Official France vs Colombia POST Match Thread (6/18) [R]

... Mod's Note ...

Let's do the PBP here: https://www.bigsoccer.com/forum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=54636

 

1-0 to France.

 

That penalty was absolute B.S. Just further proof that this is the most inconsistent call in the game. The guy was about 4 feet in front of Cissé when he went to cross it and never had a chance to get his hand out of the way. Clear ball-to-hand.

Second half saw Colombia come out attacking, and that dude Bercerra is one fast mother effer. Probably one of the reasons why France went to bunker ball.

Pires came on and gave France a bit more possesion and opportunities.

First 20 minutes of the 2nd half was a lot better than the rest of the game.

 

Many predicted that the French would win this game and they did win.
But not very easy,they won the game with a penalty after a late call by the referree.
In the second half the Colombians where better,attacked frequently and should get a penalty after a hand ball by a french but of course the Colombians can't get it,and they didn't even show the replay on tv.

I know and you should know that this tournament is already won by the French it is made for them,just like the World Cup 98.

 

I thought ball-to-hand was a penalty if the player could have moved his hand but intentionally kept it there--though this was not called on Frings v. USA. And this may not have been the case with the Colombian defender.

 

Sorry, but I don't see the score in this thread. 1-0 France? *shrugs*

 

I also think it was an unintentional hand ball. And if the ref thought differently, then he must given a yellow for the player who already was booked before (and not the other guy for complaining). The ref was pretty bad anyway.

Colombia was better than I expected and they truly would have deserved at least a draw. They fooled the French defence time and again with their sudden passes that knocked out the French offside trap - unfortunately a real striker was missing on their side.

 

France will win it, no doubt cause they are home, and need the win.

 

It's always hard to judge from just following matchtracker, but it seems to me that France was pretty unimpressive. They were playing at home, fielding all their best players, and all they can manage is a 1-0 win, with the goal coming from a questionable penalty? Weak -- especially b/c Colombia appeared to dominate the second half. They are clearly beatable, even with the refs and home crowd on their side. I think Japan might surprise and win the group (depends on whether their win v. NZ was a reflection of their strength or NZ's crappiness).

 

Congrats France.....

congrats to the French fans....err, I mean to the Portuguese ref. I'm satisfied because well like I said before, France would draw with Colombia, and they almost did, except the Portuguese ref had somethign to say about it. But well the Confed Cup is not the greatest cup, its entertaining no doubt.

 

I thought it was a very entertaining game and Colombia were definitley unlucky not to have gotten a tie out of the match. I'll agree with the others that it would have been hard for Velazquez to move his hand out of the way (although it looked to me as if he was trying to). That's the kind of call a home team is going to get but if i were the ref I wouldn't have whistled it.

Great battle between Henry and Cisee v Cordoba and Yepes. Colombia's defense is as good as any team's in the world. France did hit a post (by Dacourt's shot) but apart from the penalty France had trouble creating oportunities against the great Colombian backline.

As someone else mentioned, Colombia just needs a center forward (perhaps America de Cali's Julian Vazquez playing tomorrow in the Copa Libertadores) because apart from that they are excellent. Besides their great defense they pressure the ball well in midfield, are very skillful with their one touch passing and are extremely quick. Becerra will be getting offers from Europe very soon.

Two plays worth mentioning late in the game, one Bedoya's wonderful cross field pass with the outside of his left foot to a wide open Aristizabal who lets the ball drop(Instead of hitting it first time) thereby reducing his angle and allowing it to be saved and Velzaquez' chipped shot, from a tight angle, which just nudged the cross bar. Wonderful stuff from Colombia.

For France, Dacourt was disappointing as was Cisse. Desailly, Mexes and Thuram were solid but Lizarazu was getting eaten alive (as I've never seen before) by Becerra, Martinez and Velazquez. Pedretti was OK but needs to assert himself more. Pires sparked the team when he came on and helped Lizarazu defensively on the left. Kapo was awful BTW. Henry worked hard and did well but still found it tough against Colombia's defense.

For Colombia I'd say everyone of their starters did well but Patiño and Aristizabal were the least impressive while Ivan Cordoba, Becerra and Velazquez were the most impressive.

 

Even though Colombia lost the game, I think they have good chances to advance to the semis. Japan is the adversary to be beaten. With all due respect to the New Zealand fans, it looks like the team will be the whipping-boys of this group.

 

Yes they lost the game on a (non-existan) penalty kick, anyway, what's done is done. New Zealand could have a few tricks up its sleeve, who knows, but I do have to agree that Colombia did show character out there, and well we were unlucky.

 

nope, on the flip side this was the first scored against us...

 

the refs are always strange. we had a lot of strange calls in the new zealand match too.

 

Great concise match report. Thanks.
cjh

 

Yup, oh well, and they look the US secret service with those communicators they are wearing now, what good are those if the refs still make bad calls?

 

There shouldn't have been a penalty awarded. The defender's hand was in a natural position and there was no way he could have gotten his hand out of the way: clearly ball-to-hand.

After Henry's penalty kick, the Galavision announcer said, "He is so precise. He is like a dentist." I guess some things get lost in translation.

 

The Yellow card on Becerra for a dive in the box was ludicrous. Probably was a penalty. He tried hard to clear the French defender (who looked like he was desperately trying to commit a penalty) didn't make it and went down. They also hit the crossbar late.

Colombia pretty badly outplayed France in the second half and deserved a better fate. Had chances, couldn't finish.

I can actually see France losing this thing unless they improve their play on defense, and get more creative on offense (their whole offense appeared to be give the ball to Henry or Cisse and have them try and beat defenders).

 

What really pissed me off, aside from the bogus penalty kick, that gave France the win. Was Thierry Henry's foul on Cordoba, it was clearly he was getting him back for outplaying and taking the ball from him. It was a foul from behind and not to the ball, that could have been a red, but they are the hosts, but hey its all in the past, we need to look forward now.