"It looks right now like France couldn't
hit water if they fell out of a boat."
The French did manage to get a win by a single goal on their second chance at a penalty kick, after the first attempt went wide. (They got a do-over because the Nigerian keeper stepped off the line a few inches just before the first kick was taken. I object to that outcome because (1) the French penalty-kicker did not approach the ball at a steady pace, but slowed her last step, practically guaranteeing that the keeper -- who naturally would have anticipated the timing of the kick from the kicker's first few steps -- would move when the ball would have been kicked had the kicker maintained the pace she'd established; and (2) since the kick went wide of the goal, the keeper's coming off the line had no effect on the play. In a world free of nitpicking video review, the infraction by the keeper would rightly have been waved off as insignificant.)
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| Danielle Slayton (Fox Soccer) |
