France 1-1 Korea

Well, now, that's upsetting. This is not to say that Korea played badly (well, they played rather well). For once, I did not want to slap the American commentator for mentioning the American team, because it was relevant to the game. I am not sure what is up with referees this year, not calling handballs and being quite liberal in doling out cards. For all that matters, France should have won this game. First, there was that goal saved by the Korean goalie from inside the cage. And then Ribery's shot blocked by a Korean defender's elbow.

The game was otherwise intense. I think the Koreans and les Bleus had an equal possession of the ball. Solid defense and offense on both sides. And there was that goal by Thierry Henry from a pass from Sylvain Wiltord. Unlike Ronaldinho, David Beckham, Wayne Rooney, Landon Donovan and DaMarcus Beasley, Thierry Henry is a player that earns the hype that surrounds him (the same could be said of Zinedine Zidane). Here is a striker that is consistent in every game he plays.

Raymond Domenech actually made a good decision by having two strikers in the starting line-up (Henry and Wiltord), but you have to wonder about what he was thinking when he had four strikers by the last ten minutes (adding Vikash Dhovaroo and our other star striker David Trézéguet). The same thing could be said of Dick Advocaat who decided not to have Ahn Jung-Hwan in the starting roster of South Korea, entering the game only in the last 20 minutes (by then, Korea had already scored their equalizing goal).

Group G is still undecided, with Korea at 4 pts, France at 2, Switzerland at 1 and Togo at 0. Switzerland is playing Togo tomorrow. It would be nice if Togo were inspired by Ghana's performance against the Czech Republic and at least ties against the Nati. I think South Korea will win against the Swiss. France now needs to win against Togo by a significant score in order to qualify. This is going to be difficult, since Zidane will miss that game. Zidane's last game for the Real Madrid also ended in a tie.

Received in the mail:
Mark Lamoureux's mini-anthology My Spaceship. As I was writing to Jessica, I think Ron Silliman was on crack when he read this chapbook. I don't find the font Imazeng difficult to read at all.