|
France need only 36 seconds to score against the Faroe IslandsOctober 11, 2006: UEFA Euro 2008 Qualifier, Group B:
It took the vice-world champions France only 36 seconds to penetrate the Faroese defence and take the lead in tonight's Euro 08 qualifier and when the 90 minutes had one, France had added another 4 without having to sweat too much. Overall, France didn't seem to be a frightening force, as the Faroes Islands have often been under much more pressure, and for long periods of times, especially the first 30 minutes of the second half, France created very few scoring opportunities, although they had the ball for… well, practically the entire match. The Faroes on the other had no shot at goal, except for a free kick from Jákup á Borg which bounced off the wall and over the goal. France could easily have played without a goalkeeper. France took the lead in the first minute when Willy Sagnol on the right crossed the ball to an unmarked Thierry Henry behind the Faroese defence at the far post. Henry headed the ball back in front of goal to Louis Saha who surrendered by 4 or 5 passive on-looking defenders had the easiest of tasks to put the ball into the net. 10 minutes into the match, France tried with the same recipe once again with a cross from Sagnol on the right over the Faroese defence, but in front of goal, Saha just failed to connect with the ball.
On 35 minutes the Faroes were close to an owngoal. Henry was on the right with the ball this time and passed the ball through a cluster of players in the goal area where defender Fróði Benjaminsen almost flicked it behind his own goalkeeper. A minute later Saha received the ball 30 from goal, turned and fired a low powerful shot at goal, but Jákup Mikkelsen made a diving save to his right. A couple of minutes later, Henry tried his luck with at long range effort, but the shot went half a meter wide of goal. A minute before the break, France tried the "successive-recipe" again when Sagnol again found Henry behind the Faroese defence at the far post, but Henry headed the ball wide of the far post from a clear position. 11 minutes into the second half, Henry set Ribery up for a shot, but Ribery blasted the ball high over the goal. A quarter of an hour into the second half, Saha and Henry were substituted with Nicolas Anelka and David Trezeguet and they would both come on the score sheet soon after. On the half-hour mark of the second half, France scored after a corner on the right, where Trezeguet's downwards header was met by Anelka in front of goal for an easy tap-in. Within 2 minutes, Trezeguet had made it 4-0. A long diagonal cross was sent from the left hand side to the right by-line where the ball was crossed instantly to Trezeguet, who from the right corner of the goal area, in front of a sleepy defence, shot the ball into the back of the net. In the 84th minute, Faroese goalkeeper Jákup Mikkelsen made a meal of a long range shot and Trezeguet was on the spot to make it 5-0 for France.
The Faoroe Islands' next match will be at home against Ukraine on March 24, 2007. Related article: |Home of SoccerandEquipment | |
