EURO 2008 QUALIFIER: FRANCE 3, ITALY 1 (Allez les Bleus!)

In what some touted as a rematch of the World Cup final, which France lost on a penalty shootout, France dominated Italy in the second half en route to a 3-1 victory.

During the first half of the game, France struggled to find its rhythm and it looked as if the Italian team might pull out with at least a tie.

But the second half brought back memories of the Bleus run up to the World Cup final. Passes went smoothly and some fine saves by the new goalkeeper (Gregory Coupet of Olympique Lyonnais, replacing Fabien Barthez, who retired from international duty) contributed to France's win over the Italians at Stade de France in Paris.

I watched the game with a bunch of colleagues at an overcrowded Irish pub not too far from where I live. French fans crowded the bar and there was literally no place to sit down. But with each goal, cheers of "Allez les bleus" echoed throughout the pub.

Even without Zidane the French team showed impressive command of the game in the second half and, in my opnion, strongly deserved to win. This guarantees that France will gain a few points in the FIFA rankings and who knows? maybe they'll move up a notch or two (from fourth?)

As of August 2006:
FIFA RANKINGS
1. Brazil 2. Italy 3. Argentina 4. France 5. England
23. USA 48. Japan

LINK:
http://www.fifa.com/en/mens/statistics/index.html