 France, the reigning champions
of Europe and the globe, bowed
out of the World Cup in the
most miserable of circumstances
following a 2-0 defeat to Denmark.
After being outplayed by Senegal
in the first game and out-battled
by Uruguayin the next, France
collapsed against Denmark in
the Incheon stadium, Korea.
Without winning a game, without
scoring a goal even, France
- and their host of great stars
of the game - were on the plane
home.
As for Denmark, who have ended
up on top of Group A, this was
a victory for good organisation,
stout hearts and self-belief,
crowned by opportunist strikes
from Dennis Rommedahl and Jon
Dahl Tomasson.
Even the return of Zinedine
Zidane from injury, so often
the inspiration, didnot help
Les Bleus. Despite hugely unequal
possession in their favour,
and the majority of the chances,
when it came to finding a finish
there was only one team in it.
Denmark had needed to avoid
a two-goal defeat to ensure
qualification, and as a result
coach Morten Olsen fielded a
defensive line-up, with Tomasson
the only striker and a five-man
midfield.
Sylvain Wiltord and David Trezeguet
lit up what had been a tentative
opening period with a classy
attacking move. The Arsenal
player sent Trezeguet throughdown
the right and should have received
a return pass but his team-mate
tried toscore from a difficult
angle and Sorensen saved low
to his right. Vieira played Zidane in over
the top of defence and though
he got a toe to the ball he
just failed to bring it under
control, collapsing in a heap
instead. To the relief of France,
he got up apparently unharmed.
After 22 minutes, and completely
against the run of play, France's
hopes of staying in the tournament
suffered the blow they had been
dreading. The French failed to clear
the lines and the ball fell
to Stig Tofting on the right
who spotted Rommedahl unmarked
at the far post. The cross was
perfect andso was Rommedahl's
finish, the Dane firing unerringly
past Fabien Barthez.
The moment all of France had
been waiting for nearly arrived
after 37 minutes, when Zidane
looked up from 25 yards out
and curled a peach of a chip
over Sorensen, just missing
the corner of the goal by a
whisker. Five minutes into the second
half, Zidane took a corner and
Marcel Desailly made a marvellous
leap to connect with a towering
header but the ball crashed
back off the crossbar.
 France suffered a second shattering
blow in the 67th minute when
Tomasson put Denmark 2-0 up. There was more than a little
controversy over the goal -
or there would have been had
France any spirit left in them.
As Chelsea winger Jesper Gronkjaer
crossed, Tomasson appeared to
pull back Desailly and then
was free to steer the ball past
Barthez.
France's luck was then summed
up by three events in quick
succession. First Sorensen spilled
Djibril Cisse's effort from
a tight angle but the ball bounced
past the post into touch. Then
Wiltord - France's liveliest
player - spun andshot, but straight
at the Danish keeper. Finally, Wiltord's cross from
the left was met first time
by Zidane, but the ball struck
the underside of the bar and
bounced into Sorensen's arms.
Zidane whizzed a free-kick
past the post, Cisse had Sorensen
scampering acrossgoal for a
shot which went wide, but it
was all to no avail.
The whistle blew, the Danes
celebrated, the French were
left in despair.
Denmark
Thomas Sorensen; Thomas Helveg, Rene Henriksen, Martin Laursen, Niclas Jensen; Dennis Rommedahl, Thomas Gravesen, Stig Tofting (Steen Nielsen 79), Martin Jorgensen (Jesper Gronkjaer 46); Christian Poulsen (Kaspe Bogelund 75), Jon Dahl Tomasson.
France
Fabien Barthez; Vincent Candela, Lilian Thuram, Marcel Desailly, Bixente Lizarazu; Patrick Vieira (Johan Micoud 70), Claude Makelele; Sylvain Wiltord (Youri Djorkaeff 83), Zinedine Zidane, Christophe Dugarry (Djibril Cisse 54); David Trezeguet .
Referee: Vitor Melo Pereira (Portugal). |
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