France v Ireland...."First Half"....France 1 - Ireland 0

Ooof...that was a tough match to watch. France escape Dublin with a 1-0 victory as well as no players suspended for the second leg in Paris on Wednesday. Good to see a little fracas after the match...with Richard Dunne in the middle of it! Overall not a surprising match, Ireland defended in lines of 4 behind the ball and allowed the French to come to them, blocking Les Bleus once they came close to the 18 yard box. On the flip side, the Irish took their chances on set pieces and long balls into the box causing the French fits, something to be concerned about for the return leg. Let us jump into the match -

The Good:

• France get the essential done - win on the road. Having the away goal in hand will force the Irish to seek to win the game back in Paris, this is not impossible but the stakes have been raised considerably.
• Hugo Lloris, he was absolutely huge in this match. I wrote previouslyy that neither he nor Mandanda have stepped up to claim the #1 shirt, well games like this go a long way to doing just that. While he did not have a large number of shots to face - 4 shots - he made the save of the match in the last 10 minutes when Abidal inexplicably misplayed a harmless ball right into the path of the Irish attack resulting in Whelan having an absolute point blank shot saved by a sprawling Lloris - text book keeping! However it was not just that save, but Lloris' complete command of his 18 yard box. On multiple occasions he came off his line to corral dangerous crosses from the Irish. He did have a few poor kicks on back passes from his defense, otherwise played a solid match and saved the victory for Les Bleus late in the match.
• While Lloris could be considered man of the match for Les Bleus, that would go to Anelka. He was absolutely everywhere for Les Bleus. Slotted as the right offensive midfielder, he was much more of a #10 being present everywhere on the pitch, slotting deeper to pick up the ball, holding his right channel, drifting to the middle and even defending. His goal was fortunate in that it took a deflection, but like all good goal scorers you know good things happened when you put the ball on net.
  
  
  
  The Irish defense had no solution for the Chelsea man. Nico was clearly the man of the match.
• Take away his terrible last minute gaff and you realize that Abidal had a tremendous game defensively. His pace and power clearly were put to the test as he had to provide cover to Evra and Sagna who both were constantly pushing up high as if they were the French wingers. Abidal showed the composure and presence needed to play central defense. Now if he can avoid having gaffs like the one that almost led to the equalizer!
• From the Irish side, Duff was absolutely huge. He gave the Irish the creative maestro in the midfield. The turn he had on Evra in the first half was Brazilianesc. He gave Les Bleus fits all game and was dangerous every time he touched the ball. Unfortunately for him, Robbie Keane was fairly invisible during most of the match leaving Duff alone in attack.
• Shay Given also had a solid match. He made some solid saves including one that was called back on an offside call but he still made a superb save on a header from Gignac. The goal was clearly not his fault after taking an unlucky deflection.
• Finally and very good were the fans at Croke Park. The atmosphere was electric, the fans were clearly into the game and understood the importance of the match; however, clearly it was all in good sport. You could hear fans singing the Marseillaise...even some of the Irish fans! Too often I have seen the Marseillaise booed - in Serbia, at Ukraine...even during the Algeria and Tunisia games at the Stade de France. I think that it is completely unacceptable to boo the anthems, no matter what your feels towards that nation. Fans need to demonstrate the respect associated with teams representing their nations for nothing more than the pride of wearing your national colors. Kudos for the Irish fans for showing class during the anthems. Throughout the entire match the fans were engaged and brought an incredible atmosphere (especially when you saw the other matches being played to half full stadiums - except for the Portugal match). While the audience was clearly for the lads in green, they are to be applauded as an example for the rest of Europe and the World.
  

