France VS brazil

KdjaCL

Brazil have named their team. Juninho Pernambucano has been promoted to the starting line-up as Brazil put an extra man in midfield, leaving Ronaldo on his own up front. There's no Adriano or Robinho, but Kaka has recovered from injury and plays.

France to win 1st half Brazil 2nd, @22-1 on paddypower.



Cant see Brazil losing and hope they win in 90 and please let there be one decent Qtr Final.


kdjac

zAbbo

Yes, lets hope for an early goal and make one of this quarter finals worth watching.

I'm for whoever is the most attacking (probably Brazil, but i'd rather France)

Limerick Dude

should be a good game on paper, but whenever someone says that it turns out being crap! oops....

nlgbbbblth

Hopefully France will win thus p*ssing off their ageist critics.

mike65

Brazil v France is always a cracker, I fancy the OAPs to win this.

Brazil: Dida; Cafu, Lucio, Juan, Carlos; Silva, Ze Roberto, Kaka, Juninho Pernambucano; Ronaldinho, Ronaldo.

France: Barthez; Sagnol, Thuram, Gallas, Abidal; Vieira, Makelele; Ribery, Zidane, Malouda; Henry.

Referee: Luis Medina Cantalejo (Spain).

Mike.

zAbbo

It could be good to have Juninho instead of Emerson, he's a superb player.

Pepe LeFrits

mike65 wrote:

Brazil v France is always a cracker, I fancy the OAPs to win this.

Which ones?

eirebhoy

It's really Juninho instead of Adriano but I'm being pedantic.

Dave!

Lookin forward to this

Ruu_Old

France pour la victoire, 1-0.

Chucky the tree

Ronaldo better stick a few goals in. Klose is pulling away now. I'll go with brazil 2-0.

KdjaCL

Chucky the tree wrote:

Ronaldo better stick a few goals in. Klose is pulling away now. I'll go with brazil 2-0.

Eh no lets have Klose as top scorer , better for me


kdjac

pickarooney

Another dire encounter in prospect with one up front on each side. There should be a law against having fewer than two strikers.

Vokes

Is Adriano injured?

Big Nelly

Least they got the mic working this time for speech!

KdjaCL

Good start both sides going for it.

Brazil super dodgy at the back France throwing too many forward, ingredients for a mental game till half time when managers tellt them to stop it.


kdjac

Dr Galen

question is though will they stop even if told?
can't really see Zidane being too disciplined in that sense, its all or nothing really for him and some of his other older buds. as for the Brazilian boys they seem to do what they like in this world cup

Huggles

KdjaC wrote:

Cant see Brazil losing and hope they win in 90 and please let there be one decent Qtr Final.


kdjac

Agreed, should be a great battle IMO.

Huggles

Brazil looking the business atm.

Big Nelly

France playing well, Zidane looks possed he is playing that well, he hasnt been close to the form he is in now for 2 seasons

Huggles

great first half ronaldo booked for hand ball :rolleyes:

mewso

Big Nelly wrote:

France playing well, Zidane looks possed he is playing that well, he hasnt been close to the form he is in now for 2 seasons

Camera work was dreadful there when Zidane put Viera through. I have to take the commentators word that what he did was brilliant.

mike65

Brazil barely in this and yet could easily score.

Mike.

Pepe LeFrits

Vieira and Makelele completely bossed the midfield in the first half. Zidane playing brilliantly too, but the trio of Malouda, Henry and Ribery haven't clicked - Henry seems to be playing a targetman role, when he clearly isn't one. Brazil had a few moments early on but have barely had a sniff in the last 20 mins.

mike65

Henry needs to play from the left not straight down the middle, he won't latch on to a long through ball from directly behind him.

Mike.

Big Nelly

1-0 Henry

Finally gets an assist from Zidane

KdjaCL

goal henry



kdjac

Ruu_Old

Nice free kick in there to bring the goal, lovely little move by Zidane a few minutes before that.

Big Nelly

Good end to end game now!!! Hope Brazil get one for the crack!!

