12/21/24
May 31, 2002
Biggest World Cup upset since Cameroon vs Argentina, 1980.: And they didn't have to hack the other side to pieces to do it :)
2002 - 12 = 1990, not 1980, true.. Spot the guy doing a maths degree at Oxford. Doh :) Bet Patrick Vieira is gonna get it from his Senegalese relatives, heh..
posted by Mossy at 09:08 AM on May 31, 2002
France were unimpressive, but give credit to the Senegalese for a well-played game. Could Diouff have been offside more times?
posted by sauril at 09:15 AM on May 31, 2002
Thank Jebus, for Tivo. I can't wait to get fired and go home and watch this thing. No kidding, I'm getting fired today... the day the World Cup starts. It's really not a bad thing at all. USA! USA! USA!
posted by 86 at 09:36 AM on May 31, 2002
The Senegal Lions ate the French Roosters. Thoroughly deserved victory by the newcomers. France looked ordinary and unimaginative. France also needs to tighten up the backline. Diouf's offsides were a result of his constant pressing to break away. And it only needed to pay off once. It almost paid of twice -- Fadiga's shot against the crossbar was almost the game clincher. The French backline was playing with three. That's too few and too stretched out against a team with fast wingers, which is what Senegal had. Also, the French defence is getting old. I don't think they have the legs to keep up with speedy players. They're going to see more of the same problem if they keep the same formation.
posted by worldcup2002 at 09:40 AM on May 31, 2002
OK. At this rate, I'm going for US over Portugal. Yeah!
posted by worldcup2002 at 09:47 AM on May 31, 2002
Papa Bouba Diop might be the best name in sports.
posted by Samsonov14 at 10:09 AM on May 31, 2002
That was a beautiful victory! I likened it to Guan beating the USA at Gridiron Football. It was interesting, too, to see the new ball in action. It did seem to take a couple of knuckles in the air, didn't it? One more thing, for anyone who saw it: The Footballitis Commercial...best commercial ever.
posted by kafkaesque at 10:12 AM on May 31, 2002
heh Guam.
posted by kafkaesque at 10:13 AM on May 31, 2002
I LOVE IT I LOVE IT I LOVE IT!! WORLD CUP IS HERE!! SHIT...i am not going to get any work done this whole month!
posted by StarFucker at 10:26 AM on May 31, 2002
Lebouef is pants, why does the French coach not realise this? I gave the goal a 8.5/10 on the humour scale - Petit kicks it at Barthez who skillfully hooks it around to the attacker who's having a lie down. Classic. I was meant to be unemployed as of today, but for some reason am staying on another two weeks to finish the project I'm working on - bad luck 86, but at least you won't need that TiVo to watch those matches :)
posted by Mossy at 10:46 AM on May 31, 2002
Things work out pretty nicely with time difference from London (Ontario Canada) to Japan/South Korea. Normally 90% of the games would be in the middle of the day like they were for the WC in the US 4 years ago, meaning I'd miss them while at work and someone would invariably ruin the surprise if I tried to tape it. But because of the time difference, most of the games are in the middle of the night or at 7:30am. Either way, I can tape them while I sleep and not have to worry about someone spoiling it before I watch it in the morning, or I can watch the game live from 7:30am to 9:30am and rush to work. I'm cheering for England (heritage), the African nations (devil-may-care play and wonderful celebrations) and the host nations (to hear the roar of the crowd).
posted by grum@work at 11:04 AM on May 31, 2002
grum@work is right. Who could resist the joy of the post-goal Senegalese celebration? Even the children of Senegal joined in, as the government had cancelled school for the day in honor of the match. In Diouf's words: "Today's victory is a victory for all of Africa and Senegal. No one expected that Senegal could beat France, but we did. I want to continue winning in the future. I passed my chance to (Diop) and we were able to score. Let the celebrations begin. I'd give anything to be in Senegal tonight." On another front, I'm not sure if I'm comfortable with the word "upset" yet- at least not in the larger sense. Group play makes it very difficult for "upsets" to work themselves into consequences. There is much football left to play, and in this group, it will include the return of Zizou...
