Patrick Battiston loses his teeth from xiaolan's blog
The semi-final stage of the World Cup has, on balance, not been particularly kind to France. In 1958, the free-scoring team of Just Fontaine and Raymond Kopa were more than holding their own against Brazil until Vavá clattered into the captain Robert Jonquet; as the defender’s leg sailed in an arc across the Stockholm sky, France’s hopes and dreams, in those days before Authentic Michael Lorenzen Jerseysubstitutes, departed with it. In 1986, Les Bleus faced West Germany with star man Michel Platini only half-fit; the rest of the team failed to turn up until the last 10 minutes or so, by which time it was far too late. Even when the French finally won a semi, against Croatia in 1998, the popular defensive lynchpin Laurent Blanc got himself suspended for the final – unluckily and yet foolishly – by needlessly waving his arms near the face of Slaven Bilic, asking for the trouble that would soon be delivered to him in spades. 
But nothing comes close to 1982. Nothing Authentic Earl Thomas Jersey will ever come close to 1982. The 1982 World Cup semi-final between France and West Germany at Sevilla’s Estadio Ramón Sánchez-Pizjuán is remembered – not solely, but mainly – for the most outrageous and notorious foul in World Cup history. Forget Werner Liebrich on Ferenc Puskas, Mario David on Leonel Sánchez, Luís Pereira on Johan Neeskens, Benjamin Massing on Claudio Caniggia, Mauro Tassotti on Luis Enrique, or even Zinedine Zidane on Marco Materazzi. In the 57th minute of this match, French captain Platini noticed a sizable gap between the West German defenders Manni Kaltz and Uli Stielike, with Patrick Battiston racing into it, and stroked a pass of insouciant majesty into his team-mate’s path. Battiston, clear on goal with only the outrushing http://www.texansfootballsprostore.com/WOMENS_YOUTH_JON_WEEKS_JERSEY.htmlGerman keeper Toni Schumacher to beat, was first to a ball that was sitting up almost perfectly. At which point … … well, more of that anon. Perhaps the most unfortunate aspect of what was about to unfold – though Battiston and his dental surgeon will doubtless disagree – is that an infamous act of brutal cynicism to this day casts a long, dark shadow across a match which really should be principally remembered as one of the greatest, most dramatic and entertaining World Cup encounters of all time. A back-and-forth, six-goal, bona fide thriller between two teams packed with top-drawer talent performing at full pelt, it’s right up there with a select bunch of Coupe du Monde classics: arguably only the 1950 Maracanaço “final”, the 1954 Hungary-Uruguay semi, and the sun-kissed stunner served up by Italy and Brazil in Barcelona a mere three days before this fixture have ever bettered it. And yet. “We had played one of the two best games in the tournament,” recalled the hugely likeable West German winger Pierre Littbarski long after the dust had settled, “and it was very good publicity for German football.” Cue deep sigh. “Or it would have been.” The way most of it panned out, it certainly should have been. Not that a story for the ages was guaranteed to be told. Easy to forget now, but neither team had particularly impressed en route to the semis. France were 33-1 outsiders at the start of the competition, and for a while it looked like the bookies knew exactly what they were talking about. Michel Hidalgo’s side could hardly have begun their campaign in a more abject fashion, falling a goal behind after 27 seconds to an England side which had only just scraped through qualifying and were notoriously goal-shy. That match was comprehensively lost 3-1, and France only scraped through the first group stage after beating the minnows of Kuwait 4-1, then drawing 1-1 with Czechoslovakia – the latter result only secured thanks to a last-minute clearance off the line by Manuel Amoros. (Czechoslovakia’s goal, incidentally, was scored by Antonin Panenka, in what would be his last international match. Could it have been anything other than a penalty?) France then found themselves in the easiest of the four second-round groups, lumped in with Austria and Northern Ireland, but even then the meal they made of progress would have put Auguste Escoffier to shame. Despite thoroughly dominating the Austrians, they could only win by a single goal, and while they rolled over the Northern Irish 4-1 to make the last four, things may have panned out differently had Martin O’Neill’s early http://www.officialtigerstore.com/Willie_Horton_Jersey strike not been preposterously disallowed. West Germany, second favourites from the outset behind Brazil, had somehow managed to be even worse. The first group stage was a heady cocktail of debacle and disgrace: Authentic Keith Kinkaid Jersey a hubristic defeat to Algeria after promising to dedicate “the seventh goal to our wives http://www.officialbuffalosabres.com/Adidas-Evan-Rodrigues-Jersey and the eighth to our dogs”, followed swiftly by the shameful and depressing “Anschluss” pact with Austria. German efforts in the second group stage didn’t particularly win over the crowds either: a goalless grind with England, then the clinical win over the hosts Spain. wholesale jerseys wholesale jerseys cheap nfl jerseys cheap jerseys from china wholesale jerseys from china wholesale jerseys