Aquos76

Big Nelly wrote:

Good end to end game now!!! Hope Brazil get one for the crack!!

I dont, I backed France to win this one

Endurance Man

I cant believe brazil hasnt scored .

Huggles

Thats quite an upset. i know my office will be in turmoil on Monday.

Pepe LeFrits

Well done France!

Lemlin

First final since '90 without Brazil now.

KdjaCL

ahh feck .....well done france aka Zidane.



kdjac

Fuzzy_Dunlop

That was a class match, really good win for france, why is there so little talk about this when the england match discussionhas run to about 12 pages. Its just a shame that i had Brazil in my pool deely, ah well i always liked France and i can still hold some hope for Henry to get the Golden Boot.

zAbbo

the bookies are happy now, the two teams favoured by punters(brazil and england) are out.

I'm sure some of the posters here are looking forward to a couple of big semi's

bbbbb

KdjaC wrote:

ahh feck .....well done france aka Zidane.



kdjac

public's players ratings, on bbc.co.uk, Zidane got 9.76 !!!
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/world_cup_2006/5122520.stm

Pepe LeFrits

Vieira and Makelele's ratings on that are a bit low, they were tremendous tonight! I may have been premature in predicting Vieira's demise, though I don't think he can do it for a whole season anymore...

Brazil just bring out the best in Zidane. What a performance.

mike65

Boy I hate the French! Great show and Brazil were pretty clueless when they did'nt have the ball. They'll steamroll Portugal.

Mike..

Kulgan

Yeah Zidane will get all the praise but Makelele was his usual awesome self and Viera was a powerhouse!!!

I don't know why but i had chosen France as "my" team for the tournament like i had for Euro 2004, probably because they had been written off as too old and past it so im delighted to see them come good and especially Zidane rolling back the years. Have to to fancy them in the semi-final against Portugal.

tdv

Brazil should have took Romario with them like I said

Rikand

tdv wrote:

Brazil should have took Romario with them like I said

absolutely

France totally outplayed them and though the result finally puts a nail in the coffin of me getting anywhere in the prediction league, im delighted.

Viva La France!

Attractive Nun

If Zidane plays that way again for two more matches and wins France the World Cup, he will be regarded as one of the true greats. Rightly so IMO.

astrofool

All European semi finalists, is that a first? And Brazil still haven't won a world cup in Europe?

tdv

They won it in 58 in Sweden

casanova_kid

Attractive Nun wrote:

If Zidane plays that way again for two more matches and wins France the World Cup, he will be regarded as one of the true greats. Rightly so IMO.

Zidane is already a true great, in my opinion. The french revival has been amazing, I think it's to do with the characters in the squad like Vieira, Zidane and Thuram who must have had their pride hurt by poor results and universal criticism. I'd say an atmosphere of "let's prove these bastards wrong" was risen in the camp and that brought back the magic.

Attractive Nun

casanova_kid wrote:

Zidane is already a true great, in my opinion.

I agree, but a true great, if you know what I mean. For a long time he's been thought of as the best player of the past 10 years or so, probably the best player since Maradona. I think a last hurrah like he appears to be planning would allow him to be thought of as one of the best players of all time, probably surpassed only by Pele and Maradona. Or maybe I'm getting carried away. In any case, of the captains left - Cannavaro, Ballack, Figo and Zidane - Zidane probably deserves to lift the trophy most, although he's won it before.

nlgbbbblth

Delighted for France
Great to see them prove so many people wrong.

Deadly to see guys my own age (34) still proving they got what it takes.

Kulgan

Indeed

Coach Raymond Domenech : "...The old men are still around."



Speaking of captains lifting world cups a thought occurred to me during extra-time of the England-Portugal game that with Beckham going off injured that in the unlikely event of England going all the way would it be G. Neville lifting the world cup ?!? Agggghhhhhh

Zaph

astrofool wrote:

All European semi finalists, is that a first?

No, it's happened 3 times before:

1934
Italy v Austria
Germany v Czechoslovakia

1966
England v Portugal
West Germany v Russia

1982
Poland v Italy
West Germany v France