France-Romania: Wake Me Up for Italy-Netherlands | Grant Wahl's Blog

Two quick thoughts after France’s dreary 0-0 tie with Romania on Monday ...

• Boy, Italy and Holland have a lot to make up for after this waste of 90 minutes. So much for my excitement over the Group of Death. So much for wanting to see France’s Karim Benzema as a center-forward. (He played withdrawn in a 4-2-3-1 instead.) And so much for attacking soccer. France and Romania played like teams that were all too happy to go home with one point and call it a day. That may be a moral victory for Romania, but not so much for France, which had no chemistry at all and often turned simple passes into amateur hour. Give some credit, I suppose, to Romania, which defended well--especially Razvan Rat, who employed an effective strategy on Franck Ribery called knock him on his butt.

• Raymond Domenech defines the word overcoaching. I know the French coach has made it to the World Cup final more times (one) than I ever will, and I know Les Bleus was playing without the injured Patrick Vieira and Thierry Henry. But it often seems like any French success under Domenech has been despite their coach, not because of him, and he frequently prevents France from reaching its full potential with his own harebrained decisions. Case in point: playing Nicolas Anelka as a lone striker in place of Henry. If Anelka is really France’s best option up top after Henry, then something’s wrong. But we know he’s not. Yet Domenech continues to ignore David Trézéguet, keeping the Juventus sniper on the bench at World Cup ’06 and not even bothering to include him on the roster for Euro 2008. Anelka had zero understanding with his teammates, particularly Ribery, and Les Bleus created almost no real scoring chances against a packed-in Romanian defense.

Through-balls: Just because the 4-2-3-1 is a hot formation among coaches doesn’t mean I have to like it. Far too often it leads to conservative, destructive play in which the two holding midfielders do almost nothing in the way of playing attacking, imaginative soccer. (I’d love to see the U.S. abandon the second holding midfielder against Barbados this weekend and let it fly for once.) ... God, I miss Zinédine Zidane ... Neither Italy nor the Netherlands should have much fear after they see the tape of this game ... Since when did Peppe Pinton give Romania permission to use the New York Cosmos logo on its jerseys? ... If I encounter the term gilt-edged opportunity in print or on the tube one more time, I think I’m going to lose it. It’s kind of like ensuing kick-off in American football: you never hear gilt-edged in any other context. Bottom line: anyone who uses gilt-edged opportunity should have a guilt-edged conscience ... The new ironic/hot jersey to replace your Miroslav Satan sweater: the yellow Romania shirt worn by Razvan Rat ... Nice jacket, Raymond Domenech. When’s it due back at the rental agency?

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June 9, 2008 02:49 PM ET

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agreed. france looked terrible. they played with zero energy or passion, it didn't even seem like they cared about the game. even when gomis (sp?) came in near the end for anelka he jogged around and did nothing to raise the intensity of the game. the french should be embarassed

hawks09

Oak Harbor , WA

Total Comments (11)

June 9, 2008 03:19 PM ET

I would just say that I love the 4-2-3-1 when it's used correctly. Given the lack of true center forwards and a surplus of quality attacking midfielders, a lot of teams can use it to create wonderful offense. See Roma as the perfect example. Of course, Roma uses DeRossi and Aquilani more as true central midfielders rather than defensive midfielders and they join the attack often. I don't think the U.S. needs to switch from a 4-2-3-1 as much as having their holding midfielders play with more of an attacking mindset. I'd sit Michael Bradley down with a tape of every Roma game from the past year and just have him focus on watching DeRossi play, then tell him that's what he needs to be for the U.S.

j11: Jungite aut…

Denver , CO

Total Comments (2317)

June 9, 2008 04:15 PM ET

The guy is trying to collect money with his Flash game
http://road-to-euro.com/
He made an awesome Euro 2008 soccer game. Take a look. He wants to go to Austria and buy a ticket to see the final match, that's why he asks to donate him a few bucks.

Haramambaru

Total Comments (1)

June 9, 2008 05:13 PM ET

I believe my favorite things about Euro recaps so far is on the SI boxscores. After every goal in the NED-ITA game it adds, "celebrates by running around." I wish I had access to television because when the Netherlands are on their game they are a joy to watch. Too bad France and Romania did not get the memo.

goody

Kenai , AK

Total Comments (9)

June 9, 2008 06:00 PM ET

"celebrates by running around" is hillarious. Maybe you guys should find someone who has actually seen a soccer game to handle the box score. Holland Italy was the best game in the tournament yet and the box score should have read "spectators in orange go crazy".

@goody - You can watch the games online.

Naboo

Total Comments (63)

June 9, 2008 06:57 PM ET

France played as good as they could.

It is not their fault that journalists around the world are overrating them. Has nobody watched the qualifying?

They were really, REALLY bad back then. So no surprise here. Italy was almost as bad too - and look what happend: a well deserved loss against a team that plays football and not defense.

I really hope that Romania and Netherlands are the ones who get out of the group - to shut up the journos who are overrating overaging, underachiving France and Italy.

no_trolling_please

Total Comments (282)

June 10, 2008 04:17 AM ET

Agree france played terribly, but you have to point out that romania totally refused to play. Have you seen them cheer as if they had won a great victory ? Aside from that I can not understand this line up with apparently no attacking plan. Toulalan and Makelele are great players but they are purely defensive, and did not prove me wrong last night. I just don't understand.
But if you honestly think that means france and romania are going to lose their next two games, I understand it even less. Do you really think they would be powerless in such an open game as last night ?
Well there is one thing everybody should be happy about, We are sure to have a meaningful France-Italy, and it is very unlikely both of them will qualify.

Adrien

Total Comments (3)

June 10, 2008 10:19 AM ET

France is always slow to start but this games was awful ! One of the worst in the French history. With a victory we (I'm French) would have probably been qualified for the next round. Romania refused to play but that's not an excuse.France is better against team who plays football and it's tough to score a goal against France but you also have to score one to win.