France Gets a Bit of Revenge Against Italy
Sidney Govou scored twice and Thierry Henry added a goal to life France to a 3-1 victory over Italy in Euro 2008 qualifying in Paris. Govou got things rolling right away with a goal in the second minute to help Les Bleus to avenge their World Cup final loss, at least for one day. The loss, coupled with a tie last week against Lithuania, has left Italy towards the bottom of the Group B qualifying table, but it is still early and that is likely to change.
What isn’t likely to change is the fact that San Marino is not especially good. The minnows were pounded 13-0 by Germany today with Lukas Podolski scoring five goals for the visiting side.
It is also worth pointing out that my beloved Kazakhstan picked up another point, earning an away tie against Azerbaijan. The European newcomers are flying high after a pair of draws. There’s no stopping us now.
Related Posts
Subscribe
|
Print
|
Share        |
Comments
Displaying the most recent 25 comments from a total of 42 comments.
Read the rest of the comments
By tanuj | September 7th, 2006 at 12:04 am 
let us not debate the fact that iyaly deserved the world cup. and their tame loss to the french is an effect of the hangover the champion side is still under.
Posted from 
India
By azzurro | September 7th, 2006 at 12:40 am France deserved to win the game no doubts on this. Well done France!!!
But frankly speaking I prefer to lose this battle and have won the war (World Cup’06 Docet) amybe France as well (Isn’t??)
Further for all those people still arguing about Italy , WHAT FUCKING ATTITUDE ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT about???
How you can judge Italy based just one game? Are you forgetting that while France keept the base team of last WC (9 out of 11) Italy re-newed the majority of players? Did you forget about Tony, Totti, Camoranesi, Materazzi, Del Piero, Nesta?
To KRUMAN : MA VA A CAGHER!
Posted from 
United States
By abc | September 7th, 2006 at 1:20 am Viva Francia, Viva Italia
Posted from 
China
By azzurro | September 7th, 2006 at 1:23 am e viva le sorelle dei francesi
Posted from United States
By lazaro | September 7th, 2006 at 6:17 am Foxsoccer channel showed some footage of the game last night and showed the head clash between Cannavaro and Govou. Talk about headbutts - a double one! Whew! Both were pretty hurt. Looked nasty. They also showed footage of Vieira (now with Inter Milan) and Cannavaro (now with Real Madrid) talking as they came out on the pitch - they’re former Juve teammates.
Also pundit Bobby McMahon made the point that’s something often commented on by pundits and football history buffs like me: historically it’s very difficult for world cup winners and euro cup winners to stay on top. Only two countries have done it, winning both cups in succession: Germany and France. And even they went quickly downward after their uncommon extended successes.
He mentioned several examples, like Czechoslavakia winning the Euro cup in ‘76 but not even qualifying for the world cup in ‘74 and ‘78. Italy won the world cup in ‘82 but couldn’t qualify for the euro cup in ‘84 (France won that one).
McMahon also pointed out (again, something European pundits say all the time) that the Euro Cup is actually a tougher process to qualify for than the world cup.
And don’t underestimate the importance of the Euro Cup for Europeans. It’s huge. It comes close to rivalling the significance of the world cup to some European pundits and fans.
Anyway, nice to see France play so well but being Spanish, once again my heart was broken yesterday. We have the world’s best league in sheer number of quality players both Spanish and foreign (currently anyway) but on the international level, it’s just a perennial disappointment. Northern Ireland beat us 3-2. They have a helluva striker on their squad, why hasn’t he been snatched up by the EPL?
Posted from United States
By lazaro | September 7th, 2006 at 6:20 am “Lazero, I hear what you are saying, BUT to loose to France, come on if they didn’t win any other matches this should have been the one to win, if only to put all the sour puss to bed. Italy played as if they hadn’t slept for a week, they had 51% of the possession and couldn’t turn it around.”
I honestly don’t know if their problem was complacency but if it was, then this is a good lesson. The biggest lesson to come out of the world cup was the pitfalls of arrogance and complacency, witness Brazil.
By the way, there are rumours flying around that Lippi might come back in some sort of advisory capacity.
Posted from United States
By Gian Luca | September 7th, 2006 at 6:24 am Kruman,
actually the Italians showed they know how to loose. Nobody here or in Italy said they played better or that they deserved to win, like someone else on the other side did at the World Cup.
Like the Italians weren’t there to play and scored goals against them.
A French player even said the referee wasn’t the same guy for the second half.
By Laurie | September 7th, 2006 at 8:23 am I’m impressed by the depth the French team is showing, particularly in the midfielders and in scoring ability. Les Vieux (the old guys) had better watch out! (And this does not bode well for poor Trezeguet, whom I still kind of like. What happened to him, anyway?)
It was also kind of good to see Buffon take his lumps yesterday. He was so cocky during and after World Cup. Yes, he’s an extremely good keeper, but I never mind seeing people like that taken down a peg. It’s not like he stopped any more PKs than Barthez in the final!
Posted from United States
By Ed Placidi | September 7th, 2006 at 9:32 am I read all these comments and don’t see any perspective based on the facts. First of all, this is not the same Italian team that won the World Cup. 9 of the 23 members of that team have not been there, including a number of key players, for various reasons from pulling out because they weren’t fit (Totti), to suspension (Materazzi),to retirement (Perotta). Secondly, Marello Lippi haas retired as well and there’s a new coach who is experimenting with new players and trying out new tactics; he doesn’t have it together yet. Thirdly, the Italians have been vacationing and celebrating since the World Cup, not preparing for the European Cup qualifying. They are out of form, unlike the French who have been waiting fanatically for the rematch with Italy to prove they are the better team. Lastly, Seria A has not started (delayed apparently because by Juventus)and Italy and its national team players are not back in a football groove. By the time of the next qaulifiers, expect to see a very different Italian team, closer to one that won the cup in Germany. They’ll be fit and key players will be back; Coach Donadoni will have worked out a lot of kinks and they’ll be focused. And they will start winning again. Italy will join France in advancing from Group B. But from there, who knows. Historically, World Cup winners don’t do well in the tournaments that follow.
