Euro 2008 LiveBlog: France vs Romania

GROUP C	June 9th, 1800 CET, Zurich (Switzerland)
Romania 0 VS France 0

90+3 That’s the game. A good result for Romania. Final score 0-0. Disappointing for France, but not entirely unexpected if you’ve watched them play recently. Except that France usually plays pretty while being unable to score. This was 90 minutes of ugly. Sigh.

90+2 Romania plays a stretch in France’s final third. Makelele fouls on the touchline and Romania gets a free kick. Radoi off, Dica on for Romania. Free kick delivery goes to France.

90′ Some altercation involving Romania vs. Toulalan and Makelele. Didn’t see it because I was typing. Three minutes of stoppage time.

89′ Excellent chance for Romania! Too many French players attacking, and they have a hard time getting back in position on the counter. Eventually Toulalan saves the day and clears it.

88′ Ribery goes into the box and physically takes out several Romanians, but no calls.

86′ France gets a corner at last. Romania heads it out, but to Toulalan. He tries to send it to Gomis, but too hard. Out for a goal kick.

83′ I think Gomis is a little out of his element. It’s hard to come into international play on a huge stage like this one. He seems to want to make an impact, but is unfamiliar with his teammates and gives up the ball.

81′ France gets to the corner first but doesn’t fully clear it (again.) Romania gets a chance but then sends it out for a goal kick.

– Tommy Smyth is going to town with the France=car analogy. No extra gear, missing oil, etc.

– Romania wins a corner. France seems to be kind of falling apart. I’m not sure that the subs have been improvements.

80′ Daniel Niculae gets a good chance but volleys it wide. But he was far offside anyway.

77′ Benzema off, Nasri on for France. Benzema’s been far under par this game. I think he’s been overworked this season and is worn out.

– Romania is taking a free kick. And Makelele accidentally stomped on Niculae’s foot. Makelele’s a brute, but he’s our brute.

– Mutu off, Marius Niculae on for Romania. And Ian is happy, because Niculae plays for his beloved Caley Thistle. Free kick goes over the top, btw.

77′ Benzema gives awful service into the box. It glides past everybody and out for a goal kick.

75′ Abidal takes a shot from distance. It’s a smoker, but bends outside the far post.

72′ It’s Anelka off, Gomis on! Can he shake things up?

71′ Looks like Gomis is going in! Who’s coming off? Anelka or Benzema? They’ve both been pretty useless. Although a lot of this is that they’ve been isolated and not given good service.

70′ Thuram and Niculae tangle up, and the calll goes against Niculae. Free kick goes to Malouda, who eventually gives it away far too easily again.

69′ Nasri, Gomis and Diarra are warming up. Romania doesn’t get the ball down on the France end often, but when they do they look scary.

66′ Benzema does some pretty footwork to keep the ball from going out for a goal kick. France gets the throw. They keep the ball in the final third for awhile, but in the end it goes to Lobont.

64′ Benzema gets another good chance. He does a good job of dodging defenders, but doesn’t get time to set up the shot after he turns, and sends it wild. And now Makelele is down and in pain. This would not be good. It looks like he took an elbow in the gut.

63′ The ref gives Romania a goal kick. For once I agree with Tommy Smyth. Shoulda been a corner.

Codrea on, Cocis off for Romania.

60′ Anelka takes down Goian in the Romania box. Romania is doing a great job of denying France any space to move.

58′ Malouda takes out Contra with a hard tackle. Contra is down and rolling on the ground. No yellow, which is fortunate. I think he may have had a tiny toe on the ball, which probably prevented the card.

– Benzema gets a shot on goal at last. Beautifully shot, but straight to Lobont.

57′ Toulalan takes a long, hopeful shot that goes over the bar. Not a bad strategy. France is too predictable in needing to be close to goal to shoot. Can’t hurt to shake things up a bit.

56′ France slows things down with a game of keepaway in the middle third to try to get some momentum back.

55′ These few minutes have been all Romania. They’re looking very dangerous.

54′ Abidal fouls somebody. The Romanian free kick goes high across the field and bounces out for a throw-in.

