France face Spain after ending barren run
by Noah Barkin, BERLIN, June 24 (Reuters)
France rediscovered a little of the magic that made them world
champions eight years ago, beating Togo 2-0 on Friday in an energetic
World Cup performance that set up a tantalising second round clash with
Spain.
The win for "les Bleus" was the first in the tournament since they
shocked Brazil 3-0 in the 1998 final, helped by two goals from midfield
maestro Zinedine Zidane.
Zidane, who will retire after the World Cup, could not play on Friday
after picking up yellow cards in prior matches, but goals from Thierry
Henry and Patrick Vieira - two of his team mates from 1998 - were enough
to send France through.
Next they will face Spain, who beat Saudi Arabia 1-0 on Friday using
a second-string team and are now being mentioned among the favourites
for the title after an impressive start in which they won all three of
their first round matches.
Switzerland and Ukraine were also victorious on Friday, eliminating
South Korea and Tunisia. They will meet in Cologne in another knockout
match on Monday.
Among the favourites to win the World Cup in 2002, France stumbled
out at the group stage after failing to score a goal and suffering
humiliating defeats to Senegal and Denmark. In Germany so far they had
managed only disappointing draws against Switzerland and South Korea and
many were dismissing them as tired and washed up.
They had to wait until the 55th minute to take the lead against Togo.
Vieira, who was 30 on Friday, swivelled in the box to rifle a shot into
the corner of the net.
Henry followed suit six minutes later with a close range shot set up
by a Vieira header. "There is great potential in this team and I hope
this qualification will help us play more freely because we aren't bad
at all," said Vieira.
Shevchenko penalty
In Friday's other matches, goals from Philippe Senderos and Alex Frei
gave Switzerland a 2-0 win over South Korea.
Senderos headed the opening goal from a free kick by Hakan Yakin in
the 23rd minute and Frei made sure of victory with 13 minutes left,
pouncing on a stray pass by a defender, rounding goalkeeper Lee Woon-jae
and slotting the ball into an empty net.
South Korea, semi-finalists four years ago, were angry that Argentine
referee Horacio Eilzondo ignored a linesman's offside flag in the
build-up to Frei's goal.
Ukraine, playing in their first World Cup finals, advanced with a 1-0
victory over Tunisia. Captain Andriy Shevchenko, European Footballer of
the Year in 2004, powered his way into the Tunisian box in the 70th
minute and was bumped by two defenders before stumbling over his own
feet and crashing to the ground. He was awarded a penalty and slotted
calmly past goalkeeper Ali Boumnijel. Ukraine suffered a humiliating 4-0
defeat to Spain in their first match of the tournament, but bounced back
to thrash Saudi Arabia by the same score.
"It's a hugely important achievement for Ukrainian football that we
are into the next round," said Shevchenko. "We always kept our belief
despite the terrible defeat against Spain."
Needing a win to progress, Tunisia's hopes were dimmed just before
halftime when striker Ziad Jaziri was shown a second yellow card.
Jaziri's dismissal was the 18th of the World Cup, one more than in the
entire 2002 tournament. A record 22 players were sent off at the 1998
World Cup in France. |