France haven't been in the "world beaters" group for some years now, not since Zidane retired, in fact - the last World Cup saw them totally humiliate themselves in somewhat amusing fashion. In qualifying, they needed to go through the play-offs and only a heroic comeback from 2-0 down against Ukraine saw them through. That they still need to play Patrice Evra at left back suggests a lack of depth of talent.
All the same, they've got plenty of top quality, including midfielder Paul Pogba, who United let go for fuck all. One of the more insane decisions made by the club in recent years. He's since developed into highly rated player to the degree there's been stories of him coming back for a £60 million fee.
Honduras won't be the favourites, but they beat Mexico on their own patch during qualifying and didn't look too shabby against England just before the tournament started. However, they've yet to win a single match in the finals. Wilson Palacios will get around plenty in the middle, but I'm going for 2-0 to France.
First Half
Seems Palacios got around a bit too much, resulting in being sent off for bookable offences, the second of which involved barging Pogba over the box. Benzema slotted the penalty away no problem, which made for a fair score. It's been a game full of niggling behaviour, and there could have been earlier red cards. But with Honduras down to ten men, it's a question of how many the French can score now.
Second Half
The sending off essentially ruined the game as a contest and once the game was secure, the French sensibly turned the pace down to save energy. Honduras don't seem to have much bar aggression.
Of note was the first goal to fully use the technology to prove whether a ball crosses a line or not. Seemed to work quite fine, despite BBC commentator Jonathan Coleman making a total dick of himself over it.
People Are Strange
Walking to the shops this morn, there was two pairs of women's shoes and a bra discarded at the bottom of the road. I wonder how they got there?
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