54′ First brilliant play by Sagnol. He’s the only defender on Mutu on a hard, fast run up the middle, and he not only keeps up with him, he draws the foul. France gets it back.

52′ The free kick goes into the wall but France can’t clear it completely. Eventually Ribery is taken down hard and is very slow getting up. (Not good. France can’t do this without Ribery.)

51′ Uh-oh. Mutu looks like he’s going through, and Sagnol slices him down outside the box. He gets yellow for his trouble, and Romania gets a dangerous free kick.

50′ France has some beautiful combination play around the box, with Ribery and Anelka linking up well. But in the end they can’t get off a shot due to good defending, and it eventually goes out for a throw.

49′ Malouda comes up the left. Dodges defenders well. They cut off all his options but the shot, but he doesn’t have the right anle and it goes high and wide.

48′ Mutu takes a free kick (oh, fine, call these things for Romania but not for France) that goes toward goal, but in the end it veers wide for a goal kick.

47′ Ribery gets flattened, but there is no call. Total BS. Goian pushed him.

46′ We’re back. I think the lineups are both the same.

Okay, halftime thoughts about France. Our offense is completely impotent. Toulalan has proved his worth defensively several times. I start to panic and then see gray hair heading in and relax a bit. He’s a good complement to Thuram’s age/experience. But we need something extra on attack. And based on recent performance, I really don’t think that Henry would make the difference, either.

Toward the end of the half, Anelka was stepping up, but he has no support. I think Ribery might have to come off for Nasri, if Nasri is feeling well enough to play. (He’s been sick.) Malouda is having a surprisingly good game but needs people to link up to.

45+2 That’s the half. I would think that this would be a rather dreary game from a neutral’s perspective. I know it’s a rather dreary game from a French perspective.

45+1 France seems to think the whistle has already blown. They’ve stopped playing, and this is dangerous.

45′ Threatening for Romania. The ball is sent to Mutu in front of goal. Gallas gets to it and sends it out for a corner. France gets to the delivery first but they don’t clear it. It’s eventually sent out for another corner.

44′ Goian gets yellow. Ribery nutmegs him and he doesn’t like it, so he hipchecks Ribery as he goes by and takes him down. Free kick goes nowhere.

43′ Benzema almost scores! He goes a nice give-and-go with Ribery and takes a shot but it goes to Lobont.

42′ Rat delivers a long ball into the box, but Thuram is able to shield it and it goes out for a goal kick.

41′ Romania gets a free after Makelele gives somebody a shove. (Didn’t see who, sorry.) Chivu’s free kick goes nowhere.

40′ Contra gets a yellow card for poor sportsmanship. The ball goes out, and he kicks it away from Malouda to keep him from taking a quick throw. Good for the ref.

38′ France is looking somewhat more organized now, but they’re falling apart in the final third.

37′ Toulalan snatches the ball away from Mutu. Anelka takes it up the right, but delivers it into the side netting. Ribery has now moved left because he was getting shut down completely on the right, and Anelka is playing more on the right.

36′ Abidal delivers a ball to a box filled only with five yellow shirts. Perhaps he’s color-blind?

35′ Nice longball toward Benzema, but it’s a bit too hard and Lobont gets there first.

33′ Corner. Malouda just barely misses getting to it, and it passes over him and to Anelka, who heads it over the bar. Good chance, bad execution.

32′ Abidal delivers a nice cross that Ribery can’t get to. Romania sends it out for a corner.

31′ France does some nice play, but in the end Sagnol botches the cross and sends it out for a goal kick.

29′ Benzema taken down at midfield and seems to be in pain. Free kick by Malouda straight into the wall. Very disappointing delivery. Sagnol gets called for a handball. And Tommy Smythe is an ass.

27′ Intentional handball by Niculae in the box. Yellow card.

26′ Great chances all over the place. Ribery and Benzema get a chance, then Romania gets it back, then Malouda makes a beautiful run up the left that Romania is eventually able to head out. But Malouda is actually looking better than Ribery this game. Ribery’s ankle must be worse that we thought.

25′ Toulalan takes down Mutu in a big way. No card, but there could easily have been one.

