Sorry the results are a day late. I had guests for Canada day. luckily I got to watch at least most of both games.
France has been improving with each game. The only goal on the Zidane free kick dropped beautifuly on Henrys foot. A classic set piece. But the rest of the game was also dominated by France with beautiful tackling that shut down any Brazil attacks. Barthez had very little work to do. Abidal in the back, Vieira, Ribery, and zidane in midfield, and Henry forward were all incredible. Most of the opportunities came from the French with Zidane running the show.
Where France improved, Brazil slowly got worses. Ronaldinho continued to be inneffective despite all the hype before the tourney. Ronaldo had some runs into the box but was shut down each time with very clean tackles. The Brazilian goaly did well, but the set piece goal was almost impossible to stop.
England-Portugal was less interesting, and I only saw from about midway in the second half so I won't comment on it. A Penaly shoot out win for Portugal. I must say Portugal plays dirtier football than most of the other teams. I thought so against Netherlands but thought it was just a bad match, but I saw it again against England. Maybe just sour grapes from an Oranje supporter, but just an opinion.
These results have once again significantly changed the points landscape. This looks like one of the lowest scoring pools I have run. 50% of the players have been eliminated (their potential points are less than the leaders actual points). The Brazil loss really took out a lot of people.
Sorry the results are a day late. I had guests for Canada day. luckily I got to watch at least most of both games.
France has been improving with each game. The only goal on the Zidane free kick dropped beautifuly on Henrys foot. A classic set piece. But the rest of the game was also dominated by France with beautiful tackling that shut down any Brazil attacks. Barthez had very little work to do. Abidal in the back, Vieira, Ribery, and zidane in midfield, and Henry forward were all incredible. Most of the opportunities came from the French with Zidane running the show.
Where France improved, Brazil slowly got worses. Ronaldinho continued to be inneffective despite all the hype before the tourney. Ronaldo had some runs into the box but was shut down each time with very clean tackles. The Brazilian goaly did well, but the set piece goal was almost impossible to stop.
England-Portugal was less interesting, and I only saw from about midway in the second half so I won't comment on it. A Penaly shoot out win for Portugal. I must say Portugal plays dirtier football than most of the other teams. I thought so against Netherlands but thought it was just a bad match, but I saw it again against England. Maybe just sour grapes from an Oranje supporter, but just an opinion.
These results have once again significantly changed the points landscape. This looks like one of the lowest scoring pools I have run. 50% of the players have been eliminated (their potential points are less than the leaders actual points). The Brazil loss really took out a lot of people.
All in all an interesting weekend.
Bart
The admin