Euro 2008 LIVEBLOG: France vs Netherlands

GROUP C	June 13, 2045 CET, Berne (Switzerland)
France 1 VS Netherlands 4 Henry 71′   Kuyt 9′; Van Persie 59′;Robben 72′;Sneijder 92′

That’s the game. Well done for Netherlands.

92′ Goal Sneijder. He shoots from distance and nobody’s defending.

91′ Ribery takes a shot over the top. Two minutes of stoppage time. Ribery takes a lousy corner, and it goes back to Evra who shoots it into the stands.

89′ RvN takes down Sagnol, who’s in pain. But gets up in the end. On the other end, France gets a chance, but gives it up. Robben charges up the middle and takes a shot, which barely goes wide. France is so busy attacking the defenders are having a hard time getting back.

87′ Free kick after Henry is held back. Good position, just outside the box. SO close. Over the wall, but over the goal as well.

86′ Anelka gets a great opportunity, but Netherlands comes in with a good tackle and takes him down in the box.

85′ Is this over yet? Von Bronckhorst is all alone up the right and Coupet has to come out of the box and kick it away. On the other end, Henry sends it into the side netting.

83′ Van Nistelrooy almost gets another for Netherlands. He makes Coupet commit, then heads it over. Coupet barely get a finer on it to send it out for a corner. Corner goes nowhere.

82′ Ribery makes a nice run up the right, it goes to Makelele who goes for the shot, but his feet go out from under him. Toulalan just got booked, I have no idea why.

And the van Persie

Henry goal:

78′ Nice shot from Evra into the side netting. Bouma on, van der Vaart off for Netherlands.

77′ Gomis is taken down just outside the goal. Ribery takes the free kick, sends it to Henry, who heads it way over. Gallas looks ready to cry.

75′ Anelka on, Govou off for France. Henry delivers a rather cynical foul on Van Persie.

72′ GOAL! And Robben immediately puts one in for Netherlands. He shoots it in at an amazing angle.

71′ GOAL!!!!!!!! HENRY!!!!!! Sagnol takes it up the right, sends in a low cross and Henry taps it in. Sagnol should keep the bal on the grou

70′ Free kick for Netherlands on the France half. Coupet gets to it. Anelka is warming up.

69′ Sagnol gets the ball, thinks too long about the shot and loses possession. Again.

68′ Gomis came in for Malouda. So Ribery’s on the left now and France has two strikers. But it’s not helping, and I don’t think Gomis is the guy to get the job done.

67′ Van Persie almost does it again, but he crosses to nobody. France seems to be giving up.

63′ Robben almost does it again, with a hard shot from distance that Coupet is lucky to get to.

62′ Gomis is on for France. Not sure who came off. I’ll let you know. Henry?

59′ GOAL Completely against the run of play, the only good play Netherlands has put together this half. Robben chargers up the left, delivers a pefect ball into the box for Van Persie, who shoots. It bounces off of Coupet, hits the ground and bounces into the goal.

58′ Bad challenge from Sagnol, which results in a free kick for Netherlands maybe twenty yards out of the box. Makelele charges out of the wall and blocks it, but gets away with it. Maybe the ref feels bad about that handball? Makelele needs to be careful — he’s already on a yellow.

57′ Sagnols delivers yet another cross that goes over the goal.

56′ First good chance of the half for Netherlands. Sneijder tries a long header, but it goes straight to Coupet.

55′ Van Persie on and Kuyt off for Netherlands.

53′ Excellent chance for Henry, who has a one-on-one with VdS. He tries to chip it over, but it’s way too high and over the top. A bad miss.

50′ Yellow for Ooijer for holding Henry to keep him from reaching the ball. Free kick is headed out by Gallas for a goal kick. The ref has a word with VdS for time-wasting.

48′ Now Benzema is also warming up. Von Bronckhorst takes down Govou at midfield and gets called for it. Sagnol takes the free kick and sends it across the field to Gallas, who takees a long shot. It bounces around in the box. ARGH! Ooijer has an extremely blatant handball in the box that keeps out a goal, but the ref doesn’t call it. Another really bad call. Maybe he has money on Netherlands? That should have been a penalty!

