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France-Andorra TV5 (R)


beachesl

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France 4- Andorra 0

Andorra did very well in the 1st half, even got out of their usual good defensive shell to mount proper attacks, including a barrage in the 45th minute when they hit the post. France committed some foul just after that, and there was a weird direct free kick right near the penalty spot (couldn't figure out why). Of course, with a wall at the goal-line, France stopped it. It was a great moment tho.

France looked very disorganized in the first half, they are going to have to get in shape quickly over the next two weeks. The first half looked like an off Chelsea (France) playing a Middlesboro (And.) Until the first French goal at 44' by Wiltford, the French looked like they could do nothing. They finally started to get something organized in the second half against the suburb Andorran wall. In the second half, Wltford again, Saha and marlet rounded out the scoring. Zinedine, Henry and Barthez did not play.

Many of French players were brutal and arrogant (especially Sagnol, who should have got a red in the first half for stomping on the head of an Andorran defender in frustration). The referee was blind to the faults of the French, it was a blatant display of favoritism by a referee obviously hoping to be pegged in to do some more friendlies for France. How can I cheer against both England and France in the same match?

I am constantly amazed at how well the best of the mini-minnows can do against major powers like France (with only 0.1 % of the population against a power with probably the best soccer organization in the world) and Brazil. They obviously had a lot of practice time together, an object lesson for Canada (who are lucky they don't have to play Andorra in the WCQ opening round). Great ground game in their own end, and after the opening 5' of the second , that was pretty well where they remained.

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Guest Jeffery S.

Nice little report. Andorra actually took France scoreless in an official qualifier (think it was last WC lead-up) to the final 5 minutes when there was a dumb handball in the box and France won 0-1, held at the Olympic Stadium in Barcelona. But since they started playing they have yet to get an official point, mostly bad luck: one match they were up one on Estonia very late and then the Baltic team came back to win.

For a while the national team was also a club team, Andorra, they played in Spain 2B, which is third tier. But they have successively relegated three divisions and most of the top players have found other sides. I think one is in Spain 2nd division, Marc Bernaus. The club was once better than anything in Andorra itself and they thought it was the way to train the national side, but now some of the local clubs are improving a bit and the national team members are spread out a bit more. Come to think of it, there might be one now in Greece.

A born Andorran who has not played for them and is perhaps the highest level player is Albert Celades, ex-Barça, ex-Real Madrid, now at Girondins Bourdeaux.

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