Injuries & Suspensions
-- Sin Bin
-- Leading Goalscorers
 Champions Knocked Out In The First Round |
Tuesday June 11th, 2002
Denmark
vs France
Incheon -- (2-0)
The hopes of France rested on the thigh of
Zinedine Zidane as France needed to beat Denmark by two goals to defend their crown in the
knockout rounds.
France started confidently enough, with Zidane
orchestrating a couple of passes, while Denmark played with an extra defensive midfielder
to try and restrict his influence on the game.
Denmark's first half-chance came in the 11th
minute but it was cleared away before Fabien Barthez could be brought to the test.
France's first real chance came seven minutes
later as Trezeguet raced into the area to try his luck rather than square the ball to
Sylvain Wiltord.
-- GOAL -- 1-0
Dennis Rommedahl nipped around the back of the French defence to plant
Töfting's chip past Fabien Barthez and put the World Champions under real pressure --
they now need to score three and Zidane is nowhere near fit enough to go it alone.
From nothing, Zidane turned and almost scored
with a curling lob in the 38th minute; his intuition is still there even if his pace is
not.
Zidane has been involved in a number of French
moves that split the Danish defence but Trezeguet and Wiltord have failed to finish like
they do for their league clubs.
France's only hope now is that Denmark wilt in
the heat during the second-half.
Half-time: Denmark 1 --
France 0
Senegal vs Uruguay
Just after the restart, Zidane is inches away
from heading in a tempting chip.
In the 50th minute, a Zidane corner is headed
onto the bar by Marcel Desailly. France are looking dangerous but they need to make their
chances count.
Poor Zidane -- when made to chase for the
ball, he never really had any chance. Vincent Candela tried to run through the middle but
Wiltord was caught offside when the France defender released the ball.
Although Denmark could afford to slow their
game down and conserve energy, France always looked dangerous on the break.
-- GOAL -- 2-0
Then the killer blow as Jon Dahl Tomasson ran into the right place in the
French area to knock the ball under Barthez.... and with it, France out of the tournament.
France hit the aluminium for the fifth time --
as 2002 proved not to be their year -- to go out as the only reigning champions not to
score a goal or register a win.
The last time a World Champion was knocked out
in the first round -- Brazil, in 1966 -- England (the host nation) won the cup.
Final Score:
Denmark 2 -- France 0
Senegal vs Uruguay
Talkback
-- Add Your Comments
Player of the Match:
Stig Töfting -- Gave everything for Denmark in midfield, until his batteries ran out ten
minutes before time.
 Yellow Cards:
Christophe Dugarry (8 mins)
Christian Poulsen (27 mins)
Niclas Jensen (71 mins)
The Teams:
Denmark:
1 Thomas Sorensen; 6 Thomas Helveg, 3 Rene Henriksen, 12 Niclas Jensen, 4 Martin Laursen;
7 Thomas Gravesen, 17 Christian Poulsen (20 Kasper Bogelund -- 76 mins), 2 Stig Töfting
(23 Brian Steen Nielsen -- 79 mins); 10 Martin Jorgensen (8 Jesper Gronkjaer -- 46 mins),
19 Dennis Rommedahl, 9 Jon Dahl Tomasson.
France:
16 Fabien Barthez; 2 Vincent Candela, 8 Marcel Desailly, 3 Bixente Lizarazu, 15 Lilian
Thuram; 7 Claude Makelele, 4 Patrick Vieira (22 Johan Micoud -- 71 mins), 10 Zinedine
Zidane; 21 Christophe Dugarry (9 Djibril Cisse -- 54 mins), 20 David Trezeguet, 11 Sylvain
Wiltord (6 Youri Djorkaeff -- 83 mins).
Referee: Vitor Melo Pereira (Portugal)
|
Second Round |
The last 16 continue on the road to
Yokohama, with four games in South Korea and
four games in Japan.
|
