French lessons

Students beat masters to open World Cup with upset

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CNNSI.com's World Cup analyst Gabriele Marcotti will be covering every kick of the tournament, with a "91st Minute" column filed each matchday. Click here to submit a comment or question to Marcotti's mailbag.

The students have beaten the masters.

Not a bad advertisement for the African game, or indeed, the sport as a whole. Every single member of Senegal's squad plies his trade in Le Championnat, and it's obvious that they've gotten the best out of the experience, having now defeated the world champions 1-0.

Of course, surprises in World Cup openers are nothing new, but Senegal showed its performance was far from a fluke, holding its own against France both tactically and technically.

For Roger Lemerre's French team this should be a wakeup call. Zinedine Zidane's absence isn't enough of an excuse to explain this loss. Les Bleus need to raise their game that much more in the next few matches.

As for Senegal, runner-up in the African Nations' Cup, this is evidence that if it sticks to a game plan and remains concentrated, it can cause trouble for anyone. Two draws against Uruguay and Denmark will see it through at this point and, once in the second round, anything can happen.

El Hadji Diouf. The African Footballer of the Year has it all, and, at 21 years of age, he'll only get better. Strong, quick and with an uncanny ability to find and use space, he had the difficult task of operating as a lone striker against one of the world's most heralded back lines. He executed perfectly, causing huge problems for the likes of Lilian Thuram, Frank Lebouef and Marcel Desailly. Not to mention the way he set up the goal, roasting Leboeuf and whipping the ball into the box. An electric player.

Fabien Barthez In the past, he's been criticized for his idiosyncratic style, but results were on his side. While he may have given people jitters with his frenetic movements and tendency to flap at the ball, he conceded very few goals at club and country level. Still, you got the sense that sooner or later he would pay the price, and against Senegal he did. You expect a world-class goalkeeper to deal with balls such as the one that led to Pape Bouba Diop's goal.

Bouba Diop, first goal against France. The only goal, but a crucial one. Bouba Diop was in the right place at the right time and had the persistence to tuck the ball away. The best part was Diouf's buildup, of course, but credit Bouba Diop for the way he got to the ball -- after Emmanuel Petit kicked it off Barthez -- and slipped it into the back of the net.

For years, Europeans and South Americans have accused African teams of being tactically naive. Not Senegal. In fact, it was France that was outplayed in that department, and Lemerre must shoulder the blame. Replacing Zidane with Youri Djorkaeff necessarily required adjusting the positions of the wide men, Sylvain Wiltord and Thierry Henry, if only because Djorkaeff is more of a midfield-forward hybrid than Zidane. Instead, they were left too far wide, where they saw little of the ball -- particularly Henry, whose first shot didn't come until the 11th minute of the second half. At the same time, Bruno Metsu's five-man midfield shackled France, leaving the world champions often outnumbered in the middle of the park and giving Djorkaeff no space in which to work. When he finally did make a change -- replacing Djorkaeff with Dugarry, advancing Henry and moving to a more traditional 4-4-2 -- it was too late. By that time, the Senegalese midfield, brilliantly marshaled by Aliou Cisse, had taken control.

In Group A, France's loss is excellent news for Uruguay and Denmark, but it also means that the loser of this game will probably be virtually eliminated. Much will depend on Alvaro Recoba's fitness and how the likes of Jon Dahl Tomasson and Ebbe Sand deal with Uruguay's rugged, but not exactly fleet-footed, back line. In Group G, Cameroon will be looking to get out of the gate quickly against an Ireland team wracked by controversy following Roy Keane's unexpected exit. Perhaps Senegal can inspire Saudi Arabia against Germany, but don't bet on it. Rudi Voeller's men are greatly weakened by the absences of Jens Nowotny, Mehmet Scholl and Sebastian Deisler, but they remain a compact unit.

Mick McCarthy. The Irish coach rolled the dice in sending home Roy Keane. Now it's up to him to turn a negative into a positive, getting his veterans like Niall Quinn and Steve Staunton to rise to the occasion.

Well, it's amazing what a few predictions can do to somebody's mailbag. I got hundreds of responses, some of them in agreement, most questioning my sanity. What generated the most controversy was picking Brazil and Italy to go to the final, as well as suggesting the United States might make it to the next round. Click here to read Marcotti's most recent mailbag, and here to submit a comment or question.