22′ Ribery makes his presence known at last. A nice run up the right, crosses to Anelka, who battles for the header. It goes out for a France corner. On the corner, Sagnol gets called for handball in the box.

20′ Foul off the ball. Not sure what happened. Something to do with Goian, who is grimacing and limping.

19′ I will agree with Tommy Smythe on one thing: Ribery’s been very effectively shut down.

17′ France misses a great opportunity. Long ball to Malouda, but he’s beaten by the keeper. The ball stays in play, but there’s nobody there to put it in. France eventually controls it again, but Anelka’s cross is too high for Malouda and it goes out for a goal kick.

15′ Niculae gets off a shot from distance that goes wide. But that was threatening and he wasn’t well-defended. Romania has obviously done their homework and is playing Scotland style — defending well, and relying on speedy counterattacks.

13′ So far France is not breaking down the Romanian defense.

12′ Gallas heads it back to Coupet under pressure and Coupet just barely gets to the ball in time.

11′ Mutu gets off a shot that goes wide. France is giving Romania far too much space.

– Makelele passes off the ball to Benzema, who gets off a shot that goes high.

10′ Halfhearted shot by Anelka goes outside the near post.

9′ Abidal messes up royally by not clearing the ball and giving Mutu a chance. But fortunately Mutu can’t get a shot together in time and more French defense is able to get back and clear it away.

8′ Romanian longball toward Niculae. It’s a footrace, but fortunately for France Coupet wins.

7′ Free kick goes into the box but is headed away. But then it bounces around the final third before France retreats to midfield. A lot of early French possession, but they’re not able to do much with it so far. Romania is defending very tightly.

6′ Tommy Smythe is annoying the hell outta me. Just fyi. Ribery is taking a free kick. Didn’t see the foul, but I think it involved Abidal.

5′ Nice cross from Sagnol, but the keeper is there.

4′ Contra gives Anelka a boot to the face. Malouda can’t get to the resulting free kick and it rolls harmlessly out for a goal kick.

3′ Many, many yellow jersey in and around the box. This kind of team is always hard for France to break down.

2′ Mutu vs. Thuram kind of scares me in this game. Thuram got the decision and the whistle in this instance.

1′ And we’re off! My heart is beating about 90 miles per hour. France long ball straight to Lobont.

-2′ Tommy Smythe pronounces Malouda “Maloodoo.” Thank you Tommy.

-3′ The boys are shaking hands. The colors in the stands are gorgeous. This is one of the rare groups where red does not dominate. France is in Bleu, Romania in bright marigold yellow.

– My stomach hurts. Just thought I’d share.

-4′ Now the Romanian national anthem. All the boys are singing with varying degrees of passion. But mostly with a lot.

-5′ And a fair number of Romania fans as well. And we’re doing the Marseillaise (France anthem) right now. Toulalan looks nervous. Everybody else looks calm. Lilian Thuram is singing with his heart and soul.

-6′ The boys are in the tunnel. Coupet is already mopping sweat from his brow.

-8′ I think I’ve sorted out all my computer glitches. Knock wood. And we’re ready to go. The game coverage has begun, and they’ve showed some warmup footage. Lots of France jerseys in the stands.

-15 Big news for France is that Henry is not starting. This puts Anelka and Benzema up front together. Will they be able to put it in the net better than France has recently?

-20 minutes. They just did a promo for the game on ESPN2. This is good. I’m on the right channel.

-30 minutes. Here’s the France lineup, and it’s just as expected:

France a4-4-2 Coupet; Sagnol, Gallas, Thuram(c), Abidal; Ribery,Makelele, Toulalan, Malouda; Anelka, Benzema

And here’s the Romania lineup:

Romania 4-3-3: Lobont; Contra, Tamas, Goian, Rat; Cocis, Radoi, Chivu (c); Nicolita, Niculae, Mutu

-40′ Welcome to the liveblog for Romania-France. Romania fans, you know I’m a France fan. I can’t promise you unbiased. But I will do my best to keep you informed about what’s going on. And I can guarantee that I’ll be less biased than Italy fan Chris when he does his Netherlands-Italy liveblog.