Posted from United States
By Gianni | September 7th, 2006 at 9:59 am Italy played horrible period. Allowing a goal so early in the match is inexcusable offides or not.
Donadoni needs to go, bring in Capello for WC 2010.
Posted from United States
By fs1014 | September 7th, 2006 at 10:15 am Ed, you could not of summed it up any better! Forza Azzurri!!!!
Posted from United States
By zico | September 7th, 2006 at 10:23 am i cannot except the excuse that Italy are still suffering from World Cup hangover. They are professionals and they should have been ready for this game. Let’s give credit where credit is due. France came into this game with 100% and didn’t let up for 90+ minutes, you have to respect that. I agree with lazaro 100% but I don’t agree with Kruman, I think certain players have that “win at all costs” mentality but hopefully that will change. It’s not the worst thing in the world to lose. Sometimes it can be an advantage to re-examine your game plan.
Posted from 
Canada
By Ed Placidi | September 7th, 2006 at 10:57 am Dear Gianni: Donadoni deserves to be given a chance to formulate his own Azzurri. He came into a difficult situation, having to fill the shoes of a coach who just won the World Cup and with players focused on what they had just accommplished rather than looking ahead. Remember that Marcello Lippi - the master himself - stumbled when he first took over the Azzurri, losing several games.
Posted from United States
By justin | September 7th, 2006 at 2:38 pm 1) THE FIRST FRENCH GOAL WAS OFFSIDE!!!!
2) THE SECOND FRENCH GOAL WAS A FLUKE
3) Serie A hasnt even started yet, alot of those players havent played many competitive games yet and their fitness levels are around 75%
Im not concerned about these first two games, the first game we played very well, we miss Nesta and Materazzi and of course Totti….
do not worry my brothers, we will qualify I am sure of it, and I think we are still the best team in the world
Posted from Canada
By scott | September 7th, 2006 at 3:19 pm there we go now who are the sore loseres?
what a fantastic sight to see the team that we all know should have won the WC beat the greaseballs.just beautiful to watch.thierry is a god and the best player on the planet by a mile.just goes to show what a fluke it was for the itiai’s to win the WC was.doubt very much if they will qualify.very very average side.
Posted from 
United Kingdom
By john | September 7th, 2006 at 3:20 pm Congratulations France on winning a Euro Cup Qualifying game against the Champions of the World.
I wasn’t very happy with Donadoni, but he has to give some playing time to the younger players.
It was an entertaining game.
Posted from Canada
By scott | September 7th, 2006 at 3:20 pm allez francais
Posted from United Kingdom
By FranceIsTheBest11111 | September 7th, 2006 at 6:17 pm Where can I watch these matches on TV in the US?
Posted from United States
By david | September 8th, 2006 at 4:07 am just proves that les bleus are still the best and should easily have won the WC but for the cheating itlalians.far more stylish much more technical better fluid attacking play and very pleasing on the eye which is more than can be said of the boring italians who were just lucky to win a dour WC cause nobody else bothered to play as they should have.if the final was tommorrow france would thrash them.looks like bye bye itai maybe 2010….if your lucky.you WILL NOT BE MISSED.
Posted from United Kingdom
By lazaro | September 8th, 2006 at 12:16 pm “1) THE FIRST FRENCH GOAL WAS OFFSIDE!!!!
2) THE SECOND FRENCH GOAL WAS A FLUKE
3) Serie A hasnt even started yet, alot of those players havent played many competitive games yet and their fitness levels are around 75%”
And they call the French sore losers…
The excuses roll on…the second goal a “fluke” - I just love these convenient rationalizations. You don’t even have the good grace and intelligence to say “good job, France, you played better than us.” You’re totally incapable of giving your opponents credit. Grow the hell up.
The fact remains that the pattern continues: Since the mid-90s, Italy continues to be unable to beat France other than with penalties. Italy still has not beaten France with open play goals during the 90 minutes or overtime.
That said, we do have a very long way to go. Looks like Donadoni’s desperately trying to get Totti back. And at the moment, it is absolutely necessary for Italy to have a clear win in at least one of the next two games in order to stay in the euro ‘08 game.
Posted from United States
By dorio | September 8th, 2006 at 10:06 pm good game france..but this is far from over.
We’ll be back.
AND THEN BEWARE…STILL THE BEST TEAM IN THE WORLD.
JUST A LITTLE HANGOVER.YOU JUST DON’T EXPECT SCOTLAND OR UCRAINE TO QUALIFIE OVER ITALY, DO YOU?
Posted from United States
By abc | September 10th, 2006 at 6:57 am No we dont, we expect our Italian brothers to qualify second to us 
Posted from China
By Aniso | September 11th, 2006 at 6:18 pm Italy will do better, Im sure, the last game with france was just to give them some hope for the future after a stunning lost!!!!
Posted from United States
By Sachit | November 23rd, 2006 at 1:59 am Italy played well but France played better and deserved to win the world cup.
Posted from 
France
By My Italia's better than your whatever!! | December 3rd, 2006 at 5:26 pm LOL all u people r just hatin’ ’cause Italia got the gold!! This is why i love 2 be Italiano!
Posted from United States
Comments are closed