47′ Thierry Henry dodges defenders, sends in a cross from the left, but Ribery can’t get to it and it deflects out for a corner. Ribery’s corner goes nowhere.

46′ And we’re off. No changes for France. Ribery just flattened Mathisjon, which is kind of funny, because Ribery’s MAYBE 5′8

Robben’s coming on, Engelaar(?) off for Netherlands.

Photo of the Kuyt after the goal:

I would expect to see some changes at the half for France. I’m guessing Nasri for Malouda. I think Henry will be given the chance to continue if he’s feeling okay.

And that’s the half. France is playing well but unable to score. Netherlands started strong but now seems content to let France have possession and go for gold on the counterattacks.

46′ Toulalan makes a strategic foul, taking down Van der Vaart on the touchline as he’s heading up the field. The whistle blows before the free kick can be taken. Good choice, Jeremy

45′ French are dominating possession, but nothing to show for it yet. How many times have I written that lately? Nice long pass from Malouda to Govou in the box, but after Govou takes a touch, von Bronckhorst shields it and it goes out for a goal kick.

44′ Meanwhile on the other end, Engelaar sends in a cross that’s too hard and out for a goal kick.

42′ Evra brought down by RvN. Free kick goes back to try to set something up. Thierry Henry collects the ball with his back to goal, turns and shoots. Good thought, but it goes over.

41′ Nice charge up for France, but Sagnol’s cross is too hard and goes out for a goal kick.

40′ Netherlands get a long spell of possession again, that ends with some French miscommunication, but Coupet is able to grab the ball.

Here’s the video of the VdS save on the Govou shot:

( The Govou shot and VDS save )

38′ Sneijder gets off a long shot, which Coupet smothers. On the counter, France gets close to the box but then loses it and VdS picks it up.

36′ Ribery sends a perfect ball across the goal face, but nobody can get there.

35′ Another shot for France. Ribery charges up the field, accompanied by Makelele (?!?). Ribery takes the shot, and VdS has to fall on it. France is looking a little beter now.

34′ Malouda gets a long shot off and it goes thorugh to VdS. Then France gets a good attack going, but the shot again goes to VdS.

32′ Somebody gets yellow. I’m not sure what just happened. Makelele smack across the face for VdV. Pretty blatant, so I’m assuming that’s who got the yellow. VdV is going off the field holding a sponge to his ear.

30′ France gets a nice spell of possession, but Sagnol holds onto it for too long and loses possession.

29′ A lot of play going around the midfield, most of the possession Netherlands’.

26′ Things are slowing down a bit. VdS takes a backpass and just kind of sits on it a minute. When it goes down the field,Toulalan has to send it out for a Dutch throw. Boulahrouz sends a pretty cross right across the face of goal, but fortunately for France nobody’s there to tap it in. Goal kick for France.

24′ France gets another chance. I’m actually thinking Govou was a good choice. He’s inconsistent, but good today. And on the counter, Netherlands looks sharp. They’re not content to defend the lead — it’s all attack. Good for neutrals and dangerous for France.

23′ First chance for France. Sagnol sends it to Govou, who controls and shoots. VdS has to send it out for a corner, which goes over everybody.

22′ All kinds of guys warming up for France. Diarra, Gomis, Nasri. In the 22nd minute. Not good. RvN dodges defenders like he’s dancing. France gets it back and Ribery is taken down.

19′ Kuyt gets another great chance, which goes over. He says it deflects off of Thuram and wants the corner, but it’s called a goalkick.

18′ Even when Netherlands is playing keep-away in the midfield they look dangerous. They get an attack up the middle, but it bounces off a France defender.

Here’s the Kuyt goal:

17′ This France fan has a headache already. Just fyi.

16′ France bobbles clearance, and Sneijder gets off a long shot that goes over the top. Netherlands are looking the better team here.

14′ Ribery steals the ball and charges up the middle, but he has no support and the Dutch get it back.

