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Group A - France vs Mexico: BBC1 @ 19:30


gillsminnow

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I have to ask, what happened to Ochoa? Is he injured or?

He made a cock-up in a qualifying game which gave Aguirre the perfect excuse to drop him and chose one of his favourites in his place.

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I wrote this btw on just-football.com but Gonch is having internet problems at the moment so it's not been approved yet:

Tonight's game saw the hosts thoroughly and deservedly beaten. It made it clear to Mexico what they must do going into the game against France, a win is vital. It has been a long time coming, they have never won in their previous six meetings with the Europeans. This time though, Mexico are the form team and have the advantage of not being managed by an absolute fruit loop.

While France will undoubtedly be favourites on paper and people will roll off various different names of the players in their squad as to why they'll be the ones to come out with the three points, those people would be writing Mexico off at their peril. Not short of quality attackers themselves, they possess a young & hungry group of players determined to right the wrongs of their predecessors representing "El Tri".

France, will be faced with similar tactics from the Mexicans as they experienced in the first game and with Govou likely to be starting again up front, may well find themselves experiencing the same difficulties in breaking the play down and exerting their control. It's difficult to see how the player is going to fare any better against Marquez who will no doubt be eager to see the Lyon strikers name on the team sheet. Gourcuff & Toulalan will again be key to this battle and will need to find room to move the ball around against a Latin American team that work hard for each other whenever they lose the ball. If they've settled their rumoured differences, then I would consider finding a place for Malouda, better still if it is at the expense of an ineffectual Ribery who struggled in the previous game to find any kind of form. It's also important that France's fullbacks take advantage of the battle that will occur in midfield and try to get forward to provide support for their team, the attacking players from Mexico are unlikely to be involved.

If Mexico can win the fight for the ball in midfield, they certainly have the players to cause the French problems. Their crisp, sharp passing, when at its best can tear apart the best of sides. They had ample opportunity to score against South Africa but wasted the vast majority of them. The biggest culprit being West Ham's Franco and for me he's the man that should miss out. If Mexico are to win this game, they need to rely on the four young players that are amongst the most exciting in the whole World Cup. Guardado, Hernández, Vela & Giovanni must all start and I have a feeling that Aguirre will deliver. They simply cannot afford to do anything else for this crucial game. Torrado is likely to protect his defence while the fullbacks get forward and help the quartet.

If both sides can get going in this game. With their ability to move the ball around and their overlapping fullbacks, we could see the kind of football that leaves fond memories of the World Cup. It could very possibly be one of the best games of the tournament, although clearly, now I've said that, it'll utterly fail to live up to any expectations I have placed on it.

Both sides have to win. As a fan of the way Mexico play football, I really do hope that it's El Tri that is the victor, although there is definitely a part of me that wants to see Domenech continue in this competition if only to continue to attempt and no doubt fail to understand just how this man's mind works.

Predicted Line-ups:

France (4-2-3-1): 1 Lloris; 2 Sagna, 5 Gallas, 3 Abidal, 13 Evra; 14 Toulalan, 19 Diaby; 7 Ribery, 8 Gourcuff, 15 Malouda; 10 Govou.

Mexico (4-2-1-3): 1 Perez; 12 Aguilar, 2 Rodriguez, 4 Marquez, 3 Salcido; 16 Juarez, 6 Torradol; 17 Giovani; 18 Guardado, 11 Vela, 14 Hernandez.

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Why is Roy speaking about France Vs Algeria?

I thought that too. Talked about when they played Algeria or something :confused:

Would love to see Seedorf being a pundit in the PL. Being a guest on Super Sunday etc would be nice to see him there.

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I thought that too. Talked about when they played Algeria or something :confused:

Would love to see Seedorf being a pundit in the PL. Being a guest on Super Sunday etc would be nice to see him there.

He has been iirc

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