Les Champion Du Monde!

Chants of "Allez Les Bleus!" rung through the Champagne-laden streets as the French faithful celebrated their first International Cup Trophy in GIMP history after beating Liam Pruitt's German side by a final score of 2-1.

With as much controversy as there was heading into this match, most thought it would be impossible to live up to the expectations set by the previous 100 comment posts. A possible offside goal given to the Germans, a soft penalty to the French, and a rare defensive miscue leading to yet another Loic Remy goal should provide the ammunition for a triple-digit comment section yet again.

The match started out tight and tense as both sides tried to feel out their opponent's strategy. On one hand, the Germans came out with their typical meticulously engineered possession passing that the league's soccer snobs have grown to obsess over. The other showed a surprising 4-5-1 formation from the French side which may have been the catalyst to "frustrate" that well-oiled machine by clogging the middle of the pitch and looking for opportunities to utilize a their on-form attacking from Remy, Nasri, and Ribery. This was a vast difference from the 4-2-4 that created so many problems for France's previous opponents but the result shows that one must applaud Monsieur Tindle on his drastic change in tactics.

"I took Ian's advice to heart and had a long talk with Ingo today as well because I value these manager's opinions considering one beat Germany and the other came close. I thought long and hard (that's what she said) about coming out of the gate ultra aggressive but realized, thanks to Bingoglia, that Pruitt is a guy that capitalizes on other's mistakes. We didn't make any today, they did. That was the difference."

The Germans were the first to touch the back of the net in the 25' with a cross thrown in from the wing that Hugo Lloris saved but ended up right back to an apparently offside Mario Gomez who tapped into an open net. France responded within minutes as budding superstar Loic Remy took advantage of a miscue in the German back line where, instead of charging to clear the ball, the defender opened up to pass back to the keeper. Remy stepped in to intercept and it took a cool finish to complete the play but with a player in the kind of form he has seen through the tournament, no one was surprised. 1-1 at the half.

France pulled Florent Malouda in favor of Mathieu Valbuena (the only change to start the second half) which was a move to add pace to their counter attack as the Germans seemed to be pushing forward with their previously posted Blitzkrieg barrage. The move helped to supply Remy once again with a ball that was passed around the box patiently until threading the striker with a through ball that left Mesut Ozil overmatched in a dangerous position. A shove to the ground before touching the ball was deemed a penalty, much to the dismay of Germany's manager who again finds himself in a precarious situation with controversial post-match comments regarding his hatred for what he calls "excessively tan" players. Surely he can count on one manager to hang onto his pocket like an effeminate inmate in prison, but one wonders where the rest of the league will stand on the tantrums and poor sportsmanship that seem to be en vogue.

Tindle would call on Franck Ribery to slam home the penalty which closely evaded Manuel Neuer's dive. It was then France's monster midfield paring of Captain Alou Diarra and defensive partner Yann M'vila who shouted "You shall not pass!" (albeit in French) the rest of the way to help Les Bleus hang on to an improbable victory.

"This title is sweet because we showed a comprehensive display throughout the tournament of attacking in games where we needed to and defending in those that called for it. We kept the pedal to the medal against teams like England and Ireland, but defended in games like our last group stage match against Italy where we knew we had to prioritize goal differential."

"Germany is always a great side and I give them credit for the stat sheet that they immediately texted around after the match. We're not worried about things like shots on goal being 9 to 4 because we were defending a lead for a large part of the match. When we needed to turn on the attack, we did and the shots we took certainly counted. It's sad to see a lack of congratulations given to a cup winning side and when your opponent goes into the same stat sheets and game manufacturer criticisms that have been tossed around ever since other teams started having success, it gets tiring."

What won't be tiring for Les Bleus and M. Adman is the victor's stroll they'll take through the Arc de Triomphe where Napoleon led his army through so long ago. The squad will certainly feel like they've come home from battle and will be happy to add one of the most coveted pieces of silverware to their formerly barren cabinet.