All Things Footie | Friday, May 31 | Jordan
Blimey!
I've spent the last two weeks telling everyone I know that Senegal are going to pull off the surprise of the tournament. I never believed myself of course; at least I didn't have the conviction to put any money on it, which is the real shame (for me anyway). Kudos to the African's though, they were nothing short of fantastic.
African Player of the Year (and soon to be £10m Liverpool signing) El Hadji Diouf tormented Marcel Desailly and Frank Le Bouef as well as anyone and had a great game (though he did have a tendancy to ‘drift’ offside — every five minutes). France's two central defenders had poor games, Le Bouef in particular was atrocious. Youri Djorkaeff might has well of stayed in Bolton for all his contribution to the game and Manu Petit gave the ball away cheaply far too often, it's hard not to praise Sengal's defence though.
Apart from Henry and Trezeguet striking the crossbar in spectacular fashion (if Henry's had gone in the goal of the tournament competition would already be settled) Senegal's defence was superb, restricting some of the World's best forwards to a handful of half chances. They were protected well by the midfield as well, and my man of the match Khalilou Fadiga was superb along with (another Liverpool signing) Salif Daio through the middle. Their work rate was magnificent; they certainly didn't let Patrick Vieira or Manu Petit hold on to the ball for too long, and broke up French attacks on numerous occasions with ease. Why didn't I put that bloody bet on.
How will this affect the group? if France qualify in second place are England going to avoid them? download the all things footie World Cup Calculator and work it out!
