jeudi, juillet 06, 2006 France 1, Portugal 0: It's a Italy vs France final!  Oh, wow. How hard does soccer rock? Till the last minute, apparently, if the Portugese are any indication. Right till the 93rd minute, till the very last minute, till the very last second: still going and gunning for that equalizing goal, which just managed to elude them.Match-wise, I was rather surprised at the French's restraint during the game - and equally surprised at the Portugese's nasty tackles. Perhaps not seeing many earlier matches (no cable lah!) has made me too sensitive to the roughhousing? Whatever. Soccernet stats show that the Portugese had 15 fouls, versus France's 10 fouls, with possession equally spread out (P51%:F49%). I think those figures speak for themselves - it was another equally-matched game, with both teams really playing superbly. Despite conceeding a well-placed penalty in the first half, the Portugese don't give up easily - with the World Cup finals in the picture, who would? Especially since the goal was scored with enough time to rectify the problem. But alas! It was not to be. Denied again and again by very intense French defending, the Portugese kept trying: right till the very last minute. Attempts at goal during extra time (3 mins) were particularly seat-gripping, and the near-miss on the 93rd minute itself was such a heartbreaker of a miss. I was hoping that they would score, then we'd go into extra time. But alas, alas. The penalty goal (33') was a foolish and very costly mistake by Portugal. Admittedly, the trip to Henry could have been considered accidental, for it really wasn't one of those vicious trip- you- and- you- bleed- plus- I- grind- your- face- in- the- dirt- with- my- heel sort of trips: it was a tussle for the ball, and a (misplaced) foot by (*checks name*) Carvalho. But it was within the zone, and Portugal should have really been more careful. As it is, the penalty was converted into the lonely goal of the match by Zidane, and ciao, bonjour : we're looking at a Italy-France final! Only two more sleepless nights... [France 1, Portugal 0: It's a Italy vs France final!] |
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