"For Zidane, Without Zidane"

France 2 - Togo 0

Things finally came together for Les Bleus this evening, and I cannot express my contentment that the French finally got through.

For Zinedine Zidane,the victory means resurrection. The French captain was on the verge of retirement extinction when Henry and Viera secured a second life for the French squad. Should the French had lost, Zidane would probably have seen his last World Cup. Instead, the French survive to face Spain in the second round.

After an exciting but scoreless first half, things looked down for the Frecnh. The opportunities had been there, but the finish was not. Ribery, on the French right, had the best look of the early half as he shot over the net after Thierry Henry set him up perfectly.

If the French had not pulled out the win, I would not have been suprised to see angry french mobs rioting in Paris and calling for the suspension of Monsieur Ribery.

Instead, Patrick Viera put away a beauty of a goal to go up 1-0 in the 55th minute. His cluth upper left corner goal all but secured the French win.

Five minutes later, Thierry Henry converted in signature style and put the French win just out of reach for a talented Togoian squad. With the fancy, confident footwork so often seen in Henry, Paris and the French people had a reason to sit back and breathe out.

France was through to the round of 16.

Zidane will live to see another game.

* The title of tonight's post comes from the Spanish commentators on Univision where I watch all my World Cup action. They said of the match, "por Zidane, sin Zidane" which translates to "for Zidane, without Zidane". PERFECT.