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DEL.ICIO.USThe sorrows of Zizou
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
After Saturday’s unforgettable 1-1 draw between the U.S. and Italy, Off the Ball slept in a little, then indulged in the bliss of a … World … Cup … tripleheader … on A … B … C!
Which meant six-plus hours of Brent Musberger intermittently repeating the uneven and controversial career of referee Jorge Larrionda, who was nixed from the ‘02 Cup after it was learned that he had been suspended in his home nation of Uruguay for corruption.
Brent, instead of training your ire on the man with the whistle, how about asking why FIFA assigned the guy this time anyway, while suspending one of its own board members for committing the egregious crimes of selling tickets for more than the listed price. Corrupt and incompetent refs? OK! Scalpers in the ranks? Nyet!
Glad FIFA has its priorities in order.
From Off the Ball’s point of view, Larrionda’s most grievous crime was ruining the tenor and the pace of the match, punishing petty action and not doing much to warn players they might be in danger. Only one call was questionable, the red card on Mastroeni, which should have been a yellow. Otherwise, Larrionda usually made the right call, even if he was tone deaf most of the night.
Then again, what transpired in France’s 1-1 draw with South Korea Sunday was truly egregious, and not just because Off the Ball has sort-of a soft spot in her heart for Les Bleus.
Not only did referee Benito Archundia of Mexico not signal a second French score that clearly crossed the goal line, but he issued a very debatable yellow card in the final moments to Zinedine Zidane that rules out the ‘98 hero from France’s final group match.
How bizarre is this that France, with just two points from its first two matches, ideally needs a win against — ahem — Togo — to move on? What an indignity it would be to get stopped in group play for the second consecutive time, even as flawed a side as this is?
As Phil Schoen just said on XM Radio, Switzerland and — ahem — Togo — could determine the fate of Group G on Monday. You’ve got to love the resilience of South Korea and Park Ji-sung, who got the equalizer and is looking like a hell of a lot more than just a pure marketing acquisition for Manchester United.
More sadly, this could very well be the end of the line for Zidane, who had a relatively good game until picking up a caution in consecutive games. He deserves tremendous credit for coming out of international retirement, and those magical days of ‘98 have Off the Ball feeling rather sentimental right now. Sacre bleu!
One of the greatest, if not the greatest, player of the current generation might have seen his last moments on the World Cup stage.
Zizou and the French are shadows of their former selves, but they deserved the three points, and got robbed worse than the Yanks can ever claim.
In other news, Sunday, Brazil held off Australia for a 2-0 win. Goals by Adriano and Fred. And you can call him Fred.
Lots of square balls by the Samba Boys. Yawn.
Comments
Commenting is now closed for this entry.
By Midfield
June 18, 2006 10:58 PM | Link to this
Nonsense. Nobody actually had a clear view of the ball from the side in France vs. S. Korea game - except may be a line ref. That was the line ref’s call - not anyone elses. The ball HAS TO BE ENTIRELY OVER THE GOAL LINE for the goal to be counted. All this rubbish about French heroes is for soap operas and ABC commentators who - in addition to being clueless about the game - drink way to much French coffee. French did win in 1998 - when they got big close calls from refs and were very well coached. They hardly did much beyond that point in the worlds, except for commercials. Hey, good news for the US Team: Eddie Pope won’t play against Ghana. Thanks to the ref for doing something Bruce Arena could never get his brains around.
By Nicholas Irwin
June 19, 2006 3:05 AM | Link to this
I think from the side angle they showed that the ball was clearly over the line. As far as Zidane goes, he probably didn’t deserve the yellow card, but he did kind of go in there recklessly. From the goal standpoint, France was jobbed worse than us, I guess, but Zidane’s yellow card was certainly no worse than Mastroeni’s red card, for instance. The main point here is that France is terrible:
1)They have no cohesion or team unity of any kind. Each player is just kind of doing his own thing.
2)Oftentimes the players look like they have no idea what they’re supposed to be doing.
3)They came away a little bit from the “get the ball to Henry or Zidane and watch them” style they had in the first game, but not by much.
