May 31, 2002

World Cup is finally here! Senegal scores the first goal of the year against France. Good start to the cup in my opinion.

posted by riffola to soccer at 07:13 AM - 6 comments

Awesome. It was the French defender's fault - he let it go right through his legs.

posted by vacapinta at 07:27 AM on May 31, 2002

I had LeBouef & Barthez down as possible weak links in an otherwise awesome French squad and waddayaknow... Senegal win...brilliant! That is a major shock. vacapinta: where did you get to watch the match in the end? (re: MeTa query)

posted by i_cola at 08:26 AM on May 31, 2002

Scrappy game, but that's the way most openers turn out, and it's definitely how Senegal played it: pack the midfield, leave the one man up front, and put pressure on the centre-backs. Makes life more interesting for England's group, because Uruguay and Denmark will fancy their chances of winning the France-Senegal group outright, and could leave the second-round draw more open. You have to fancy that France will improve: it's arguable that they've suffered from not having to qualify the last couple of times. You could have had 9/1 for Senegal at the bookies, and I had the Argentina-Cameroon feeling about this one.

posted by etagloh at 08:40 AM on May 31, 2002

The French were really missing Zizou.

posted by Ben at 08:44 AM on May 31, 2002

Sweet bliss. The French seemed so demoralized - as if you could see them thinking "Wait! we're missing a couple players!" At home, i_cola. Its is damn near impossible for me to get up at 4:30 am but staying up until 4:30 am is a cakewalk - just took a quick snooze afterwards.

posted by vacapinta at 12:43 PM on May 31, 2002

I did like the opening ceremony - far better than Frances odd, odd one and the US one.. Well, lets not mention that :)

posted by Mossy at 05:43 PM on May 31, 2002

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