philly

Awesome. Korea's frenetic pace willed them into the equalizing goal in tue 81' I screamed out GOOOOOAAAALLLL as the ball just barely floated into the side netting just out of reach of French keeper Fabian Barthez and defender William Gallas who frustratingly picked up the ball and punted it afterwards.

I was stunned after the early goal by Thierry Henry. It was well exectued and Henry put the ball into the back of the net with ease. He's received quite a bit of flack from the French press on his inability to deliver in the big time for the national squad as opposed to his league leading seasons in England's Premiere League with his club team Arsenal. This was France's first goal since the 1998 World Cup when they won it all. A graphic came up showing how France failed to qualify for teh 1994 WC here in the U.S. and then proceeded to win it all on their home turf in 1998 and then were unceremoniously bounced in the first round in 2002 without scoring a goal.

But I wasn't worried just yet as Korea's playing style generally wears down their opposing side. They are a relentless squad who runs other teams to the ground. They are a very disciplined squad which keeps its shape on the field well. And don't forget about their rabid fans. If you watched the game, you couldn't miss the sea of red in the crowd chanting throughout the match providing a pulsating energy to the men on the pitch below them. One crazy thing I also noticed about the crowd was one French fan who had managed to bring into the stadium a live rooster. I was just speechless when I saw that thing. You're allowed to just bring in livestock into a stadium? I wonder if I could bring a rooster into the Wachovia Center.

The French side just didn't play well and I don't see them advancing through the second round if they make it that far. I haven't seen Togo play yet, but if France keeps up this uninspiring play, they may not make it out of Group G. Zizou looked especially disgusted after he was subbed out in the 90' + 01' which I thought was an odd move. A replay showed him ripping off his sweatband and tossing it with such a look of disgust on his face. He'll be sitting out the Friday match against Togo as he was booked with a yellow card for a late tackle. The two yellow cards in two consecutive games in the first round automatically takes him out of the third. This may well have been his final match for his country [he's retiring from international play] and he and his team played poorly.

Korea plays Switzerland on Friday at 3p. I think I'm going to have to go into work early and leave early to catch the game.

Final: France 1 – Korea 1

This entry was posted on Monday, June 19th, 2006 @ 12:14 am. You can subscribe via RSS 2.0 feed to this post's comments. You can comment below, or trackback from your own site. Your comments will be moderated [if you have never previously commented] but will appear as soon as humanly possible.