posted by rabi at 11:30 AM on May 31, 2002
It's strange that France basically defended on the half-way line, especially in the first half: throughout the build-up, we were being told how they'd used their warm-up matches to practice defending more deeply, particularly for the games against Senegal and Uruguay: the idea being that it'd be easier for the old buggers at the back to cope with the conditions if they could play the ball out from deep positions. Instead, they pushed up and, as has been said, Diouff only had to beat the offside trap once to turn the back four inside-out. (Of course, not having Zidane in the middle of the field probably forced this on them a bit.) If anything, Senegal's play proved that defending deep was the way to go: they have great skills, but throughout the match, their control tended to let them down when placed immediately under pressure; however, given a couple of yards' space to play the ball or have a run, they scared the life out of Leboeuf and Desailly. (It was mentioned on Radio Five that a woman had promised to name her soon-to-be-born son after the first goalscorer in the World Cup. So Papa Bouba Diop Smith, welcome to the world.) kafkaesque: best of the footballitis commercials must be Zizou doing keepie-ups, and the scientists hiding behind a plant and under a green blanket.
posted by etagloh at 11:34 AM on May 31, 2002
rabi, a nice point. I suppose calling Senegal's victory "the biggest World Cup upset since . . ." is like declaring the first game of a seven-game series (in the NBA/NHL/MLB playoffs) a major upset. As you say, there are more games to be played. Upsets begin when teams are eliminated. And yet, in the end, it is still quite the unexpected victory for the Senegalese. Is it not?
posted by jacknose at 11:56 AM on May 31, 2002
It's a massive victory, call it what you will. And I think it is worthy of the "upset" moniker in that the teams only play each other once. You can't call France not making it out of the first round an "upset"..you could call it a huge failure, but not an upset, as it would be three different teams that beat them. In my opinion that term applies only to individual games, or a series between the same two opponents. Ah, pedantry! Fun!
posted by kafkaesque at 12:15 PM on May 31, 2002
WORLD CUP IS HERE!! It's like having an old friend back. The scope, the grandeur, the international stage where we can re-enact old rivalries as gentlemen. Can you beat this: As the final whistle blew, thousands of people spilled onto the streets of Dakar and headed towards the center of the city that was the capital of France's West African empire before independence in 1960. Cars and motorcycles laden with passengers forged their way through crowds of people waving national flags of red, gold and green. "The French thought we shouldn't even be at the World Cup -- now we've shown them otherwise," one man grinned. Fans watching on television in the national theatre shed tears of delight after Pape Bouba Diop scored in the 30th minute of the opening match in Seoul. "I'm going home now, that was all I was waiting for," said one man after the goal.
posted by vacapinta at 01:02 PM on May 31, 2002
No matter what...footie rules. World Cup threads running on SpFi, MeFi & MeTa at the same time :-) The reason France lost was: Playing Henry wide - fine 4 years ago but he's got more power now & it was obvious from the 10th minute that France were weak at the front. Le Beouf: Always likely to be the weak link along with Barthez's occasional mistakes. Don't jump in so far from your own goal. Oh, Trezeguet, don't grin like an idiot when you scoop a chance on to the post that should have gone in. You want to score every time & should be banging your fists on the ground when you miss like that. You were never going to score after that. France played like champions 30 mins & then just slacked back for the rest of the game. Zizu - with him France would have won by 3. Pires would have given France some width. They're looking a bit thin with their 2 best players out...
posted by i_cola at 05:14 PM on May 31, 2002
France are number 1 in the world, Senegal are 41 in the world, a defeat of France by Senegal is an upset in the normal order of things :) I agree with you i_cola, France's lack of a good left side midfielder hurt them - maybe the English media haven't been exageratting our problems there after all.. Oh, before I forget, France surrenders, teehee..
posted by Mossy at 05:41 PM on May 31, 2002
More upsets described here, including the greatest one of all: U.S 1 England 0
posted by Fat Buddha at 04:04 AM on June 01, 2002
1990