(Photo by Michael Steele/Getty Images)
France finished their 2008-2009 season with a deserved win over Turkey in Lyon on Friday night.
Whilst the 1-0 scoreline was not the end of year flourish that under-pressure coach Raymond Domenech will have hoped for it was nonetheless a significant improvement from their performance on Tuesday which saw the side lose to Nigeria by the same score.
The only goal of the game came shortly before halftime when Nicolas Anelka was hauled down in the penalty area when clean through. Turkey’s Üzülmez saw red for the last-man challenge and Karim Benzema stepped up to score from the spot.
France should have won the match by a more handsome margin but were repeatedly denied by Turkish goalkeeper Volkan Demirel who made several fine stops.
Tuesday’s defeat to Nigeria in St. Etienne was notable for the fans turning on their own players, especially any with Lyon connections, but last night it was the Turkish fans who grabbed the headlines after they bombarded the pitch with projectiles and flares with fifteen minutes of the match remaining.
The referee was forced to stop play for five minutes as the Turkish players went to calm down their supporters.
Chelsea’s Florent Malouda was recalled and started his first match for Les Bleus in eight-months after his public criticism of Domenech in the aftermath of Euro 2008. Club team-mate Anelka operated primarily from the right-hand side in what is now becoming a familiar role at both club and now international level.
With Thierry Henry and William Gallas absent through injury and Patrick Vieira only on the bench Barcelona’s Eric Abidal captained the side for the very first time.
Abidal spoke after the win of his “pride” at leading the side but played down his overall role, “It’s huge to captain of France but the team is what matters, not who wears the armband.”
Domenech made a total of nine changes to his line-up for the match with only Anelka and Benzema retained from the defeat on Tuesday. He spoke afterwards of being “on the right path” and how he was pleased with the number of opportunities created, if left a little disappointed by his team’s inability to increase their winning margin.
France face their remaining crucial World Cup Qualifiers, starting with the Faroe Islands on August 12 before facing Romania and Serbiain September. Domenech will need his side to show more composure in front of goal and greater overall consistency if he’s to lead his side out in South Africa in one years time.
L’Equipe praised a much better balance in the side as compared with the defeat to Nigeria, but at the same tempered any apparent optimism taken from the result in stating that whilst they created several chances, not only were these not taken but they were almost exclusively created when facing only ten men.
Praise was given to the Turkey goalkeeper, but even still the chances created were not even taken and France’s only goal came courtesy of a penalty.
France: H. Lloris – B. Sagna, P. Mexes, J. Boumsong, E. Abidal (c) – J. Toulalan, L. Diarra – N. Anelka (S. Govou, 59), Y. Gourcuff, F. Malouda (F. Ribéry, 59) – K. Benzema (A. Gignac, 46)
Turkey: V. Demirel –S. Sarioglu (I.Kas, 82), G.Zan, B. Hakan Kadir, U. Ibrahim – N. Sahin, T. Arda (Y. Simsek, 77), M. Topal (Y. Sercan, 73) – T. Sanli (c), H. Altintop (S. Senturk, 46) – M. Erding (G. Eren, 42)
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