France defeat Brazil 1-0 in friendly as Benzema shines and Mano's midfield struggles

France defeated Brazil 1-0 in a match that showcased Brazil's lack of quality strikers and creativity in midfield. Coach Mano Menezes opted for a midfield composed of Hernanes, Lucas, Elias and Renato Augusto in a classic 4-4-2 formation with Dani Alves, Thiago Silva, David Luiz and Andre Santos in defense, and Robinho and Pato up front. Mano gave the number 10 jersey to Renato Augusto of Bayer Leverkusen. After soaking up some early pressure from the 5 time World Champions, France began to settle down in the early stages by finding ways to release Real Madrid striker Karim Benzema. In the 9th minute, Bacary Sagna combined with playmaker Yoann Gorcuff to give Benzema a chance on goal but the France number 10 shot just wide. Pato, Robinho and Alves threatened for the Selecao in the first half but narrowly missed the target or failed to capitalize on minor rebounds from French keeper Hugo Lloris. The match changed dramatically in the 40th minute when Brazil number 11 Hernanes attempted a kung fu style play on a ball bouncing near Benzema's chest and made contact with the French striker. The referee promptly issued Hernanes a red card and all of a sudden, Brazil were put back on the defensive. In the 55th minute, Jeremy Menez ran down the right flank and crossed over the face of goal to Benzema who promptly tapped the ball in to give France a 1-0 lead. Menez's assist and Benzema's goal eerily recalled the 1986 assist from Rocheateau to Michel Platini to give France the equalizer that enabled them to progress to the penalty kick shoot out that ousted Brazil in the quarterfinals of the World Cup in Mexico. Brazil threatened episodically for the rest of the match, but were unable to put together any impressive combination play in midfield leading to high percentage strikes on goal. Moments after Benzema's goal, Julio Cesar saved Brazil from incurring a 2-0 deficit with a spectacular save from a Benzema header. Just after the hour, the Inter Milan keeper came to Brazil's rescue again to stop another threatening shot from Benzema.

After the match, coach Mano Menezes remained defiant about his selection of a young squad and the inexperienced midfield combination: "The red card had a major influence. In the second half things changed with us being a player down. It would be easy to hark back to Kaka or Ronaldinho, but that's not what we are about. We are looking to the future, to 2014 when Brazil will host the FIFA World Cup."

But for all of Mano's investment in renovation, his youthful squad has now suffered consecutive losses to Argentina and France, casting strong doubts about Brazil's continued place amongst the top 5 footballing nations in the world. Meanwhile, the French curse continues as the Selecao continue to struggle against a French national team that knows how to pin back the Brazilian full backs and create a maginot line in midfield. Whether under Aime Jacquet in France's 3-0 victory over Brazil in the 1998 World Cup final or Laurent Blanc in the February 9, 2011 friendly, Les Bleus conceded the occasional defensive lapse, but for the most part took the attack directly to the Brazilians in a case of the student (France) teaching the master (Brazil) a lesson about attacking football.

Laurent Blanc names France squad for Brazil friendly

French coach Laurent Blanc named his squad for the February 9 friendly against Brazil, notably leaving out Manchester United defender Patrice Evra because of his support of the boycott of a training session during the 2010 World Cup to protest disciplinary action against Nicolas Anelka, who had been sent home for insulting coach Raymond Domenech.

Evra's place at left back is likely to be taken by Barcelona's Eric Abidal. Phillippe Mexes and Adil Rami are likely to form the central defensive pairing. Yoann Gourcuff is expected to take the role of playmaker in midfield despite a recent run of poor form at his club Lyon.

France squad:

Goalkeepers: Cedric Carrasso (Bordeaux), Hugo Lloris (Lyon), Steve Mandanda (Marseille).

Defenders: Eric Abidal (Barcelona), Gael Clichy (Arsenal), Laurent Koscielny (Arsenal), Philippe Mexes (AS Roma), Adil Rami (Lille), Anthony Reveillere (Lyon), Bacary Sagna (Arsenal), Mamadou Sakho (Paris Saint-Germain).

Midfielders: Yohan Cabaye (Lille), Abou Diaby (Arsenal), Alou Diarra (Bordeaux), Yoann Gourcuff (Lyon), Yann M'Vila (Rennes), Blaise Matuidi (Saint-Etienne), Florent Malouda (Chelsea).

Forwards: Karim Benzema (Real Madrid), Kevin Gameiro (Lorient), Guillaume Hoarau (Paris Saint-Germain), Jeremy Menez (AS Roma), Loic Remy (Marseille).

