Chapter 563 FIFA's Decision
French team.
Including this World Cup, France has participated in the World Cup finals 12 times. The best result was in 1998 when the golden generation of France won the World Cup.
At the beginning of the World Cup, France participated in the first three tournaments, but did not achieve ideal results. It was not until the 1958 World Cup in Sweden that the French team, with the legendary striker Fontaine (the previous World Cup top scorer, who scored 13 goals in one World Cup), made it all the way to the semi-finals and finally won the third place. Fontaine also created a dominant historical record with 13 goals in a single tournament. This was also the first time that France left its own glorious mark in the history of the World Cup.
In the 1980s, with the emergence of a group of stadium superstars such as Platini, the French team entered the second peak period in the history of the World Cup. In the 1982 and 1986 World Cups, the French team reached the semi-finals consecutively and won the fourth and third places respectively. It is worth mentioning that Platini's generation of French team has always been firmly suppressed by the arch-rival Germany team. They were eliminated by the Germans in the semi-finals of both tournaments.
After two consecutive missed finals (1990, 1994), the rise of a new group of superstars finally pushed France to the peak of World Cup history. The golden generation headed by Zidane won the 1998 World Cup in France, which was also the first time that the French team won the World Cup.
Before the World Cup began, many media outlets were arguing about how this team, composed of the remnants of the golden generation and new talented superstars, would perform.
Judging from the lineup, the French team has various problems, the first and foremost of which is that the French team is too old!
In the warm-up match before the World Cup, the average age of the French team's starting lineup was over 30 years old! Aging is not only reflected in the intuitive numbers such as age, but also magnified by the players' status on the field.
Before the World Cup, in the warm-up matches with Mexico, Denmark and China, Zidane had already revealed that he seemed to be unable to become the engine of the team's offense due to his lack of physical strength; more often than not, he had to retreat to midfield, and after getting the ball, he rarely performed his past magical dribbling skills.
Zidane, who is approaching 34, has repeatedly claimed that he is fully in form, but there is obviously a clear gap between desire and reality.
Historical data shows that, except for Brazil in 1962, no other team has ever relied on a group of 30-year-old veterans to win the World Cup. After head coach Jacquet, the successor coaches Lemaire and Santini both regarded the 1998 champion players as the core of the team.
As a result, the average age in France was close to 30 years old, marking the "peak" period of the average age in France after World War II.
But nowadays, the average age of a good and mature team should be between 25 and 27. How can France, with such a high average age, achieve good results in Germany?
A French media opinion poll showed that 70% of French people are not optimistic about France's performance in this World Cup.
Not only that, the French team also encountered a crisis on the front line.
Through the World Cup group stage, various qualifiers, warm-up matches and other games, we can see that although France has scored a lot of goals, the role of the forwards is not outstanding.
This may be blamed on Domenech, because this questionable coach is still unsure whether the team should play with a single striker or two strikers. According to Domenech's own thinking, he would rather use Arsenal's super striker Henry as a center forward and let Cisse break through the wing to create opportunities. Unfortunately, Cisse was seriously injured in the warm-up match with China and missed the World Cup in Germany, so Domenech had to change the formation.
In the previous games, the French team used Trezeguet and Henry as a double striker. This kind of striker combination has always been what the French media and fans want to see, because these two strikers are the most outstanding players on France's current striker line.
These two people are like Rooney and Owen of the England team. Of course, Wang Li is not included. English fans think that Wang Li is more suitable to be the offensive core of the team and play in the midfield position.
In the warm-up match of the World Cup, L'Equipe concluded that France's attacking strength should be strong, but the team always fails to convert these advantages into goals. Just like in the match against China, France had a clear advantage in ball possession time throughout the game, but in the end the team only scored three goals, wasting at least three good scoring opportunities.
With such offensive power, how can we satisfy the French fans?
In addition, the mass media felt that France's defense also had shortcomings.
Many French media have pointed out that the main problem of the French team is not all in the front line, but in the defense of Thuram. Today, Thuram's condition is not as good as before, and it is hard to imagine how much strength he can exert. This is why the hero of France's 1998 World Cup victory is in danger of becoming a substitute in the Italian giants Juventus.
Although France did not concede a goal in the warm-up matches against Mexico and Denmark, it did concede a goal in the match against China! This is somewhat incredible, because the Chinese team is the weakest of the three warm-up opponents. This is also why AFP blamed Domenech. If Domenech does not reorganize the team's defense, it will be difficult for France to not concede a goal in the match against a strong team.
More importantly, there are many conflicts within the French team. There is great disharmony within the team and the relationships between the players are very tense. For example, goalkeepers Barthes and Coupet are the best examples.
