, which is important." Bobrovsky expects to get the start tonight and is 1-0-2 with a 1.0 | Forum

The World Champions of pessimism. Johnny Jolly Jersey . Thats what the outstanding journalist Simon Kuper calls the French. Hed know, he has lived amongst them for over 10 years. Kuper, writer of all things good, said last year in a piece for the Financial Times that schooling in the country was one of the key reasons for the countrys negativity. Early childhood here is mostly happy, but then French schools seem to make people miserable for life. I first glimpsed this when my wife and I went to a parent-teacher meeting. It was the only one we were granted all year, so we were itching to hear about our daughters triumphs. This teacher saw her job solely as pointing out shortcomings. Thats pretty much the essence of French schooling, notes Peter Gumbel in his shocking book On achève bien les écoliers (They Shoot School Kids, Dont They?). French pupils, Gumbel explains, are almost never praised and frequently told they are worthless. Gumbel has not written a book on the state of the current French football team but if he chose to he could use the same description of their players. Since losing 2-0 in Ukraine last Friday, Frances national footballers had been taken out to the schoolyard and given a good hiding by the media and the public. LEquipe started Friday with the front page headline Everyone is behind Les Blues, but after a loss in Kiev, the country were not behind them at all. A poll taken by Le Parisien revealed 83.6 per cent felt France would not qualify for Brazil 2014. The 2-0 deficit played a part, but overall it reflected the general feeling the people of France had towards their national team. The French public had had enough. It is not hard to sympathize with them. Since getting to the World Cup final in 2006, France were pathetic at Euro 2008 and disgraced at the World Cup in 2010, failing to win a match at both tournaments. The players revolted against then coach Raymond Domenech and when Laurent Blanc took over, the 23 players in South Africa were disregarded for the first game, with some, such as Patrice Evra and Franck Ribery, suspended by their own football federation for their behaviour. Blanc steadied the ship for a while, but when they lost a crucial match at Euro 2012 against Sweden, he admitted the camp had issues inside the dressing room: "It kicked off because all the players felt that everyone hadnt given everything." Frances loss meant they faced Spain, who would easily beat them in the quarter finals, and negative tactics coupled with poor behaviour towards the countrys media saw them exit in disgrace again. This time Blanc had had enough. France were again a national time divided. In 2013, it is harder than ever to get true unity with a national team. More than ever, players ply their trades for clubs away from their home country. They are individuals linked by nothing more than a passport and that is certainly the way France have played in qualifying for the World Cup. They started the campaign as the team no seed wanted to face, the 10th-best side in Europe according to the world rankings, and the moment they got Spain, they looked like a team stuck in third gear waiting for the playoffs. A smaller European group denied them a chance to climb the rankings, appearing once again in a draw unseeded. They were the team no seeded team wanted to face, once again. Ukraine were the unlucky ones, we were told. Yet, in the first leg France were predictably poor. A team lacking leadership who lost the plot when down a goal. Ukraine no longer believed they were worth fearing and France looked like a team who knew what the rest of Europe didnt - they were not as good as people thought. "Someone who is a starter at Real Madrid, cant be as bad as that?" harshly asked French Football Federation president Noel Le Graet earlier in qualifying but, in truth, he was right. Many of the French players looked nothing like those who played for their clubs. "Bravery! More Bravery! screamed LEquipes headline last weekend. And so with the nation angry with their national team once again, Didier Deschamps team had one last chance to get them back. A packed house at the Stade de France certainly didnt reflect the mood of the nation, getting behind their team from the moment the national anthem sung. Five changes were made to the French team that lost in Ukraine and everyone of them made a difference. In Mathieu Valbuena, France had vision and desire to attack in the final third, to push Ukraine deep and force their defenders to give away unnecessary fouls. In the 22nd minute, the Marseille man sent in a brilliant free kick that Ribery got on the end of and his powerful shot rebounded out to Mamadou Sakho to score his first international goal. Sakho, like Benzema, was one of the five changes made by Deschamps, and the Real Madrid man made it 2-0 soon after when he took the ball, which bounced off Valbuena, and into his path, to slot home. Stade de France erupted and the linesman, crucially, kept his flag down despite the striker being way offside. It was difficult to feel sorry for Ukraine, however, as five minutes earlier Benzema had a legitimate goal ruled out for offside. In 34 minutes, France had gotten back on level terms. Except, it wasnt. The archaic away goals rule that UEFA continues to adopt in these qualifiers meant France were on edge throughout. Brave was indeed the word of the day as Yohan Cabaye, another one of the famous five, led a brilliant resolute French side at 2-0, popping up in