The Bad:

• French passing....there were occasions during the match I thought I was watching a pub league game on a chewed up field...why? Because there were countless passes from Les Bleus that were lazy and ended up at the feet of the Irish. None of the passes were anything of creative difficulty, simple square passes or through passes in the midfield area....not good.
• The Bordeaux boys - ADiarra and Gourcuff - Diarra was not out and out bad, but I expected more from him. He appeared timid and unsure of himself right from the start. I thought that having his physical presence would make a difference in the aerial game, but instead he at times appeared tentative and not sure of himself allowing the Irish to take advantage of him, something that should not have been allowed to happen. He did settle in, but at times his inability to take control of aerial game could have cost Les Bleus. And what about Gourcuff? I got through the first 30 minutes of the game and had to remind myself that he was on the pitch. When he did get the ball he tried to be too complicated, appearing as if he wanted to dazzle and justify the "next Zizou" moniker that he has had to burden. The few occasions he did have to threaten the goal his shots looked barely better than the ones I am able to muster in my hack league games. He was slow to react to a ball in the area in the 69th minute that he should have gotten to ahead of Given. I realize that he has been injured and not 100% back to game form, but he was invisible for too many stretches of the match for a player of his caliber.
• Gignac did not cover himself in glory today. Granted he had moments of good play and looked dangerous on some occasions. He also proved why Domenech favors him as the lone striker. He is physical, has pace and is not afraid to shoot. However as Manu Petit (one of the commentators on TV5) pointed out, his first touch was a bit heavy today. One a few occasions his first touch let him down and rather than put himself in a position to score he did the Ireland defenses job for them. The worst of these may have been with 10 minutes left in the game with an open goal in front of him, he butchered the shot which should have given Les Bleus a 2-0 cushion. Not sure why Benzema was not brought on in his place late in the game, more on that later.
  

The Ugly:

• The scuffle at the end of the match. Not sure it is "ugly" just showing the intensity that is involved in this match. But the game was played well, there were hard tackles and hard fought one on one battles, but it was all within the laws of the game. So no need to re-enact traditional post US-Mexico activities. Should lead to an interesting return leg on Wednesday. Of course Trap claims that Lass insulted the Irish people and that is why there was a scuffle...how is that for mind games to try and rally the entire nation...not as if they did not need the motivation already.
  
  
  
  
• I know I sound like a broken record...and I always take a chance to criticize the France manager...but Domench once again drove me crazy. Why? How can you return back to Paris with your 3 substitutions in your pocket...the Malouda substitution was completely inconsequential and did not make much sense coming so late in the game. Clearly as the game was moving along in the second half it was clear that Gignac was not having his best of matches, maybe bring in a Benzema in his place. Ireland had a tired defense as they started to show signs of cracking, maybe a fresh stiker with the talent of a Benzema could have added another goal. Or how about Gourcuff? First he was already on a yellow so another one and he would be suspended for the return leg. Second he was clearly not at his best and was getting tired. Maybe take him out with 15 minutes left - after you have the 1-0 advantage. Maybe bring in a Govou to spell Gourcuff and go with a 4-2-2-2, allowing more width to be added. Or if you want to be really cautious bring in Sissoko and play with 3 holding midfielders, let Henry and Anelka carry the game behind Gignac. I would have brought on Benzema at the 60 minute mark, give him a good 30 minutes to run. Once you have the lead I would think of taking out Gourcuff with 15 minutes to go, get Sissoko in there and play a 4-3-3, or let Lass push higher as he does with Real Madrid. But at least use your subs! You have a game in 4 days. You will need fresh legs. Clearly that did not weigh on Domenech's mind, which is completely incomprehensible. TV5 was speaking that maybe Domenech was comfortable with the way the game was being managed...sure, but you need to think about the following game. You should also have a substitution rotation ready - for any situation - leading, needing a goal, injury, etc. Yes he got the victory, but he could have managed better and might have even had another goal...or had fresher legs to defend so we would not need Lloris' heroics to save the victory.
• The fact the game might not be televised on Wednesday is ugly!!! With the FFF having some issues with the TV rights it might get down right ugly and not be available for fans across the globe to watch the match. I realize this is all about money, but think of the money you will lose if fans are shut out. Get it worked out, get it done.

So now we have a few more days before the return leg. Much to think about. Nothing is done yet, France have a slight advantage having securing the victory. For Ireland heading to Paris down 1-0 or 1-1...even 0-0 makes no difference, they will need to chase the goal. So the final score does not change how I think Ireland will approach the match, unless they had a win leaving Dublin they were always destined to be the team chasing the goals. This should be very interesting as both managers look to devise the strategies needed to get to South Africa.

I am going to take a deep breath now...read all that I can, maybe even watch the game again, but the stress level will only increase since there remains 90 minutes of football!