Saturday 12 June 2010

France vs Uruguay

France vs Uruguay - The report

A game that could make a difference to England. If France win all 3 games in the group, they are likely to play England in the quarter finals, if Uruguay win all 3 games they would be likely to play England in the quarter finals. This game may not seem that important but it could be in the long run. A late kick off enabled a cool game and more action compared to the first game, hopefully. Uruguay should be a confident team. It is not a hard group and a draw would be fine for them, however France has had many upsets backstage. Malouda, a star man for France, has argued with the coach so Diaby has replaced him.

The game kicked off in front of 64,000 spectators. A very lively start with France quickly breaking down the left and Ribery slotting the ball across goal with Govou missing it, just. He should have scored. Uruguay had the second chance and
a great chance. Poor defence by the French opened up room for Forlan to rocket one with the goalkeeper push away. France were on top but nothing coming from them until Ribery collected the ball, ran the flank and got fouled near the corner flag. Most players would have crossed into the box but Gourcuff hit it into the top left corner and a save had to be made. The goalkeeper was nearly caught out! After some brilliant passing from France just before half time Sagna, the left wing back, produced a nice cross but no-one could get their head to it. Half time and its 0-0.

Play had began again and both teams were ready. You could see in their faces that they meant business. The first chance of the half fell to Forlan who's shot flew miles high. You could see in his expression that he should of hit that on target. With Urug
uay on the front foot a very confident player went past 3 players before passing to Suarez who was fouled near the penalty area, great position. Forlan hit it but it did not have the power to create any problems for the goalkeeper as he happily caught it. After a foul on a French player Lodeiro kicked the ball away resulting in a yellow card which later made this a stupid mistake. Uruguay, who played very well in this second half, had a throw in. It went long, headed onto Forlan who rocketed it just wide, should have scored. In the 81st minute the first bit of action occured. Lodeiro, the one who was booked for dissent, fouled a Frenchman and got a second yellow resulting in a red. Even if he didn't have a yellow to his name earlier I feel that this could have been a straight red. The first red card of the World Cup! Uruguay have to defend. Which they did with the help of an arm. Sagna crossed into the box, it somehow found its way to Thierry Henry who's shot hit the arm of a Uruguay defender. He could not have stopped it from hitting his arm so the descision was correct from the referee. The final whistle blows.

It is quite easy to see who should have won - France. France had lots of posession and more shots than Uruguay but Uruguay was a fret and had two excellent strikers. The defenders beat the Attackers which caused a 0-0 draw. Both teams look brilliant and either one of them could be top of their group.


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