key areas to make crucial interceptions and tackles. Ukraine, down to 10 men after the dismissal of Yevhen Khacheridi, knew one goal would be enough. At 2-0, France still had it all to do, yet it was at these nervous times when they looked their most mature. They looked like a side that felt they would score, but knew the importance of not conceding. The goal would come, they felt, and come it did. From a second phase of a corner, Mathieu Debuchys cross wasnt dealt with by Ukraines defence and when Riberys strike came across goal it was knocked into his own net by Oleg Gusev. Deschamps, the former skipper who lifted the World Cup in that very stadium fifteen years ago, once stood for everything that was great in French football. Now, he stood powerless. He would kick and head every ball from the sideline for the next 20 minutes until the final whistle put him and his country out of their misery. Deschamps was lifted into the air by his players and coaching staff and hundreds of Tricolour flags flew inside the stadium. France had found themselves and a performance many didnt know they had left in them. The French may be pessimistic, but they are just as passionate. Tonight, the world champions of pessimism can love their national team once again. Micah Hyde Jersey . The Swede became the first golfer to win the PGA Tours FedEx Cup and European Tours Race to Dubai in the same season. "It is still taking a little time to sink in what Ive achieved this week as was the case when I won the FedEx Cup but then it just kept getting better and better as the days went on and I am sure this will be the same," he said. Don Barclay Packers Jersey . There are surprises among the Vezina candidates, but most of the others are standard top-tier performers, even if the two Hart Trophy runners-ups have never been quite as good as they have been through the first half of the season. http:///...Pennel-Elite-Jersey/ . Mats Zuccarello and Derek Stepan scored shootout goals, and backup goalie Cam Talbot earned his second win in two nights as the Rangers shook off a late tying tally and beat the Maple Leafs 2-1 Monday night.The Vancouver Canucks currently are finding both goals and wins difficult to come by. The club hopes to break out of its slump on Friday when it welcomes the Columbus Blue Jackets for a battle at Rogers Arena. The Canucks have lost five straight games and have scored a total of six goals during the 0-3-2 stretch. The only time Vancouver managed to score more than one goal during the slide was in its last game, a 3-2 shootout loss on Tuesday night against the Florida Panthers. The loss to the visiting Panthers dropped Vancouver to 1-0-2 so far on a six- game homestand. The Canucks are only 4-4-2 on home ice this season, but tonights opponent has had little success playing British Columbia over the years. Columbus has dropped six straight in Vancouver and hasnt won at Rogers Arena since a 5-3 decision on Oct. 5, 2009. The Canucks did lose earlier this season in Columbus, as R.J. Umberger scored the game-winner in the third period to lift the Blue Jackets to a 3-1 win. Curtis McElhinney stopped 37 shots for Columbus to earn the win, which was just the third victory for the Jackets in the past 15 encounters between the clubs. Vancouver fell behind 1-0 to the Panthers less than four minutes into the game, but the Canucks eventually held a 2-1 lead early in the third period. However, Shawn Matthias tied the game at 2-2 for Florida with 11:26 to go in regulation and Jonathan Huberdeau scored the lone goal in the shootout to give the Panthers the win. Florida goaltender Tim Thomas stopped all three Vancouver attempts in the tiebreaker. Roberto Luongo put together a solid showing for Vancouver with 34 saves, but it was not enough to end Vaancouvers losing streak, which is the clubs longest since an 0-5-3 skid from Jan. Richard Rodgers Packers Jersey. 9-31, 2009. "I just dont know what were thinking as far as how we start a game," Canucks head coach John Tortorella said. "I cant explain it." Including tonights contest, Vancouver has three games left on its homestand. The club will host Chicago tomorrow night before wrapping the residency Monday against Los Angeles. Columbus, meanwhile, is playing the fourth part of a five-game road trip on Friday and is 2-1-0 on the swing so far. The Blue Jackets won the opener of the trip in Ottawa by a 4-1 score before getting absolutely destroyed in a 7-0 defeat Tuesday night in Edmonton. However, Columbus was able to right itself after the lopsided loss to the Oilers, picking up a 2-1 overtime win the following night in Calgary. Nikita Nikitin scored the game-winner 2:25 into overtime to lift the Blue Jackets to the rebound victory on Wednesday. Flames goalie Reto Berra was able to stop a shot from point-blank range, but David Savard found Nikitin in front of the net and Berra was unable to recover in time as the puck crossed the goal line for the win. Nick Foligno also scored and Nikitin had an assist for the Blue Jackets. Sergei Bobrovsky turned aside 23 shots in the win. "I thought we battled," Columbus head coach Todd Richards said. "We got the win. We got two points, which is important." Bobrovsky expects to get the start tonight and is 1-0-2 with a 1.05 goals against average in four career outings against the Canucks. Luongo is 10-5-5 with a 2.11 GAA in 20 lifetime starts versus Columbus. Cheap NFL Jerseys Cheap NFL Jerseys China Cheap Jerseys From China Cheap NFL Jerseys Authentic Wholesale Jerseys China Cheap NFL Jerseys China NFL Cheap Jerseys Cheap NFL Jerseys ' ' '