From the perspective of competitive status, Lyon's main goalkeeper Coupet is obviously stronger and in better condition than Barthes. In this season's European Champions League final, Lyon vs. Real Madrid, although Coupet also conceded a few goals, his performance is well known to everyone. The main reason for the high number of goals conceded is that Wang Li's performance was really good.
However, there was a problem in the French team, that is, Barthes had the support of Zidane and others, so the latter secured the position of the national team's main goalkeeper. Because of this, Coupe even left the training camp for a while, but under the persuasion of the assistant coach, Coupe returned to the French national team.
The French newspaper L'Equipe once commented on this matter. They said that the French team is led by some veterans, while head coach Domenech always looks at the faces of these veterans and has no opinions of his own at all. This is the reason why many fans question Domenech.
How can such a "disunited" French national team achieve good results in the World Cup in Germany?
But the performance of the French team gave a loud slap in the face to all those who doubted it! !
After a month of competition, the French team stayed. They defeated South Korea, Brazil, defeated opponents one by one in the group stage, and stayed in the top four. The French team made it to the top four!
This may have something to do with the World Cup being held at home, but it also shows the strength of the French team. Although they are old, disunited and their forward line is weak, they persisted to the end.
And now, France meets England!
There are so many topics between France and England, such as the 2002 European Cup and the relationships and conflicts between the players.
For the media, before the semi-finals, the latter was the most interesting. In the French starting lineup, the star players were undoubtedly the older generation such as Zidane, but the younger generation was the most interesting.
First, let's talk about the backbone of the defense: William Gallas. Although the French players think that their backbone is the veteran Thuram, in fact, Chelsea's backcourt general William Gallas is the real number one in the backcourt. The most important thing is that Gallas is at his prime age and in peak condition. The role he plays in the French defense is unquestionable.
When this Chelsea star met the England team, he competed with many teammates, such as Joe Cole, John Terry, Michael Owen, and Wang Li was also his former teammate.
Such confrontations can attract the attention of many fans. When they really get on the field and fight with real swords and guns, perhaps the teammates from these clubs will fight each other directly, just like C. Ronaldo and Rooney in the last game.
Other focus figures include veteran Makelele, whose situation is the same as Gallas.
This game was very difficult for France's leading star Zidane because he faced Wang Li and Beckham.
Although Zidane is the leading striker of France, in the Real Madrid club, due to his old age, his competitive state is no longer as good as before. In the team, he is just a substitute. But Wang Li is the star player of Real Madrid, and Beckham is also the absolute main force of the team. What will be the result when Zidane and the two meet on the court?
The most important role is Arsenal's top striker Henry!
Henry the Great!
The strength of this player is unquestionable. Although Henry's status in the French team is not very good facing a group of veterans from the 1998 World Cup, in fact, his competitive state makes him the undisputed number one striker of the French team. Even if head coach Domenech likes to use veterans, Henry is still undoubtedly the main striker.
Unfortunately, Henry's performance was not very good in the previous games.
But everyone understands why Henry is not doing well, just because he has been playing for Arsenal! Arsenal's football has a characteristic, that is, the attack and defense conversion speed is very fast, which is the tradition of Arsenal football and the signature of Arsenal's offensive football. No team in the world can do better than them.
But when Henry returned to the French team, it was a tragedy
The average age of the French team's main lineup is 30 years old. In addition, Zidane's artistic football is a bit slow. Henry is completely unable to adapt to the team's offensive rhythm. To give an analogy, after the team serves the ball, Henry runs to the opponent's goal, but the French team's football has just passed the center line.
How can Henry play after this?
Of course, these are all football playing issues within the French team, and the highlight of Henry lies in the entanglement between him and Wang Li.
In the season before last, when Wang Li was still in the Premier League, Henry was the Premier League's top scorer. But when Wang Li joined Chelsea, the title of top scorer was no longer within Henry's reach. Not only that season, but in the second season the title of top scorer was still won by an England player, Manchester United's striker Rooney.
In other words, the forward competition between the two teams now becomes Wang Li, who defeated Henry with absolute advantage, + Rooney, who defeated Henry with a slight advantage, versus Henry alone.
Can France's forward line deliver victory?
What, you said Trezeguet! ? ?
Do you still expect a player who only scored seven goals in a single season in the Italian league to perform well in this battle between England and France?
This is almost impossible, and the other shooters of the French team are simply not worth mentioning in front of these three people.
But don’t forget, the England team also has Michael Owen!
In this situation, although the French team has reached the semi-finals of the World Cup, most people are still optimistic about the England team. More importantly, the England team has a black-haired world No. 1 star. In the last game, this black-haired boy beat Portugal all by himself. How could such a player lose?
