William Gallas had earlier in the day called for goals after Monday’s drab 0-0 draw with Romania and France produced them on Tuesday — albeit against a side made up of local youngsters.
Police were dotted around the surrounding fields of the Chatel Saint Denis stadium but the purpose was unclear unless it was to keep watch over a herd of cows grazing by the corner flag.
On the pitch the cream of the French team were limbering up for this game, light relief from the next instalment of the group of death against the Netherlands tomorrow.
The announcer in the stadium proudly read out the names of the village side, each one receiving a generous reception from the 1,000 or so crowd.
This was clearly not a UEFA-sanctioned affair as it was sent on its way half an hour late, sufficient time to allow the menacing black clouds to roll in off the nearby mountains.
The assembled gathering wanted goals and with Thierry Henry, absent due to a mysterious injury for Monday’s moribund draw, on hand expectations were high.
The game kicked off with the locals’ No. 10 displaying some Zidanesque skills to round Sidney Govou in the opening seconds.
However, Samir Nasri scored France’s first goal at Euro 2008 with a neat touch that he and his team-mates hope will open the floodgates to crush the Dutch tomorrow in Berne. Minutes later Patrice Evra knocked in the second.
The locals were playing with a lot more offensive fire than Romania managed on Monday but as the blue tide continued to press Nasri got his double.
Then Francois Clerc came off second best in a clash with the locals’ No. 10 who had the good grace to ruffle his hair by way of apology.
Bafetimbi Gomis was then outwitted by the local’s goalkeeper who was clearly an AC Milan fan kitted out in black and red.
Hearts must have stopped in the French camp around the half an hour mark when Henry went down after a challenge.
Mercifully for French fans everywhere he got to his feet, and seconds later scored.
A morale boosting win then, by 7-0, but the real challenge lies in Berne where Ruud van Nistelrooy et al are waiting.
Shohei Ohtani and Clayton Kershaw on Friday joined their Los Angeles Dodgers teammates in sticking their fists out to show off their glittering World Series rings at a ceremony. “There’s just a lot of excitement, probably more than I can ever recall with the Dodger fan base and our players,” manager Dave Roberts said before Los Angeles rallied to beat the Detroit Tigers 8-5 in 10 innings. “What a way to cap off the first two days of celebrations,” Roberts said afterward. “By far the best opening week I’ve ever experienced. I just couldn’t have scripted it any better.” A choir in the
The famously raucous Hong Kong Sevens are to start today in a big test for a shiny new stadium at the heart of a major US$3.85 billion sports park in the territory. Officials are keeping their fingers crossed that the premier event in Hong Kong’s sporting and social calendar goes off without a hitch at the 50,000-seat Kai Tak Stadium. They hope to entice major European soccer teams to visit in the next few months, with reports in December last year saying that Liverpool were in talks about a pre-season tour. Coldplay are to perform there next month, all part of Hong Kong’s
Shohei Ohtani, Teoscar Hernandez and Tommy Edman on Thursday smashed home runs to give the reigning World Series champions the Los Angeles Dodgers a 5-4 victory over Detroit on the MLB’s opening day in the US. The Dodgers, who won two season-opening games in Tokyo last week, raised their championship banner on a day when 28 clubs launched the season in the US. Dodgers manager Dave Roberts shuffled his batting lineup with all four leadoff hitters finally healthy as Ohtani was followed by Mookie Betts, then Hernandez and Freddie Freeman in the cleanup spot, switching places with Hernandez. “There’s a Teoscar tax to
Matvei Michkov did not score on Monday, but the Philadelphia rookie had a hand in both goals as hosts the Flyers earned a 2-1 victory over the Nashville Predators. Ryan Poehling and Jamie Drysdale got the goals for the Flyers (31-36-9, 71 points), who won their third straight. Michkov and Travis Konecny assisted on both. Ivan Fedotov stopped 28 shots to earn his first win since March 1, ending a personal six-game losing streak. Zachary L’Heureux got the lone goal for Nashville. Michael McCarron and Brady Skjei got the assists for the Predators (27-39-8, 62 points), who have just four goals in their
RSS