From: Hildegaard Beauregard [ljlife@yahoo.com]
Sent: Tuesday, June 11, 2002 3:50 PM
Subject: Everyone else is lucky

Denmark, Senegal, Germany and Ireland have advanced.
France is out. Not only did France not beat Denmark by
two goals, what they needed to advance, they got beat
by two goals: Denmark 2, France 0.

It was weird, like a curse. Zinedine Zidane was back,
and though he was obviously not at full speed, he
still made all sorts of nifty chances and showed his
trademark long-strike ability (see below). Denmark can
probably be somewhat to blame for a defensive
strategy, but France still controlled possession
ridiculously, just as they had the two other matches.
THEY COULD NOT BUY A GOAL. There were three shots that
hit the bar in the second half alone, by Zidane,
Desailly, and even one by Trezeguet that bounded
straight down but hit on the OUTSIDE of the goal line!
If France had half the close calls on goal they made
in this tournament, they would be in the next stage.
They ended up with not one goal in the tournament. Of
course, that's why they play the game. The credit goes
to Denmark for the sharpness in scoring those two
goals on the rebound, finding opportunities to catch
France off guard, what got them a win and the group
and not just a draw.

Everyone else in the tournament is lucky. Just ask
Portugal or Japan or anyone else who played France in
a friendly match since 2000. When France had their top
line-up in, they were doing things like beating
Portugal 4-1. This was a nightmare tournament for
France, and I think most of the other teams know it,
and feel their chances are better because France is
out of the way. Pires was injured before they set off
for the World Cup, then Zidane was injured in a
warm-up friendly with South Korea (which France won
3-2, by the way, to give an indication of both teams)
just before the Cup began. Then LeBoeuf, then
Djorkaeff, then Henry getting the red card, even
Barthez got dinged up in the last match against
Denmark.

About the world's best players taking those long shots
that sail up over the goal:  There is a trick to hit
the ball so that it curves and sinks just before it
reaches the goal (just like a baseball pitch). I
wondered how much stock to put in complaints by
players about the new ball -- something they do before
every World Cup. Then Zidane came back. Twice he made
free kicks from just outside the box, and both times
the ball curved and sunk beautifully, but one hit the
post and one missed just outside the top corner. This
is one reason why Zidane is considered the greatest
player in the world right now, his ability on that
kind of shot. Of course there is some chance involved,
but there have been all those shots over the goal in
this tournament, then Zidane comes on, injured, and --
boom -- no sailing. Fortunately for all those sailors
on the other teams, he was still a part of the curse.

Senegal jumped up 3-0 on Uruguay, only to have Uruguay
come back to draw, 3-3! Ireland beat Saudi Arabia 3-0,
and in an ugly match, because of terrible fouls,
pushing and shoving, and almost a bench-clearing
brawl, Germany beat Cameroon, to win the group.