But nothing comes close to 1982. Nothing Authentic Earl Thomas Jersey will ever come close to 1982. The 1982 World Cup semi-final between France and West Germany at Sevilla’s Estadio Ramón Sánchez-Pizjuán is remembered – not solely, but mainly – for the most outrageous and notorious foul in World Cup history. Forget Werner Liebrich on Ferenc Puskas, Mario David on Leonel Sánchez, Luís Pereira on Johan Neeskens, Benjamin Massing on Claudio Caniggia, Mauro Tassotti on Luis Enrique, or even Zinedine Zidane on Marco Materazzi. In the 57th minute of this match, French captain Platini noticed a sizable gap between the West German defenders Manni Kaltz and Uli Stielike, with Patrick Battiston racing into it, and stroked a pass of insouciant majesty into his team-mate’s path. Battiston, clear on goal with only the outrushing http://www.texansfootballsprostore.com/WOMENS_YOUTH_JON_WEEKS_JERSEY.htmlGerman keeper Toni Schumacher to beat, was first to a ball that was sitting up almost perfectly. At which point … … well, more of that anon. Perhaps the most unfortunate aspect of what was about to unfold – though Battiston and his dental surgeon will doubtless disagree – is that an infamous act of brutal cynicism to this day casts a long, dark shadow across a match which really should be principally remembered as one of the greatest, most dramatic and entertaining World Cup encounters of all time. A back-and-forth, six-goal, bona fide thriller between two teams packed with top-drawer talent performing at full pelt, it’s right up there with a select bunch of Coupe du Monde classics: arguably only the 1950 Maracanaço “final”, the 1954 Hungary-Uruguay semi, and the sun-kissed stunner served up by Italy and Brazil in Barcelona a mere three days before this fixture have ever bettered it. And yet. “We had played one of the two best games in the tournament,” recalled the hugely likeable West German winger Pierre Littbarski long after the dust had settled, “and it was very good publicity for German football.” Cue deep sigh. “Or it would have been.” The way most of it panned out, it certainly should have been. Not that a story for the ages was guaranteed to be told. Easy to forget now, but neither team had particularly impressed en route to the semis. France were 33-1 outsiders at the start of the competition, and for a while it looked like the bookies knew exactly what they were talking about. Michel Hidalgo’s side could hardly have begun their campaign in a more abject fashion, falling a goal behind after 27 seconds to an England side which had only just scraped through qualifying and were notoriously goal-shy. That match was comprehensively lost 3-1, and France only scraped through the first group stage after beating the minnows of Kuwait 4-1, then drawing 1-1 with Czechoslovakia – the latter result only secured thanks to a last-minute clearance off the line by Manuel Amoros. (Czechoslovakia’s goal, incidentally, was scored by Antonin Panenka, in what would be his last international match. Could it have been anything other than a penalty?) France then found themselves in the easiest of the four second-round groups, lumped in with Austria and Northern Ireland, but even then the meal they made of progress would have put Auguste Escoffier to shame. Despite thoroughly dominating the Austrians, they could only win by a single goal, and while they rolled over the Northern Irish 4-1 to make the last four, things may have panned out differently had Martin O’Neill’s early http://www.officialtigerstore.com/Willie_Horton_Jersey strike not been preposterously disallowed. West Germany, second favourites from the outset behind Brazil, had somehow managed to be even worse. The first group stage was a heady cocktail of debacle and disgrace: Authentic Keith Kinkaid Jersey a hubristic defeat to Algeria after promising to dedicate “the seventh goal to our wives http://www.officialbuffalosabres.com/Adidas-Evan-Rodrigues-Jersey and the eighth to our dogs”, followed swiftly by the shameful and depressing “Anschluss” pact with Austria. German efforts in the second group stage didn’t particularly win over the crowds either: a goalless grind with England, then the clinical win over the hosts Spain. wholesale jerseys wholesale jerseys cheap nfl jerseys cheap jerseys from china wholesale jerseys from china wholesale jerseys
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