Brazil v. France: A Brief World Cup History

France and Brazil have played four times in the World Cup, namely, in 1958, 1986, 1998 and 2006. In 1958, Brazil encountered France in the quarterfinals in Sweden en route to the championship. Brazil crushed Just Fontaine's team 5-2 thanks to goals by Didi, Vava and a hat-trick by the 17 year old Pele. But since the 1958 victory in Sweden, Brazil has lost to France at the World Cup on three successive occasions. In 1986, Brazil drew France in the quarterfinals once again, this time in Guadalajara, Mexico. France boasted a star studded squad featuring Michel Platini, Jean Tigana, Alain Giresse and Manuel Amoros. Brazil, meanwhile, featured a host of world renowned players such as 1982 World Cup stars Socrates, Zico and Junior, in addition to a crop of new faces in the form of Branco, Alemao, Muller and Careca. In the first half, Brazil flourished in the sweltering 45 degree Mexico heat. Right back Josimar found Muller, who played a give and go with Junior who in turn passed to Careca across the face of goal. The unmarked Careca emphatically buried the ball in the roof of the net to give Brazil a 1-0 lead. Later in the half, Muller hit the post as the South Americans continued their onslaught on the French goal from the left, right and center. Socrates orchestrated a bevy of Brazilian attacks and received back-up in midfield from Elzo and Alemao as he ventured forward. But in the 41st minute, against the run of play, France received the lucky break that enabled them to draw level. Michel Platini tapped in a cross from the right flank by Rocheateau, whose ball across the face of goal was fumbled by Carlos, the Brazilian goalkeeper. Nearly invisible for 40 minutes, Platini emerged out of the blue to give France the equalizer just minutes before half time.

The second half continued in the same attacking vein from both teams. Tele Santana substituted Zico for Muller in the 72nd minute, and within minutes, the Brazilian number 10, also known as the white Pele, had set Branco free on goal. French goalkeeper Bats brought down Branco giving Brazil a penalty. Barely warmed up, Zico stepped up to the penalty spot and missed, giving France another leash of life on a game that was rapidly turning into one of the most entertaining, attacking displays of football in recent memory. The match went to extra time and penalty kicks.

Socrates missed the first penalty for Brazil. Yannick Stopyra scored for France. Alemao scored, as did Amoros for France. The score was now 2-1 France. Zico and Bruno Bellone scored for Brazil and France respectively. It was now 3-2 France. Branco made it 3-3. And then, Michel Platini spooned his kick over the cross-bar. Julio Cesar went for a spectacular kick that was saved by French goalkeeper Bats. And finally, France's Luis Fernandez gave France a thrilling 4-3 victory.

The next time Brazil and France met was in the World Cup final at the Stade de France in 1998 in a dream match-up between the defending champions and the host nation. France had failed to impress in the matches leading up to the final and their strikers had, for the most part, failed to find the back of the net. Brazil, on the other hand, progressively improved as the tournament unfolded and had just come off a thrilling victory over the Netherlands on penalty kicks. Ronaldo finally seemed to find the spaces for which he had been nicknamed "The Phenomenon" in Europe. Meanwhile, Rivaldo, Roberto Carlos and Cafu collectively started to emerge as a formidable strikeforce to supplement the experience and positional awareness of striker Bebeto. But there was something different about the Brazil team that stepped onto the Stade de France in the final on July 12, 1998. Ronaldo appeared sedated and off his game. Correspondingly, the entire Brazilian team lacked the rhythm and concentration displayed in their preceding matches. The game prominently featured a match-up between the two number 10 shirts in the form of Rivaldo for Brazil and Zinedine Zidane for France. Like the rest of the Selecao, Rivaldo struggled to impose himself and conversely, Zidane roamed all over the pitch as he dictated play for the French in midfield and attack, dribbling through the Brazilian midfield, organizing triangular passing formations and ensuring that the full backs Lizarazu and Thuram had the freedom to contain the marauding Brazilian fullbacks Cafu and Roberto Carlos. Zidane scored on headers from two corner kicks in the 27th minute and the 46th minute respectively, effectively sinking Brazil before the end of the first half. In the second half, Mario Zagallo brought on Denilson Oliveira and Edmundo "The Animal" but all to no avail as Brazil's possession advantage failed to translate into goals. Emmanuel Petit put the icing on the cake for the French in a counter-attacking play that sealed the score at 3-0 in what amounted to a devastating loss for Brazil. Rumors gradually spread that Ronaldo had been seen at a French hospital minutes before the match for an ankle injury, or that he had suffered a seizure or set of convulsions. To this day, no one knows the truth of what happened to Ronaldo and the Brazilian team, other than that they looked like the ghost of the team that had defeated Morocco, Chile, Denmark and the Netherlands en route to the final.

