itsbeautifuloutside

France v Honduras

Porto Alegre, 15th June 2014

Match Report

After finishing off my Ecuador-Switzerland report, I tell Ms J that I’ve written it and ask her to guess the score (she hadn’t watched it) and she gets it spot-on. I then ask her for a prediction for this game and she suggests 3-0 to France, so I push the boat out and stick a quid on. Disappointingly only 7-1 odds, but it seems a reasonable chance of success.

The night gets off to a slightly farcical start, Jonathan Pearce speculating that the PA system is broken as there are no announcements of the teams nor even national anthems played. Pearce then gets into Saints fans’ good books as he goes through the subs list and says that it’s good to see Schneiderlin at the World Cup after a ‘wonderful’ season.

France start the game itself in a positive style, getting some dangerous crosses in and the contrast with the earlier match is obvious, immediately looking more comfortable in the final third than either Switzerland or Ecuador did all game. They earn three successive free kicks on the right, the first one they try a clever pull back but mess it up, the second forces the keeper Valladares into a good punch clear. The third nearly brings the opening goal, a half-clearance falls to Matuidi who hits it powerfully and sees his shot excellently tipped onto the top of the bar as it flies over. Honduras find it very difficult to get a foothold in the game, conceding possession every time they try to get out of defence and held under pressure by the French. I’d been interested to see Pogba play and his style is actually reminiscent of our own Morgan- he also looks tall and elegant on the ball, easily turning his way out of trouble and playing with his head up, with a nice touch. He’s involved a few times in a patient build up that ends with an Evra cross finding Griezmann, whose header hits the bar again. Then a fantastic cross field ball by Griezmann finds Valbuena in the box who pulls it across but just too high for Benzema who can’t get over his header and puts it over the crossbar from close range.

It’s surely a matter of time before France score, but then we get the first big shoving match of the tournament as Palacios tangles with Pogba, niggling away at him, before Pogba kicks out from the floor. Both players get booked, but Pogba was maybe fortunate that Palacios exaggerated reaction didn’t earn him a red and undo France’s excellent early work. The incident disrupts France’s flow somewhat, as they loosen their grip on the game a little and Honduras finally get into opposition territory, although they still struggle to actually get into dangerous areas.

France build again, the skilful Griezmann linking with the busy Matuidi again who can’t quite squeeze the room for a cross, but as time goes by Honduras start to gain belief, and aim towards reaching half time on level terms, even committing some men into making some tentative forays forwards.

Pogba shows some tricky skills in the box, wriggling away and finding Debuchy, whose cross is blocked by Bernandez. Then Benzema wastes a good position on the left of the 6 yard box, before France finally make a breakthrough. A good ball into the box finds Pogba who chests it down and waits for the barge in the back, which Palacios duly provides. Penalty and 1-0 to Pogba in his duel with Palacios, who picks up a second yellow and a red for his clumsy challenge. Benzema sends the keeper the wrong way and France have a deserved lead just before half time.

Cabaye then picks up a silly yellow card for a poor tackle, shortly before the whistle goes at an important time for a ragged Honduras who look shell shocked by the penalty and red card. Pearce speculates that the could be another red card in the game as Valbuena whips a free kick that is kept out well at the near post.

At half time Thierry Henry and Robbie Savage get into a bit of a debate about whether Pogba deserved a red card for his kick out at Palacios, but its hamstrung by glib statements from Henry that he doesn’t think it was a red because he is French, and from Seedorf that ‘red cards are red cards if the referee gives it’ which adds literally nothing of value, and I actually feel a bit sorry for Savage who at least tries to justify his viewpoint although undermines himself by squealing “You can’t kick out!, you can’t kick out!” using his usual toddler-tantrum style of analysis.

As the second half starts, France immediately double their lead. Benzema sidefoots against the far post and it rebounds to the keeper who fumbles towards the line. Goalline technology says that it crossed the line and the goal is awarded. But a minor confusion occurs where 2 replays are shown, first that it didn’t cross the line when it hit the post and rolled back across, then that it did when the keeper fumbled it. Simple enough hmm? Not according to Pearce and Martin Keown who are completely baffled by the fact that time moves in a linear fashion and don’t seem to understand that 2 separate moments have been shown. They start ripping into the concept of goalline technology and Pearce in particular comes across as being a bit thick (later calling it controversial when it was nothing of the sort). It also confuses those in the stadium for a few minutes, but really it wasn’t that complex and didn’t need such a palaver. Even Robbie Savage says at the end that “there’s no confusion about it”. The only issue I have is that none of the video replays make it look like it actually had crossed the line, but I guess we have to trust that the tech got it correct! It would have been a very difficult one for the ref with the naked eye so it highlights the value of the tech. Benzema claims it, but it has to be an own goal.

France then start to turn on the style, Benzema nearly getting a legitimate second of his own, and the tricks start coming out. Pogba is withdrawn after 55 minutes as his yellow did put him at unnecessary risk but unfortunately it’s Sissoko that replaces him rather than Morgan. Nevertheless Pogba was mighty impressive while he was on the pitch, the petulance that might have got him sent off being the only blot on his performance.

Honduras look flustered, Izaguirre getting needlessly involved with Valbuena, and their plans turn towards damage limitation. Matuidi ends a move by putting it in the side netting, to cries of “3-0, what a good goal!” from Pearce who has to spend about 2 minutes backtracking when he realises it went wide.

Honduras make an attack through Garcia that draws a fairly simple save from Lloris, but these attacks are even rarer in the second half than they were in the first. We get an insight into Keown’s mind when he sees a ‘good honest challenge’ that Evra ‘did well to get out of the way’ of.

After 71 minutes France put the game to bed. Debuchy has a shot blocked after a well worked set piece, it falls to Benzema on the right of the box and he absolutely thunders it into the net from an angle. The keeper got hands on it, but the power meant he had little chance of stopping it. It’s a terrific goal and I can almost smell that £7 profit.

At 3-0 both Honduras and Jonathan Pearce start wishing the night could just end (as do I, without further goals thanks), they are both having a torrid time. Garrido makes a terrible challenge on Mavuda, for which he’s lucky to only get a yellow. The French start toying with them in the closing stages, seemingly content to avoid injuries, a real risk against this dirty Honduras side. Matuidi blazes over in stoppage time after a good French break, and you might have heard the whistles for full time which were emanating from my house, before the cheers as I won my biggest bet since picking Anders Svensson as first scorer against Norwich in the 5th round of the 2003 FA Cup!

The opposition were very accommodating towards them and it will only get harder, but this was an impressive start from France, which showed that I was maybe a bit harsh on them in my group preview. Benzema did take his chances, and they showed a talented supporting cast, the likes of Valbuena, Matuidi, Griezmann and particularly the excellent Pogba were all impressive, Ribery was not required tonight. He only played 55 minutes but I’ll give Pogba my man of the match- those 55 minutes settled the result and he ran the show while he was on the pitch. His biggest competitor was Jonathan Pearce, who really raised his game and put in a classic commentary guff performance, mistakes all over the shop, confusion where none existed, general chaos and confusion. If you chose the 5 Live red button coverage you missed out on a treat. Well done Pearcey!

Jickster