France hanging by a thread
Group AFrance 0Uruguay 0\nFrance's World Cup hopes were left hanging by a thread yesterday as, playing with 10 men for more than an hour after Thierry Henry was sent off, they were held to the tournament's first 0-0 draw by Uruguay. The defending...
Group A
France 0
Uruguay 0
\nFrance's World Cup hopes were left hanging by a thread yesterday as, playing with 10 men for more than an hour after Thierry Henry was sent off, they were held to the tournament's first 0-0 draw by Uruguay.
The defending champions, who lost their opening Group A game 1-0 to Senegal, must now beat Denmark by two goals in their final match to be sure of reaching the second round and avoid becoming the first defending champions to be eliminated in the first round since 1966.
Despite losing Henry for a two-footed lunge on Marcelo Romero the French, again without injured playmaker Zinedine Zidane, created several chances as they dominated the last half hour but could not find a way through.
Uruguay, who lost their opening game 2-1 to Denmark, also missed some great opportunities and must now beat Senegal to create a possible log-jam in the group on four points.
It all went wrong for France from even before kick-off when Zidane, who missed the 1-0 defeat by Senegal with a torn thigh muscle, was not even named among the substitutes.
After 16 minutes they lost centre-back Frank Leboeuf to a groin injury, coach Roger Lemerre bringing on Vincent Candela at right back and pushing Lilian Thuram into the middle.
Despite their problems, France looked lively in the opening period with David Trezeguet twice denied good opportunities by tight offside decisions and Sylvain Wiltord dangerous on the right.
The next blow, however, was the worst as Henry was sent off for an uncharacteristic over-the-top challenge.
Two minutes later Uruguay went desperately close to opening the scoring when Thuram deflected an Alvaro Recoba shot, forcing Fabien Barthez into an excellent reaction save with his feet.
Uruguay goalkeeper Fabian Carini was relieved when Emmanuel Petit's free-kick hit the outside of the post in the 34th minute.
Petit ended the first half with a booking, his second of the tournament, ruling him out of the Denmark game.
Recoba missed a glorious chance for Uruguay in the 52nd minute when, after Barthez had charged out and missed the ball, the striker shot into the side netting with the empty goal gaping.
Sebastian Abreu also wasted two good chances while Carini denied Trezeguet as the game swung from end to end.
France continued to press and Carini saved well from Johan Micoud and Vieira, while Barthez produced a superb save with his legs to deny substitute Federico Magallanes in injury time.
France: Barthez; Lizarazu, Desailly, Thuram, Leboeuf (Candela 16); Vieira, Petit; Wiltord (Dugarry 90), Micoud, Henry; Trezeguet (Cisse 81).
Uruguay: Carini; Lembo, Montero, Rodriguez (Guigou 72), Sorondo; Garcia, Varela, Romero (Santos 71); Silva (Magallanes 60), Abreu, Recoba.
Referee: Felipe Ramos Rizo (Mexico).
Red card: Henry 25.
Yellow cards: Petit (F); Garcia (U), Abreu (U), Romero (U), Silva (U).
Attendance: 38,070.