France did not need Zidane with Sidney Govou
It was as we suspected. Italy won the World Cup because when it came to the crunch they were the more level headed team (ask Materazzi who got leveled!), not neccessarily the better team. Today’s game proved that France could play post Zidane and they crushed Italy 3-1. Most of the Azzurris who did duty in the World Cup also played this match, so there were no excuses that Roberto Donadoni could offfer. They were outclassed in this match.
Lineups:
France: Gregory Coupet; Willy Sagnol, Lilian Thuram, William Gallas, Eric Abidal; Franck Ribery (Louis Saha, 88), Patrick Vieira (captain), Claude Makelele, Florent Malouda; Sidney Govou (Sylvain Wiltord, 75), Thierry Henry.
Italy: Gianluigi Buffon; Gianluca Zambrotta, Fabio Cannavaro (captain), Andrea Barzagli, Fabio Grosso; Simone Perrotta, Andrea Pirlo, Gennaro Gattuso, Franco Semioli (David Di Michele, 54); Antonio Cassano (Filippo Inzaghi, 73), Albreto Gilardino (Daniele De Rossi, 87).
Sidney Govou showed why Liverpool, Aston Villa, and Valencia wanted to sign him on >>