In 2006, France defeated Brazil in the World Cup quarterfinals thanks to another inspiring performance by Zidane and disciplined French marking of the Brazilian fullbacks. Brazil's "fab four" of Ronaldo, Ronaldinho, Kaka and Adriano failed to trouble the French defense. Zidane, on the other hand, took control of the game for France and dominated midfield play even more so than in 1998. In the 57th minute, Zidane swept a curling free kick to Thierry Henry who volleyed the ball into the top of the net to give France the one goal they needed to launch into the semi-finals.

Robinho, Pato and Ibrahimovic take AC Milan closer to the Scudetto

Robinho continues to make his mark on Italian football by scoring a crucial goal in the 58th minute against Catania to give AC Milan the lead minutes after Marc van Bommel received a red card. So far, Robinho has scored 7 goals in Serie A and has formed a crucial leg of a triumvirate Rossoneri attack featuring Alexandre Pato, who has scored 8 goals and Zlatan Ibrahimovic, who has 13. Much of Robinho's success should be attributed to the power of Ibrahimovic, who draws defenders in his wake in deep positions, thereby freeing up space for Robinho and Pato to demonstrate their speed and clinical finishing ability near the goal mouth. In the match against Catania, Robinho opportunistically dispatched a carom from an Ibrahimovic free kick. After a disappointing season against Manchester City last year and a mediocre World Cup in South Africa, Robinho is close to the best form of his career under coach Massimiliano Allegri.

Rivals Inter Milan came back from a 2-0 deficit to win 3-2 against Palermo thanks to 2 goals by the recent acquisition Pazzini and a penalty from Samuel Eto in the 76th minute. AC Milan are now closing in on the Scudetto but Leonardo, coach of defending champions Inter Milan, retains hopes for the title for the Nerazurri as articulated in a recent interview. Looking ahead to the remainder of the season, the Brazilian stressed of Inter remaining consistent and noted how other teams will invariably drop points as the season progresses:

"Consistency is the most difficult thing in sports. You can lose a game but the important thing is to control the situation after a defeat. Our loss in Udine (against Udinese) is not crucial for the league title. Our aim was to start well after the winter break in order to be in the group of teams that will fight for the scudetto and we are among those sides. In the long run, all the other teams will also lose games.''

Since taking over as coach of Inter Milan, Leonardo can claim 5 victories and 1 loss in what constitutes a dramatic turnaround for a championship team that lost its faith in coach Rafael Benitez in the first half of the season.

Mano calls European based Brazil squad for France friendly

Brazil coach Mano Menezes named a 23 man squad for the upcoming February 9 friendly against France composed entirely of European players. Goalkeeper Julio Cesar was recalled to the team but experienced international players such as Kaka, Lucio and Maicon were overlooked, once again, by Mano in an apparent effort to continue building the international experience of his younger players. One of the obvious questions elicited by his squad selection concerns who will play the role of playmaker given the absence of Kaka, Ganso, Ronaldinho and Carlos Eduardo. Mano's attacking line-up features Robinho, Pato, Andre and the Hulk. Lucas and Ramires appear slotted to occupy a defensive role in midfield. Andre Santos, David Luiz, Thiago Silva and Dani Alves look set to start in defense.

Mano's decision not to select an experienced playmaker raises the first doubts over his squad selections and ability to lead the national team. France have historically been a difficult opponent for the Selecao and, based on his squad selection, February 9 should prove no exception.

Neymar and a number of other domestic players were omitted because the scheduling of the friendly conflicted with domestic Brazilian matches in tournaments such as the Copa Libertadores.

Squad:

Goalkeepers: Julio Cesar (Inter Milan), Gomes (Tottenham), Neto (Fiorentina)
Defenders: Daniel Alves (Barcelona), Rafael (Manchester United), Marcelo (Real Madrid), Andre Santos (Fenerbahce), Breno (Bayern Munich), David Luiz (Benfica), Thiago Silva (AC Milan), Luizao (Benfica).
Midfielders: Lucas (Liverpool), Ramires (Chelsea), Sandro (Tottenham), Elias (Atletico Madrid), Hernanes (Lazio), Anderson (Manchester United), Renato Augusto (Bayern Leverkusen), Jadson (Shakhtar).
Forwards: Robinho (Milan), Alexandre Pato (Milan), Andre (Dynamo Kyiv), Hulk (Porto)

Player Profile: Rivaldo

When Brazil arrived in France for the 1998 World Cup, Mario Zagallo was faced with the choice of which player to award the mythical number 10 jersey. In the matches leading up to the World Cup, Denilson Oliveira had worn the number 10 shirt on a number of occasions, but questions lingered as to whether the 20 year old sensation could fit into the attacking line-up given the presence of Ronaldo and Bebeto on the national team. Much to the controversy of the Brazilian media, Zagallo chose Rivaldo, the Barcelona striker and playmaker whose golden left foot had terrorized Spanish defenses since 1997. Many in the Brazilian press felt that Rivaldo was incapable of bearing the weight of the number 10 jersey that had once belonged to Pele, Zico and Rai. As the tournament unfolded and Ronaldo failed to score quite as many goals as expected, critics singled out Rivaldo as the cause of Ronaldo's lack of goals by claiming that he dribbled too much and selfishly held onto the ball when he should have passed to the strikers in front of him.