13′ Ribery sends it to Govou on the right, and Govou tries to get it to Henry, but Henry stumbles and can’t get there in time.

9′ GOAL!!! Kuyt. Longball to Kuyt in the box. Gallas concedes a corner for safety’s sake. The delivery of the corner is perfect, and Kuyt slips away from Malouda and heads it in. Why was Malouda supposed to mark Kuyt? That makes no sense.

8′ So far all of France’s play has been up the left, Evra and Malouda with Ribery filling in. Netherlands seems to like coming up the left as well.

6′ Ribery sends a long ball up the middle for Henry, but it’s a little too hard and VdS gets there first. The good news is that France isn’t just driving up the wings and crossing and waiting for the perfect shot.

5′ France gets a chance. Malouda delivers a cross for Ribery, who does his best to head it in, but it goes wide. Headers are not Ribery’s specialty.

4′ Makelele flattens Kuyt, who’s checking his face for blood. Replay shows a rather cynical elbow. Makelele should have gotten yellow for that.

3′ Toulalan takes down Sneijder. And later RvN gets a chance, but it’s half-hearted and Coupet gets to it easily.

2′ De jong takes down Ribery. First foul of the game. Malouda is taken down right after the free kick. Is this going to be the way the game goes? I hope he’ll let it go. Free kick into the box, headed awway by Netherlands.

1′ And we’re off. Netherlands in Orange, France in blue. Evra’s going up against Dirk Kuyt . Wonder if Kuyt was chosen for that reason?

-2′ The boys are on the field, and the captains are exchanging banners. 267 caps between Thuram and Van der Sar. Amazing.

-4′ and now the Dutch national anthem. Von Bronckhorst is adorable. And fans in orange facepaint look like Oompa Loompas

-5′ Le Marseillais is being played at 90 miles an hour. Seriously, I’ve never heard it played so fast. I LOVE the national anthems. Have I said that yet today?

-18′ The biggest news for both these teams is that Italy and Romania drew, 1-1. this means that this group is still wide open. A win here for either team would be huge. If Netherlands wins, they go through. If France wins, they’d go top of the group.

-20′ Also, Patrick Vieira is on the bench, but not starting. And having Evra on instead of Abidal is going to mean a huge change in tactics. Abidal defends, Evra attacks. This is going to leave France very vulnerable to counterattacks, a Dutch specialty. Look for Netherlands to take advantage of France’s left side when Evra goes forward.

-23′ The big news for France. Thierry Henry is back, and Patrice Evra is on instead of Domenech’s chouchou Eric Abidal. Shock! Another of Domenech’s “binkies,” Sidney Govou, is on over Anelka and Benzema. UEFA’s lineup is saying 4-4-2, with Henry and Ribery up front, but that’s not what we’ll see on the field. Expect Henry to act as a lone striker, supported by essentially three wingers. (Just don’t ask me where that third wing is, okay?)

-25′ All righty. Here are the lineups. This is going to be a great game!!!

Netherlands: Van der Sar, Boulahrouz, Ooijer, Mathijsen, Van Bronckhorst, De Jong, Engelaar, Kuyt, Van der Vaart, Sneijder, van Nistelrooy. Subs: Timmer, Stekelenburg, Heitinga, De Zeeuw, Van Persie, Robben, Melchiot, Bouma, De Cler, Huntelaar, Afellay, Vennegoor of Hesselink.
France: Coupet, Sagnol, Thuram, Gallas, Evra, Govou, Toulalan, Makelele, Malouda, Ribery, Henry. Subs: Mandanda, Frey, Boumsong, Abidal, Vieira, Anelka, Benzema, Nasri, Clerc, Squillaci, Gomis, Diarra.

-35′ Sagnol’s English is quite good. Why am I surprised by this? Lineups to follow as I find them.

Welcome to our liveblog of Netherlands-France. As before, I need to state for the record that I am a France fan. I can’t say I’ll be unbiased. But I’ll try to be nice about it. And I’ll definitely be more unbiased than Chris was in the last game. Not that he doens’t have reason to be pissed, given the refereeing.