Match Day Five Review

The least compelling day so far, I'd say; there was some good flowing soccer at points, but there was a lot of choppiness and imprecision.


The big winner of the day was certainly South Korea, who not only got the must-win victory over Togo, but also exactly the result they wanted from the France-Switzerland match. For all their supposed chaos, the Togolese looked very spirited and organized, at least until the second half, when they had a problem coping with the Koreans' speed on the ball. Obviously the red card and subsequent goal was the turning point, after which it was only a matter of time before the Koreans used their space to take the advantage. It was kind of cool that Ahn Jung-hwan, the floppy haired striker who did so well in 2002, scored the winner from a very nice strike.


In a result that anyone living under a rock for the last five years might have called an upset, France drew Switzerland 0-0. Raymond Domenech decided to play Franck Ribéry, but he did so on the left of a 4-5-1 system that really ill-suits France. First off, Thierry Henry is not the best solo striker in this kind of set up (although admittedly he pulled it off a few times for Arsenal this year), since he likes to pull wide to the left and dribble at defenders at pace. I'm really not sure that Zidane is the ideal attacking midfielder for this formation either. Eventually Domenech brought on Saha, but it made little difference.

Frankly, I think Domenech is going to have to make a hard decision and drop either Zidane, Vieira or Makelele. Zidane simply is not playing well, but my guess is that he's basically untouchable. I'd therefore take out either Makelele or Vieira, who basically just get in each others' way anyway, and play either Saha or Trezeguet alongside Henry. I think maybe bringing someone a bit better than Wiltord on the right might help... perhaps Dhorasoo?

Honestly, I think Korea are going to fancy their chances against this French team on the 18th.


And then, the long awaited Brazil-debut. There were flashes of the kind of skill that make them the fantasy figures of so many hardcore soccer-geeks, but overall, they were not all that, and will look to improve against group leaders (?!) Australia this weekend. The Crouton defense kept them at bay fairly easily for much of the match, aided by the fact that Ronaldo was essentially immobile and that a frustated Adriano kept checking back to midfield to get a touch of the ball. They need a moment of individual brilliance, and fortunately they got it from Kaka, who, goal notwithstanding, was Brazil's most influential player. To their credit, Croatia played them tough and generated some chances, but as time went on, you could see they were simply too knackered to pull off the comeback.

UPDATE: Re: France, the writer of this AP article pulls no punches in the headline. Most amusing.