Clanregeln » season. Most notably, the Huskies allowe

SAINT-DENIS, France -- Football is a cruel game. Sometimes even for its winners.Cruel because Cristiano Ronaldo had to watch the victory of his life -- at least one of them -- from the sidelines.Portugals name, for the first time, is now engraved on a major trophy. But one of the enduring memories of the European Championship final will be that Ronaldo played too small a part in the 1-0 win against France for him to deserve being anointed as world player of the year for a fourth time. Truth is, Portugal played better without him.And cruel because France lost in the very stadium that suicide bombers attacked last November. After that horror there was a solid argument to be made that the French would have been more endearing winners, that a pick-me-up trophy could have helped speed their recovery from the trauma.And also cruel because in six games before they lost their scoring touch in the all-important seventh match, the French on balance played better football at Euro 2016 than Portugal.Wales, in the semifinals, was the only team the Portuguese beat inside of 90 minutes. Against France, it took them 109 minutes for Eder to burst through Les Bleus defenses, with a stunning strike.Lets also not forget that, in Portugal, Europe has a champion that didnt win any of its group-stage games and only squeezed into the knockout stages, with just three points, thanks to the more forgiving format adopted for this expanded first tournament with 24 teams. Critics who feel that the new systems addition of eight teams has come at the expense of footballing quality will doubtless argue that Portugals victory proves them right.But, as the French themselves say, cest la vie -- or, as English speakers would say, thats football. Because footballs stubborn refusal to follow the script is what makes it so compelling, this final again offering strong evidence of that.Who, after all, would have penned only a cameo role for Ronaldo, now the proud owner of one type of winners medal that Lionel Messi doesnt have, in Portugals Hollywood moment?As at Euro 2004, we again saw Ronaldo cry -- this time after his left knee buckled in a scrap for the ball in the 9th minute with Dimitri Payet. Normally, the French winger tends not to bother himself with the grunt work of tackling and defending. But Payet and his teammates were combative, even borderline aggressive, in the opening half where they quickly swarmed over Portugals defenses. France, a team that used to be bullied, most infamously in losing a 1982 World Cup semifinal to Germany, was the more physical side.To be fair to Payet, the injury to Ronaldo wasnt malicious, but rather just one of those things that can happen when one man clatters into another at an awkward angle. Portugals captain tried soldiering on. When he sat down on the field, distraught, in need of treatment, a moth settled on his right eye, as if coming to dry his tears. With the knee strapped up, a sprint up field that finished in a hobble made it clear that Ronaldo couldnt continue. Referee Mark Clattenburg called on the stretcher bearers and that was it. Ronaldos final was over, after just 25 minutes.Liberated of their attention-grabbing superstar, no longer at the beck and call of his demands to give him the ball, his teammates played better, sharing the workload, getting into Frances box in numbers and giving French goalkeeper Hugo Lloris more to think about.For the French, this will be remembered as another final they should have won, like the 2006 World Cup final unhinged when Zinedine Zidane head-butted Marco Materazzi. Euro 2016 top scorer Antoine Griezmann twice came close to winning it. And Andre-Pierre Gignac saw what would have been a certain match-winner rebound off the post in injury time before the game went to extra time.But, with time, the if and buts will perhaps matter less than the fact that reaching this final was proof that France is now out of the long trough that followed its 2006 World Cup loss to Italy, with the nadir being a strike by French players at the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.Going forward, France again has a team it can be proud of. All but one of its starting 11 against Portugal either play abroad or, in the case of Barcelona-bound Samuel Umtiti, are on their way overseas. The French domestic leagues bleeding of players to foreign shores proved to be Les Bleus gain at Euro 2016. Their street-wise football and their handling of the heavy weight of host-nation expectations owed no small debt to the experience and expanded world view players have picked up on their travels. Eder, Portugals match-winner, also plays overseas, for Lille in France.From France, football will now look, with some trepidation, eastward to Russia, host of the sports next major tournament, the 2018 World Cup. Then will come Euro 2020, which will be spread confetti-like across 12 host countries, followed by the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.All present logistical challenges for traveling fans. Although the quality of the football at Euro 2016 wasnt always much to shout about, it will be fondly remembered for easy French pleasures and for Frances security measures that helped keep the 31-day tournament safe from the threat of more terror attacks without souring the mood.For that, we can all be grateful.---John Leicester is an international sports columnist for The Associated Press. Write to him at jleicester(at)ap.org or follow him at http://twitter.com/johnleicester Peter Moylan Jersey . 24 Baylor in a Big 12 clash between teams trending in opposite directions. 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SEATTLE -- For someone who tries to keep everything as even as possible, this week is a major challenge for Washington coach Chris Petersen.Theres no getting around the enormity of the opportunity in front of the 10th-ranked Huskies when they host No. 7 Stanford.After years of reconstructing their program -- first under Steve Sarkisian and now Petersen -- the Huskies (4-0, 1-0 Pac-12) have a chance to prove their top-10 ranking this season is justified and that they are the team to beat in the Pac-12 Conference at this point. Or Friday night could end up exposing Washington as not quite ready to rejoin the college football elite.Either way, its the most significant game in Petersens three seasons and arguably the game with the most at stake for Washington since it last went to the Rose Bowl in 2000.Its a great opportunity for the kids, for everybody playing in a game like this, Petersen said.Its also a historically rare ranked home game for the Huskies. Itll be the fourth all-time meeting of teams ranked in the AP Top 10 in Seattle and the first in 19 years. The last time came in 1997 when No. 7 Nebraska beat No. 2 Washington 27-14.And it comes after Washington barely passed its first real challenge of the season this past weekend at Arizona.Washington survived its trip to the desert, winning in the state of Arizona for the first time in 10 years with a 35-28 overtime win over the Wildcats late Saturday. With a Friday game, everything is condensed this week. The Huskies returned to Seattle around 5 a.m. Sunday, with many watching tape on the flight home. The players came in for practice on Sunday night and practiced Monday -- a normal day off for the team.On top of the conndensed week, classes for the Huskies begin Wednesday.ddddddddddddWeve been looking at this part of our schedule for a long time, Petersen said. On the road, tough environment, have to come home and play Stanford and then go on the road again. We get the schedule and then we make our schedule and adjust and go.The performance in the desert exposed some of Washingtons flaws that were hidden by a weak nonconference schedule and three blowout victories to open the season. Most notably, the Huskies allowed 308 yards rushing to the Wildcats as they were unable to control the line of scrimmage. Those rushing yards allowed came against Arizonas spread offense. But it raised concern the Huskies wont be any better facing Stanfords power run game and star Christian McCaffrey this week.Hes great with the ball in his hands. Unbelievable vision, extremely explosive and maybe as patient as anybody Ive seen, Petersen said. Whether hes returning kicks or handing the ball in the backfield, those characteristics just show up, and its a unique combination.The biggest positive to come out of the Arizona victory was the emergence of running back Lavon Coleman as a complementary option to Myles Gaskin in the backfield. Coleman rushed for a career-high 181 yards on just 11 carries, surpassing his rushing total from all of last year in one impressive outing.We have a good stable of running backs, and those guys can all make plays, Petersen said. When they get the chance to do it and they make something happen, theyll get more carries. Thats just kind of how we did it. ' ' '