World cup first game

[GenkiGirl]

Wow....anyone else suprised....I have been watching the first game and it has been a bit of a suprise...Senegal just beat France in the opening game. WOW!!!

[Traina]

Yeah! What an upset. It was a really good game though. I guess France really needed ZZ.

[Han Solo]

I don't think Zidane played, did he? France could have used him.

[Traina]

No, I think he's injured.

[Tom Servo]

Is someone going to tell me what the score was?

[Traina]

Oh Senegal 1, France 0

[Mr. Grim]

same score as all games - (1-0)

[Han Solo]

same score as all games - (1-0)
That's not true. I've seen plenty of 0-0 games as well.

[RedSoxFan]

That really was a big upset. The last time the defending champs faced an African squad in the first game, in 1990, Cameroon stunned Argentina 1-0.

I have to give Senegal a lot of credit. They gave a great effort and had a lot of energy. They were very disciplined defensively. Although they normally play a 4-4-2, they switched to a 5-4-1.. normally this kind of change is an exercise in futility, both because they're not used to it, and they find it impossible to score goals. But they were in France's face the entire match. The way the goal happened was kind of lucky. Diouf broke free on the left wing and brought the ball into the box. He had a decent cross in front of the goal. Petit kicked the ball hard to clear but it bounced off Barthez's sliding legs perfectly in front of Bouba Diop who was lying in front of the goal after a slide. Diop just had to poke it in.

France just couldn't get anything in. They hit the crossbar twice, and Henry showed flashes of brilliance. They had other good opportunities, but you could tell many of the French players were having substandard games. LeBeouf, Trezeguet, Vieria, Wiltord, and Djorkaeff played well below their best. Zidane is out with an injured thigh, and the latest estimates were that he'd miss the first 1 or 2 matches, but I wouldn't be surprised if he suits up in their next game even if he is still injured because the French certainly missed the best player in the world today.

Senegal should have had more chances. Diouf was caught offside at least seven times. I know it's good to do that because of the occasional lucky break and the disruption it causes to the other team's flow, but most of those times Diouf would have got a good run on the ball even if he held up his run until the ball was played.

[Traina]

Excellent summary RedSoxFan. All those offsides were irritating me, but I guess it’s one type of strategy. I think tomorrow’s match is Ireland vs Cameroon. Any predictions?

[RedSoxFan]

Thanks.. I'm planning on watching all the games, and I might write summaries on here of all of them if there's enough interest...

Something else I wanted to mention is that in the first half, it seemed on Senegal's breakaways that the midfield support was very slow in coming.. I remember once Diouf had the ball on the right wing and had to pass but his support wasn't even to the top of the box and barely got off a shot. But in the second half, the support was there, but when the attack fizzled, the players didn't hustle back to get on defense. France almost burned them a couple times because of that.

[Mr. Grim]

When will you sleep. How will you be able to watch the RS games also? I miss your RS summary. Go Sox.

[Traina]

I’m interested in the summaries (I doubt I’ll be able to watch all the games). I’m sure there would be others interested as well, certainly as the games progress closer to the finals.

[Mr. Grim]

I think baseball is more communist - look at all the rules, you can't do this that or the other thing. Soccer has few rules. Just can't use your hand or pummel the French players (which kind of sucks, in my book).

[Dr T Non-Fan]

Quick question: when you write "5-4-1," in which direction does that go: from oh-fense to defense or from defense to oh-fense? I'm thinking it's the former, since I don't see a compelling reason to have 5 defensemen throughout a whole game.

[Tom Servo]

Soccer formations are listed from defense to offense. They probably had 5 defenders because France has a good offense and they wanted a quick counter-attack with long balls to the forward. That kind of strategy can lead to many offside calls which it sounds like it did in this match.

I would be interested in reading commentaries about the games. I was also considering getting up early to watch some of these matches. I need someone sensible to talk me out of it.

[Dr T Non-Fan]

Now it makes sense. Soccer is more of a "defense wins" game.
I'll have to miss the first US game. The other two are more compatible with cheating sleep.

[Cho Da]

What is more boring than soccer?
.
.
.
Actuary wannabees discussing it when they should be studying!

ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzz

[egg]

I was surprised at the outcome. I planned on watching the first half and then going in to work if France was up, but since Senegal was up 1-0 I stayed for the whole thing. They deserved to win the game.

The announcers kept talking about using a new ball. What is different about it? Why did they change? Have any of the Friendlies or Qualifying matches use this ball?

Should I write Simmons and add nil and dispossesed to his list of words that are used in only 1 circumstance? (e.g. ensuing - the "ensuing kickoff")

[Traina]

What is more boring than soccer?
.
.
.
Actuary wannabees discussing it when they should be studying!

ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzz

Worse than actuary wannabees discussing Star Wars? :wink:

[Packet_Storm]

Statistical model tackles World Cup predictions (http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99992353)

[Tom Servo]

The announcers kept talking about using a new ball. What is different about it? Why did they change? Have any of the Friendlies or Qualifying matches use this ball?

Here is a short article about the new ball. To the best of my knowledge, it has not been around long enough to be used in any qualifying matches. I think that it has only been around a month or so for regular use.

http://www.usatoday.com/sports/soccer/cup2002/2002-05-28-new-ball.htm