 France are clinging on to the
World Cup by their fingertips
after their ten men were held
by Uruguay in the Asiad Stadium.
France played most of the game
a man short after Arsenal's
Thierry Henry was controversially
sent off on 25 minutes for a
late lunge on Marcelo Romero.
Roger Lemerre's side, who came
closest to scoring when Emmanuel
Petit hit the post from a free-kick,
must now beat Denmark in the
final Group A game by two clear
goals to qualify for the second
phase.
After Lemerre had made optimistic
noises about Zinedine Zidane's
possible return, the Real Madrid
star was not recovered sufficiently
from his torn thigh muscle to
make the bench even. France, who were kitted out
as Les Blancs rather than Les
Bleus, were forced to make the
first change in the 16th minute
when Vincent Candela replaced
the injured Frank Leboeuf.
France's task became all the
more difficult when Henry was
dismissed and the striker will
now be suspended for the Denmark
game. Henry, who was last sent off
in spring 2000 for the Gunners
in the UEFA Cup, lunged at Romero,
catching him late and referee
Felipe Ramos Rizo ruled it was
a violent challenge and produced
the red card.
France's 10 men regrouped and
lone striker David Trezeguet
headed over from Sylvain Wiltord's
right-wing cross. Lady luck continued to shun
the French and Petit whipped
a free-kick over the Uruguayan
wall only to see the ball come
off the face of the post.
France, though, were fortunate
not to be reduced to nine men
in first-half stoppage time
when Petit elbowed Sebastian
Abreu and the Chelsea midfielder
escaped with just a caution.
Fabian Carini denied France
repeatedly after the interval
and he plucked a lob from Trezeguet
from the air before he pushed
a long-range effort from Candela
over the bar. Not to be outdone, Barthez
made a double save from Recoba
before the quick-heeled Inter
Milan striker rounded him only
to shoot into the side netting
from the narrow angle.
The chances continued to come
and go and Abreu should have
done better when he headed wide
from six yards out.
Carini continued to thwart
France and he did well to parry
a drive from Trezeguet and then
a minute later Barthez saved
a shot from Recoba.
France thought their moment
had finally come midway through
the second half when Paolo Montero
brought down his Juventus team-mate
Trezeguet on the edge of the
D.
Petit stepped over the ball
and Johan Micoud curled the
free-kick over the Uruguay wall
only for that man Carini to
punch it away.
Uruguay almost stole victory
in the dying seconds and Barthez
made a fine stop from substitute
Federico Magallanes.
France
Fabien Barthez, Lilian
Thuram, Frank Leboeuf (Candela
16), Marcel Desailly (capt),
Bixente Lizarazu, Patrick Vieira,
Emmanuel Petit, Johan Micoud,
Sylvain Wiltord (Dugarry 90),
Thierry Henry, David Trezeguet
(Cisse 80).
Uruguay
Fabian Carini, Alejandro
Lembo, Gonzalo Sorondo, Paolo
Montero (capt), Marcelo Romero
(De Los Santos 71), Pablo Garcia,
Gustavo Varela, Dario Rodriguez
(Guigou 72), Alvaro Recoba,
Dario Silva (Magallanes 59),
Sebastian Abreu.
Referee: Felipe Ramos Rizo
(Mexico).
Attendance: 38,289. |
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