Franck Does Some Serious Pink
Why does it not surprise me that our Franck is a pink boot pioneer?
The music may be a bit melodramatic, but the skills are…kind of eerie, to be honest.
This would, of course, be Enzo Zidane, eldest son of Zizou and Veronique. I know the video isn’t new, but I’d never seen the skills in this context before.
Happy Thanksgiving to all our US readers.
And if you’re not in the US, Thanksgiving is kind of like…like Christmas, except you give “thanks” instead of presents. Or, if you prefer, it’s where we gorge ourselves on food to celebrate shamelessly taking land from an indigenous people.
Or something.
But at any rate, enjoy the holiday or non-holiday, and also enjoy of this video of Bixente Lizarazu, the beau gosse, the whole point of which seems to be that he is really, really…attractive.
Why does it not surprise me that our Franck is a pink boot pioneer?
I think we need to discuss last week’s game before we move onto more interesting stuff. Like, say, Gallas’s autobiography.
First off, the biggie: What did you think about Steve Savidan?
I thought his energy level was a breath of fresh air. He’s waited a long time for this, and he really, really wanted to make an impact. Sometimes some of the longterm players (even the younger ones) can seem a bit jaded, so it was pleasant to watch someone who is so completely…not. Like I said in the comments, he reminded me of a six-month-old labrador puppy — all energy and willingness to impress. The team could use more of that.
Unfortunately that energy ultimately didn’t make him any more effective than any of the other players. My guess is that if he’s given the chance he’ll settle down a bit and maybe think through the shots, maybe take a little more time to set things up. The question is, will Domenech give him the chance? And if so, at whose expense? This club does not need five strikers, especially when it has to play several of them out of position to get them on the field together.
Yoann Gourcuff was a bit of a disappointment. Uruguay had his number and shut him down pretty effectively, and I don’t think he was having an on night. Let’s hope this is temporary, because for the team to even make it to the World Cup he’s going to have to be something close to the player everybody expects him to be. No pressure, Yoann.
I thought Hugo Lloris looked good in goal, although it did help that Uruguay couldn’t hit the broad side of a barn with their shots. It would have been interesting to see what he could do if they’d had their shooting boots on.
It was interesting to see Patrick Vieira on the field again. A few tantalizing touches to remind us of what once was, and yet… I’m still thinking the team would be better off developing younger talent. (But at least he didn’t get injured. As far as I know.)
Franck Ribéry and Jérémy Toulalan continue to delight. Those two never seem to get jaded either. I always enjoy watching them, even when they can’t make things happen. Although I enjoy it more when they can.
Philippe Mexès had a much better game than against Austria, but that wasn’t exactly difficult. My head says he’s probably the answer to our centerback question, but my heart is not fully convinced that he and William Gallas can get the job done.
I’m also not fully convinced by Rod Fanni, although he had a good game. What do you think? Is he better than Bakary Sagna? What about Francois Clerc? Or should we be calling up someone else? And Patrice Evra didn’t seem as sharp as he has previously.
Henry wasn’t bad, but he wasn’t effective either. Ditto Anelka. Benzema didn’t seem to do a whole lot when he came on, nor did Nasri. (And has anybody else noted that bad France games seem to affect club form the week after? It’s as if the guys’ confidence gets sapped. Let’s hope it’s temporary. I for one have really enjoyed seeing our French guys score loads of goals for their clubs this season and want it to continue.)
And Alou Diarra and Jimmy Briand didn’t make much of an impression, to the point that I’d forgotten they subbed in till I looked at a match report.
Goal.com’s player ratings, which I mostly agree with:
Lloris: 5
Fanni: 6.5 (seems maybe a little high to me)
Evra: 5
Mexès: 5
Gallas: 5
Toulalan: 6
Vieira: 5
Henry: 5
Gourcuff: 5
Ribéry: 5.5
Anelka: 4.5
Subs:
A. Diarra: 5
Nasri: 4.5
Savidan: 6
Benzema: 5
Briand: 4.5
I am finding noplace to watch this game legitimately in the states, but Myp2p has lots of streams listed. Let’s hope some of them work.
http://www.myp2p.eu/broadcast.php?matchid=24161&part=sports
If you find one that’s working particularly well, leave a link in the comments for the rest of us to click on.
And if you’re watching the game, leave comments! It’s a lot more fun to watch these games if we know we’re not watching alone.
It’s official! Here are the starters: France: Lloris - Fanni, Mexès, Gallas, Evra - Vieira, Toulalan - Ribéry, Gourcuff, Henry - Anelka.
Some said big Pat was too old in 2006. Togo found out otherwise, on the wrong side of a Vieira-led 2-0 drubbing.
Highlights with Crowd Noise:
I don’t know why I’m surprised by these Raymond Domenech decisions anymore.
Actually, come to think of it, I’m not surprised by these Raymond Domenech decisions anymore.
Raymond lost a DM, a center/leftback, and a rightback this week to injury — Lassana Diarra, Julien Escudé and Bakary Sagna.
So who does he call up? You’ll never guess.
Jean-Alain Boumsong, of course. My other guess would have been Sidney Govou. They seem to share the role of “Domenech’s binky,” as one of you so aptly described it earlier this year. (When things were bad a few months back, did anybody else get visions of Raymond curled up in a corner, sucking his thumb while snuggling Sid and Boum-Boum?)
Now the big question: Who starts in defense tomorrow? L’Equipe is saying Rod Fanni on the right, William Gallas and Philippe Mexès in the center, and Patrice Evra on the left. With Hugo Lloris starting in goal! (Yea, Raymond, for taking a chance for once!) And, shock of shocks, Nicolas Anelka alone up top.
Expected starting lineup: Lloris - Fanni, Mexès, Gallas, Evra - Vieira, Toulalan - Ribéry, Gourcuff, Henry - Anelka.
Also, Franck Ribéry took a knock to the knee and left the field with an icepack today after colliding with Steve Mandanda. Cross fingers that it’s nothing — we just got the guy back!
For anybody interested, Zidane and Friends will meet Ronaldo and Friends in a charity match tomorrow, Monday, Nov. 17. Game to be played in Morocco. If you’re in the US, it will be broadcast on Fox Soccer Channel at 1:00 Eastern. If you’re not in the US, leave game-watching info in the comments.
Also, I was looking for something else and found this photo of a wall in the Romania game in Euros. It just seemed to sum up the whole Euro experience in one photo.
My plan for this post was to give you videos to ask you want you think of PSG’s discovery, Guillaume Hoarau, who scored two goals today. (One was a penalty, the other a header.) He’s PSG’s top scorer this season. I think I read they paid either 500K or 800K Euros for him.
I wanted to post videos of the goals, but TVGolo seems to have given up the ghost. The site is still there, but the goal videos have been removed. Sad. Sites like that really are a public service.
About Hoarau, though. He didn’t come up through the usual ranks — he was born on Réunion and made his way up through Ligue 2 before being picked up by PSG this year. He’s very tall — 1.91m or 6′3″ (if I’m doing the math right) and a little gangly — he strikes me as a bit of a late bloomer, at least relative to Benzema/Nasri/Ben Arfa/Gourcuff. But what I’ve seen has interested me. Réunion isn’t recognized by FIFA, so he’s eligible to play for France.
If he continues his growth, I could see him as a possible successor to Titi or Anelka when one retires. Anybody who’s seen him play for PSG or his previous clubs, what do you think?
And speaking of Anelka, he scored two more today. This makes seven in the last three games, and there was nothing cheap about either of these goals. (Think he reads this blog and decided to prove me wrong?) And those goals are available on video. For the moment. Enjoy and imagine him doing this in qualifying.