FRIDAY’S GAMES
The only complaint about Friday’s FRANCE-GERMANY matchup is that it has arrived as a quarterfinal. But that can’t be helped at this point, so one of the teams will go home much sooner than its fans expect. Germany is the world’s top-ranked team and the top-scoring squad in the World Cup. France, led by Coach Philippe Bergeroo, right, is ranked third in both categories, and has the mental edge of having won the teams’ last meeting: a 2-0 decision in an exhibition in October.
France scored twice in the first 20 minutes that day, a fast start that it has replicated in all three of its victories in Canada.