4)The team obviously hates the coach and thinks he’s a complete numbskull. The looks Zidane and Trezeguet gave him late in the game were hilarious as a neutral, but were I a France fan, I would have been deeply disturbed by them. When a team thinks that their coach is a complete moron and has no respect for him on a professional level, needless to say that’s not good. Making matters worse is that I think the team might be right. There is no imagination whatsoever in the tactics. The aforementioned star watching tactic is at least 50 percent the coach’s fault. Then there’s the fact that he went into the shell of all shells after the early goal. He made Sven-Goran Eriksson look like the coach of 1960s Brazil. I mean they did nothing. Then as soon as South Korea scores they turn it back on and almost score twice. It just made no sense at all, especially as bad as France had been playing recently, to sit on a one-goal lead against a good team.
5)They have some individual players who are playing not just badly…but earth-shatteringly, mind-numbingly, inconceivably badly. For instance, I’m still not convinced that Ribery’s performance against Switzerland wasn’t a comedy sketch of some kind. And Barthez is horrible. I said the other day that he’s so bad he should consider goalkeeping for England, but I take it back…he might be a little extreme even for them. If I were Coupet, not only would I have walked out…I wouldn’t have come back. To be sitting on the bench behind that has to be the biggest insult he’s ever received in his career. Then, the players who aren’t bringing their team down from the inside with the degree of their terrible play are just kind of there. The only two players who have done anything worthwhile are (surprise, surprise) Zidane and Henry. Two players (one of whom is getting too old for this) do not a team make.
All of this may sound like I’m taking a certain amount of glee in this, but I’m really not. While I’m by no means a fan of the French team, I don’t hold any sort of ill will toward them. I was kind of hoping they wouldn’t do too well in ‘02 (the whole wanting to see the champion dethroned thing), but I’m long since over that. I’m just telling you what I see. I, too, find it somewhat sad, especially for Zidane, who deserves to go out in some sort of glory. He certainly doesn’t deserve to have to go down with this sinking ship (or the Real Madrid one, for that matter).
As far as France goes, they have to completely clean house. Frankly, they shouldn’t have even brought Zidane, Thuram, et al., out of retirement this time. Even had they not made the World Cup, at least they would be on the road to rebuilding for 2010 instead of all the way back to square one. They’ve got to let Zidane, Gallas, Thruam and (for God’s sake) Barthez go and start building back up. I’m sure 1998 was a truly great time for them, and it certainly will never be forgotten, but this isn’t doing anything to relive the glory of that team. In fact, quite the opposite…it’s dishonoring it.
By Henry
June 19, 2006 8:06 AM | Link to this
What are you guys crying about Frace, they stink and stunk for years. They only have tabloid staars, thats all. I saw the Koreans out hustling them and outplaying them. For the referee he at least was average, The Uruguaian one, plainly should not even have a FIFA licence. I watched that game twice, I know. On to the final round of three games in a row a day. Then final round of the first phase will only be seen by those that have picture in the picture or thape one of them. I hate to say it. The US team is done, But I still have two more theams to root on.
By Midfield
June 19, 2006 8:06 AM | Link to this
They never showed the side view. Let me guess… perhaps, they did not have a camera pointing that way. Everything showed was inconclusive, although they tried real hard.
By Midfield
June 19, 2006 8:12 AM | Link to this
Oh, and, as for France and its glory, I don’t understand why this team deserves to be talked about more than any other team in their mediocre group. Overrated in addition to be overpriced - kind of like French wine.
By Henry
June 19, 2006 8:53 AM | Link to this
HA HA HA….. But true
By Henry
June 19, 2006 8:55 AM | Link to this
Do you know that FIFA do not have a camera on the end line on purpose. Why? To protect the referees and linesmen from us.
By Chris
June 19, 2006 12:31 PM | Link to this
Henry you still sound bitter about 98’.
The French did score their own goal that is more than we can say for the US in this World Cup. Arena if you are listening please put in Eddie Johnson. Not that I don’t enjoy watching Brian McBride fighting with 5 defenders in the box for a touch but he could use a little help.