La Roja Reigns Group I Once Again

It certainly has been an interesting, action-packed past two weeks with all the international matches going on.  Normally I would protest against international matches occurring in the middle of season, however, these matches held such great importance for the upcoming 2014 World Cup in Brasil.  One of the more anticipated matchups was that between France and Spain, where Les Bleus have won a mere match in their last few showdowns against Spain, losing four.  Furthermore, La Roja enjoyed a 19-match unbeaten streak, going back to November 2011.  It certainly was one of those matches to look out for.

 

Spain regained their footing, sitting prettily on top of Group I all in thanks to their 1-0 win at the Stade de France.  It would be Pedro credited with the first and only goal of game at the 60' minute mark.  Although, I must say, it was all Nacho Monreal with his superb cross.  In spite of La Roja's impressive possession of ball throughout the match, the men failed to get more goals past France's defensive line.

It's not to say that the French took it all without a fight.  Far from it.  Les Bleus had many  clear shots in the first half, most notably by Karim Benzema.  One would expect him to know how to get past his opponents in red, having played with and against the majority of them in La Liga.  However, Benzema failed to cash in the beautiful opportunity given to him by teammate Christophe Jallet.  Thus we get to the root of the criticism thrown his way.  The man only seems to score for his club, not his nation.  In any case, it would have been difficult for France to score with Victor Valdes keeping things on lock in Spain's box.

Further along the match we saw France's Pogba dismissed after receiving his second yellow.  In my opinion, the second yellow was rather harsh.  France was down to 10 men on pitch and Spain continued to dominate possession.  Les Bleus could have equalized by way of Raphael Varane, who plays for Real Madrid, but Valdes made sure to put a stop to that with yet another impressive save.

The defending European and world champions sit prettily at the top of Group I – definite favorites to qualify for 2014 Brasil – while France faces the possibility of a playoff.  Until then, Vamos España!

written by Gail Hidalgo