The internal problems of the French national team probably were on Stephane Lannoy’s mind last night, with the French referee making some terrible calls and practically ruining a beautiful game between Brazil and the Ivory Coast. Brazil won by 3-1 in the Soccer City stadium of Johannesburg, and has secured a second round spot in Group G of the World Cup 2010 finals.
Without being impressive Brazil opened the score in 25′ with Luís Fabiano, after a fantastic assist from Kaká. The second goal for Brazil came also 25 minutes later, again starring Fabiano and…Stephane Lannoy. The Brazilian striker danced and dribbled around 3 players of the Ivory Coast before sending the ball to the back of the net with a nice shot. The French referee somehow did not see that Fabiano used his hand twice to control the ball, and even went up to him after the goal to ask if this really happened!
The Ivory Coast was trying hard to get back in the game, but Didier Drogba barely missed the target with a header from close range. Brazil did not miss though and on the next play Elano scored the third goal for his national team after another great assist from Kaká. Elano got seriously injured 5 minutes later, had to be carried outside the field, and this is when Lannoy started losing control of the game: hard tackles from both sides, a lot of unnecessary fighting and nerves between players, and Kaká receiving two yellow cards in less that 3 minutes (85′ and 88′) setting the entire match on fire. At the moment when Kaká was sent off (yet another terrible call from the referee) it looked like the two teams were about to start a boxing match on the field, but the fighting cooled off.
For the record Drogba scored a goal in 77′, and the Ivory Coast became the first African team in history to score against Brazil during a World Cup match.