No one knows, but at least he hasn't lost in the two years since the European Championships.
As for this game, we can also get a glimpse of this from the odds of European bookmakers. Many European bookmakers have adjusted England's odds to 10 to 4, or even 10 to 3. After paying taxes, there is almost nothing left of this odds, but most people will still bet on England to win.
The odds for the French team are completely the opposite, 3 to 1 or 5 to 1, and such odds are everywhere. Some crazy gamblers will still choose the French team because the French team's odds are higher.
These are the views of the mass media and fans on the game. As for the England team, they are now doing some simple internal training and starting to prepare everything for the game.
However, before that, there were some unhappy things. FIFA officials issued a document to Wang Li and warned him about the practices in the last match with Portugal.
This is FIFA’s final response.
What they basically meant was that Wang Li could not use the same violent football tactics as he did in the match against Portugal in future games, and could not cause injuries to opposing players while shooting.
In other words, FIFA did not determine that Wang Li's action was a foul, but if he uses powerful long-range shots to cause the opposing players to be injured and leave the field, the referee will show him a yellow card.
This is also a decision made by FIFA out of helplessness.
If Wang Li continues to use this method to win the game, it is obvious that the fairness of the World Cup will be lost, football matches will turn into violent games, and there will be no suspense at all that England will win the World Cup.
Wang Li understood this request very well. He didn't care. The reason why he used this method to win the last game was more because C. Ronaldo's little tricks were too irritating, and the referee on duty turned a blind eye to the obvious foul. He did this in anger.
Wang Li was already very satisfied that he had not received any punishment.
With the current level of football, he doesn't need to win in this way.
In fact, violent football is more of a way to vent. Can't Wang Li do the tricks like Ronaldo? That's definitely impossible. Let alone other things, after the internal strength is a little successful, even if he only uses the Dali Duan family's unique skill, the One Yang Finger, he can easily injure the opponent. Who can be sure that it was Wang Li who did it?
At least no referee could see his movements.
Wang Li didn't want to use these in the game. He disdained this way of winning. Football matches should be won fairly. With England's strength and his own level, Wang Li felt that no team in the World Cup could be England's opponent. Moreover, if the team fell behind in the score, he still had many other cards and didn't need to use tricks to win.
Therefore, FIFA's punishment had no effect on Wang Li at all.
This matter has come to an end, but it still had a huge impact on the public. At least in order to ensure fairness in the World Cup, FIFA announced the final decision against Wang Li in the form of a press conference.
In this way, the media and fans saw hope for the French team's victory!
Within an hour, the odds of the England vs. France match at various European bookmakers changed dramatically. Although England's odds were still much lower than France's, the odds had increased to an objective number of 80 to 10 or 90 to 10, while France's odds had also dropped a lot.
This decision has a huge impact on the outcome of the game.
Similarly, before the game, the French team also had some very bad news, which was the Italian "Phone Gate" incident on the eve of the big game.
The 'Phonegate' incident is the latest scandal in Italian football. The main situation is that many Italian clubs are involved in a series of events such as bribing referees, controlling game results, and participating in gambling. In the latest news, the Italian local prosecutor filed charges with the court, demanding that Juventus be relegated to at least the third division.
The Juventus club website also confirmed that head coach Capello has submitted his resignation to the club.
This has a huge impact on the three Juventus players Thuram, Vieira and Trezeguet in the French team. Moreover, Thuram and Vieira are the core of the French team's defense and midfield respectively.
Now, they have to divide half of their attention on their future prospects. It is impossible for world-class players like them to continue staying in Juventus, which has been relegated to the third division.
Therefore, at the press conference held on the afternoon of the 4th, when a reporter asked French coach Domenech whether there were any measures to protect the surnames, Domenech said in an unusually affirmative tone: "Now, they are all in the French team, and they only think about the World Cup!"
But former French coach Santini expressed his concern: "The third division team is already a terrible thing. No matter how mature the players are, it is an unbearable burden."
The impact of this relegation on Juventus' three players Thuram, Vieira and Trezeguet is self-evident, but this impact is limited because before the announcement, the Italian judge will definitely notify these players according to the relevant procedures, so this news is not completely unfamiliar to them and they are already mentally prepared.
However, this is just Domenech's inner wish. Whether it will have any specific impact can only be seen in the battle between England and France.
Because these three players will all be the starters for the next game, and the starting players of both teams had already been submitted to FIFA this morning, so it is impossible to make temporary changes to the lineup because of this matter.
Domenech can only pray that the French team can perform well in tomorrow's game. Maybe only God can help Domenech.
(To be continued)