Review - France vs Mexico
It has been a story of ups and downs for France in the FIFA World Cups for the last three decades. They finished in top four positions in both the 1982 and 1986 tournaments, then failed to even qualify for the finals of the 1990 and 1994 editions, won the world title for the first time in the home World Cup of 1998, miserably ended their campaign in the group stage of the 2002 tournament without scoring a single goal, which remains the worst ever performance by a defending champion in the history of the World Cup, and then went all the way to the final match in the 2006 World Cup, only to be beaten on penalties by Italy.
Going with the omens, 2010 World Cup was again the turn of a poor performance by the French team. They had barely managed to qualify for it by winning the playoff match against the Republic of Ireland with the help of a controversial goal but it seems their fate was already written. They have not helped themselves either, and created problems for themselves in the build up to the tournament. There have been cries of mutiny from players against their coach Raymond Domenech and the squad is visibly low in morale, ambition and teamwork.
The French players were far from playing as a unit in their opening match against Uruguay and it was expected that their level of performance would be raised manifolds against the Mexicans, who had drawn their tournament’s opening match against South Africa. The Mexican squad, especially the attackers, comprise of young, talented players full of energy and pace. They played fine against South Africa but were expected to have settled down in the showpiece tournament for the second round.
Mexico started the match well, getting on the front foot right from the kick-off. They were the first to have a shot on goal and added a few more until the reply came from their opponents. Giovani dos Santos was particularly good for the Mexicans, threatening to get past the French defensive line and shooting at every opportunity.
Florent Malouda, who was not played in the opening after a row with his coach, was in the starting XI this time, and made a significant impact for his team. Most of the French attacks came from him and Franck Ribery with Nicolas Anelka working hard in front of them. The first half ended without any goals, with Mexico being the better of the two teams.
Nicolas Anelka was surprisingly substituted during the half time interval by Andre-Pierre Gignac, with Thierry Henry still on the bench. The match continued in the same manner, with the Mexicans showing more enthusiasm and courage to go forward. Javier Hernandez was introduced, who was soon in the thick of the action and beat the French offside trap to score from a delightful long pass from his skipper Rafael Marquez. Minutes later, Eric Abidal tripped Pablo Barrera in the 18-yard box, and the veteran Blanco converted from the resulting penalty kick to complete a convincing win against France and put their opponents on brink of elimination.
France now have to win their last pool match against hosts South Africa in any case and that too by a huge margin. The bigger problem is that their fate is not in their hands anymore. If the match between Mexico and Uruguay ends in a draw, the French team will surely have to return home early. The only favourable situation for them would be that either of Mexico or Uruguay win the match by a clear margin, making it somewhat easier for France for getting the second position in the group.
Mexico, on the other hand, will do their best to win their match against Uruguay to finish top of the group table, while Uruguay only need a draw to get the top spot on better goal difference over Mexico. There will be a relief for the winner of Group A as the team would be able to avoid Argentina in the Round of 16 who are now clear favourites to win Group B, after winning their both opening matches.
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