February 16, 2011
By Staff Reporter
One has clearly slipped a notch and the other remains an intriguing, albeit far from invincible force.
France, the latter, began their defense of the European championship against England in Group B with that late explosion by Zinedine Zidane in Lisbon that turned a 1-0 deficit into a 2-1 victory in stoppage time.
However, Les Bleus, who travel to Dublin Sept. 7 for a World Cup date, failed to produce the goods in their second match last Thursday, a labored 2-2 tie with a Croatian side that had earlier been held to a goalless draw by the Swiss.
Igor Tudor’s own goal (22nd) put France ahead, but the Juventus defender was saved blushes by Milan Rapaic (48th penalty) and Dado Prso (52nd), as the Croats flirted with an upset before David Trezeguet (64th) rescued the champs.
If anything, the French showing against England and Croatia suggests that it will be very possible for Ireland to take points off Zizou and Co., talented as they may be, when the World Cup race begins.
FRENCH QUARTERS
In a preview of their World Cup clash this October, France and Switzerland met in Coimbra on Monday, with the European kings prevailing 3-1 to win the group (7 points) and book a quarterfinal date with Group A runnerup Greece on Friday.
Thierry Henry (76th, 84th) starred for the French after Johann Vonlanthen (26th) had erased Zidane’s third goal of the tournament (20th).
Vonlanthen, who’s 18, became the European Championship’s youngest ever scorer, beating fellow teen star Wayne Rooney’s week-old record by three months.
Overall, the Swiss failed to build on a promising start to the 16-nation tournament, allowing the sensational Rooney (23rd, 75th) to terrorize them in a 3-0 drubbing by England on the heels of the 0-0 tie with Croatia.
Steven Gerrard (82nd) was the other English scorer against Switzerland, who had Ireland’s number in the Euro qualifiers.
FIGO vs. BECKS
Rooney shot to the top of the Euro ’04’s scorers’ chart on Monday with a double (45th, 68th) in England’s 4-2 win over Croatia that sealed a quarterfinal clash with hosts Portugal tomorrow.
Paul Scholes (40th) and Frank Lampard (79th) accounted for the other goals, while Niko Kovac (5th) and Igor Tudor (73rd) were on the mark for the East Europeans.
In the quarters, English skipper David Beckham goes up against his Real Madrid compatriot Louis Figo.
DUTCH WOES
Holland, beaten 1-0 by Ireland recently, face elimination from Euro ’04 today unless they beat Latvia and Group D winners the Czech Republic avenge their Euro ’96 Cup Final defeat to Germany.
Robbie Keane’s winner in that Amsterdam friendly was apparently the precursor to Holland’s struggles in Portugal as they needed a typical Ruud van Nistelrooij goal (81st) to escape with a 1-1 tie against Germany in their opener. The Germans had led through Torsten Frings (30th).
While Germany went on to grind out a 0-0 tie with little Latvia, a team pipped 2-1 by the Czech Republic in their opener, the Dutch went from bad to worse with a surprising 3-2 loss to the Czechs after leading 2-0.
Jan Koller (23rd), Milan Baros (71st) and Vladim