Everything changed in the quarterfinal match against Denmark. Brazil went down to an early goal in the 2nd minute by Martin Jorgensen but equalized, ten minutes later, thanks to a magnificent through ball to Bebeto from Ronaldo. The 34 year old Bebeto demonstrated all of his experience by maintaining his composure as he clinically dispatched the ball past the right of the diving goalkeeper Peter Schmeichel. In the 27th minute, Ronaldo once again displayed terrific vision and positional awareness by creating yet another through pass, this time to Rivaldo, who promptly buried it in the back of the net from a narrow angle near the left touchline. Rivaldo had put Brazil ahead and scored his second goal of the tournament.

Just after halftime, Roberto Carlos tried to clear a loose ball in the area with a bicycle kick and missed, giving Danish striker Brian Laudrup the opportunity to rocket the ball into the roof of the net with his right foot past Claudio Taffarel. In the 50th minute, the match was tied 2-2 and Brazil were now in deep trouble. Another goal from Denmark or an ultra-defensive formation from them could spell trouble and pave the way for an early World Cup exit. But once again, Rivaldo rose to the occasion and took the match on his shoulders by living up to his number 10 shirt. In the 60th minute, Rivaldo turned on a pass from Dunga and converged on goal after having been given a pasture of space by the Danish defense. Taking sight of room to Schmeichel's left, the Barcelona striker unleashed a lawnmower shot into the bottom left corner of goal to score a dramatic goal that restored Brazil's lead. From that moment on, Rivaldo took over the Brazilian midfield by dribbling through Danish defenders, finding Ronaldo, Denilson, Leonardo, Roberto Carlos and Cafu and using the outside of his left foot to craft unexpected passes that troubled the Danish defense. Rivaldo answered the critics who said he was unworthy of the Brazil number 10 shirt and went on to create the killer pass that enabled Ronaldo to score against the Dutch in the semifinals in Marseille in the subsequent match.

In Word Cup 2002, Rivaldo--again in the number 10 shirt--took over the Brazilian attacking midfield yet again, and scored in five consecutive World Cup games against Turkey, China, Costa Rica, Belgium and England. As a club player, he is best known for his performances at Barcelona where he won the La Liga title in 1998 and 1999. In one of his more astonishing performances for Barcelona, Rivaldo scored a hat-trick in 2001 against Valencia featuring a curling strike from a free kick, a long range left footed shot and finally, a sublime bicycle kick goal that turned the score from 2-2 to 3-2 in Barcelona's favor with just minutes remaining on the clock. With his gangly legs and dribbling ability that recalled the Brazilian great Garrincha, Rivaldo represented the first truly creative Brazilian midfielder since Socrates. Nevertheless, his greatness was all too often eclipsed by his historical conjunction with legends such as Romario and Ronaldo who tended to steal the spotlight because of their raw goalscoring ability in contrast to Rivaldo's unique combination of playmaking ability and goalscoring power.

Now 38 years old, Rivaldo has just signed with the Brazilian club Sao Paulo after serving stints in Greece with Olympiacos and AEK Athens, Turkey with Bunyodkor and most recently, as President of the Brazilian club Mogi Mirim. In what appears to be evidence of reverse globalization, domestic Brazilian football now features Ronaldo and Roberto Carlos at Corinthians, Rivaldo at Sao Paulo and Ronaldinho at Flamengo.

Eto and Milito combine to give Inter a 3-2 win over Cesena and move into 4th place in Serie A

Samuel Eto and Diego Milito continued to demonstrate their ability to collaborate effectively as strike partners as Inter edged Cesena 3-2 at the San Siro to move up to 4th place in Serie A, six points behind AC Milan with a game in hand. Eto and Milito combined neatly with a one two for the first goal, with Eto racing up the left flank and taking the resulting pass from Milito before cutting right across the face of goal and then firing the ball home in the 14th minute. Minutes later, Eto found Goran Pandev, who in turn unselfishly passed across the face of goal to Milito, who slotted the ball into the back of the net. Cesena pulled back two goals from Bogdani and Emanuele Giaccherini, before Chivu restored Inter's lead just before halftime by heading in Maicon's cross from the right flank. Leonardo now has a 100% record in charge of Inter with 5 consecutive victories as the battle for the Scudetto becomes more complex given Ronaldinho's departure from AC Milan. Meanwhile, Inter's Samuel Eto continues to make a compelling case as the best striker in the world.