By Shai Mamou,
0-0. Well, I can’t say I am surprised by this turn of event. A very defensive Uruguayan team against an inspired French eleven, I had even bet 10 bucks on the draw. But seriously, how can Doménech leave Govou on the field whereas he is useless and can’t even eliminate an opponent? With an awful Ribéry, who tried to make a difference alone, often forgetting his partners, France could not do much better than that. The only real opportunity was at the beginning, when Govou missed his shot, very near from the goalkeeper (7th minute). Tabarez, the Celeste’s coach, left the pitbull Gargano on the bench, putting the heavy Rios and Perez in the midfield. That was finally a good choice, with the talented Forlan and Suarez holders in attack. Forlan had a good opportunity at the 18th minute but did not bend his shot enough.
For France, Gourcuff did not have much space to create and the excellent but a little shy Diaby couldn’t do everything on his own. With Malouda left on the bench because of his spat with Domenech on Thursday, “l’Equipe de France” lacked speed and percussion. Let’s hope the national coach will make up his mind and put the Chelsea left wing from the beginning next time. After the game, the new captain Evra said: “We had a good game, I am very confident for the rest of the competition”. Well, I don’t really agree, even if I keep on saying they can make it to the Final Four. Mexico likes to play and does not irrationally stay at 10 behind. If France does not raise the level, the landing could be painful against the fiery Mexican and a South African squad driven by its people. With the previous but much more spectacular draw between South Africa and Mexico, Group A is definitely one of the most homogeneous of this World Cup.
