Weekend results

My internet at home has been going a bit wonky, so I haven't been posting quite as much as I would have hoped on the subject of the weekend friendlies, a couple of which I was able to watch:

France 1-0 Mexico. This was really the marquee match of the weekend. It was a tense, coiled affair, the sort of match that seems like it was always on the brink of bursting into life, only to settle down when the players remembered this was a warm-up and they shouldn't get injured. Florent Malouda scored a nice winner before halftime, although I was perplexed by his auto-erotic nipple-stimulation goal celebration.

What amazed me about the match was how utterly useless Zinedine Zidane was. Everyone has a bad game from time to time, but Zizou, who earned his 100th cap, was awful. Every pass he made was misdirected (Seriously. Every pass. I stopped keeping track after five in a row.) It's almost as if he thought right before the game "Wouldn't it be funny if I played like a total yutz in my last game in the Stade de France." It was so unbelieveable that it must be an aberration; his World Cup has got to be better than that.

Somewhat classlessly and perplexingly, the French crowd booed their own players, even while they were winning. Amongst the victims were coach Raymond Domenech, midfielder Vikash Dhorasoo, and keeper Fabien Barthez (okay, in his case I can kind of understand.) Understandably, the players are pissed off. Win notwithstanding, it hasn't been a good week for the French team.

Portugal 4-1 Cape Verde Islands. Through geographic proximity to a sizable Portuguese community, I get RTPI, and therefore get to see most Portuguese national team games. Not too much to tell here; Portugal understandably dominated, although they still look vulnerable on defense sometimes, even with a wholly revamped backline from the one Brian McBride laughed at in 2002. That said, it's worth mentioning how much better this team is than the 2002 version. They have Deco, they have Cristiano Ronaldo, they have Maniche... this team is not going out in the first round, and indeed they could go very far.

Matches I didn't see:

Ukraine 4-0 Costa Rica. I knew the Ticos don't travel well, but damn.... If a Shevchenko-less Ukraine smacks you like this, you're doing something pretty wrong. Bet they wish they hadn't fired Steve Sampson now!

Ghana 4-1 Jamaica. The tone of the wire articles on this one suggest this was a sign of the danger of the Ghanian team. Perhaps, but I think it's also a sign of an off-season Jamaican team on vacation. (Just like they were in Cary, North Carolina, right? Touche.)

Germany 7-0 Luxembourg. So the Luxemburgers didn't win after all. Poopie. Defender Robert Huth twisted an ankle in this one, by the way.

Croatia 2-2 Iran. And Croatia only got the draw on a last-minute penalty. Iran will pose problems this year.