quelques centimètres pour marquer (18eme). Auteur de la passe décisive pour le but de Gallas (28eme), il a remis ça pour Zidane après la pause (62eme). Remplacé par Trezeguet (79eme), dont l’entente avec Djibril Cissé n’a guère convaincu. Henry (7) : Il avait faim de ballons et il a surtout été au service du collectif pendant toute la première période. Parfois peut-être un peu trop. Une tête trop enlevée sur un service parfait de Sagnol (6eme) mais un but sompteux à l’heure de jeu (62eme). Remplacé par D.Cissé (71eme), qui a toujours trop tendance à courir droit devant et qui a surtout raté une énorme occasion sur un service de Zidane (81eme).
Haven't found one for any of the games that were played today yet. They'll show up later so I'll let you know when I find it (please do the same for me). Thank's.
sure thing. ill be gone for the next two days (moving into an apartment for college), so i won't have a chance to search for torrents. Hopefully when I come back the demand will have forced sombody to put it up. cheers
No problem. I haven't found it either so far. I've been waiting for it to be posted at http://www.********.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=1 (you have to register there as well) but no luck yet. We're not the only one looking for it so it'll show up eventually. If not there, it'll be on a non-soccer specific site such as http://thepiratebay.org/ Hope that "moving thing" isn't too painfull... I hate doing this myself...But I had to a couple of month ago. A+
365 player ratings are higher than équipe's scale, where 5,5 is already a good match, and 8's are almost unseen. Coupet (7):generous. frankly i've never seen him worse. Sagnol (8,5): the highest here and he deserves it. i'll never badmouth him again. Boumsong (6,5): good work to shut down some BIG boyz. Thuram (Non noté): as expected, he was royal. Squillaci (6): not bad, but one wonders where france would have gone with a back pair givet/squillaci... (shudder) Gallas (7): a good job on the left which makes abidal's injury easier to take. Makélélé (7): little big man. someone on this forum asked "why both pat and maka?"... he was right. Dhorasoo (7,5): what? vikash is one of my lieblingsspielers, but he was nowhere. the real dhorasoo is a pyromaniac. this was just someone else in a dhorasoo costume. Malouda (6):what? what? after sagnol and zidane (and thuram) he was the best bleu last night. 6 my eye! Zidane (8):that was a bit good, wasn't it? Wiltord (7,5):i hope houllier was watching. if raymond knows govou's not a patch on nino, why can't ged figure it out? those 2 corners were no accident either. Henry (7): what a goal! once he gets used to being alone up front for france he'll be doing more than just applauding teammates for sweet openings he didn't seize.
houllier and nino looked like they had buried the hatchet. at practice they look thick as thieves. and if GH played 4-4-2's in the first 2 matches, it was partly to play both carew and wiltord. but being replaced (even by juninho) at the hour against strasbourg, and not starting in marseilles didn't sit well, and the word's about he wants to leave. hopefully, after last night's match, we'll see him on the right for OL.
What the ******** ? In your link among major championships, i don't see the french one but i see MLS...i'm sppechless.
That's something, i guess it's because I Live in the US... But thank you for the comment... finally a constructive omment..... Apreiate it... come back soon and you'll have the Ligue...... thanks check it out guys... brand new site.. lots of videos, news, reviews and info.... jump in and get in the game: www.giantsofbrasil.com
the guys on RMC were talking about how they think Vieira is kind of irrelevant to the team now that Maka is back. Based on last night's performance i tend to agree. I wonder what would have happened if Vieira hadnt gotten injured at the last minute and Malouda didnt play. I think Malouda definately added some good support moving forward and his goal attempt early on helped pile on the pressure.
Ooopps is that your site ? Well great work really. But why didn't you include the french league ? Is it so worthless to you ?
no, no not at all just looked for the leagues that had the most brazilians, but you're right.. I'll add that and others.. thank you. Anything else you think I should do to have visitors return/ need input, really want to keep the page going and growing until the world cup.
Question for those that download torrents! Anyone find one of the complete game yet? This is a must have in my book.
Phew! Finally, it's been posted at http://www.********.com/forum/index.php? Register and go to "August 2005", you'll find it there. Mucho thank's to "seb_perpignan" at Maxxed (we had to beg to get this one )
thanks for the links dude. looks like some people like leeching rather than sharing though. tried repping but i gotta spread it around first lol