Sunday, 18th June 2006
France Domination Ended Ten Minutes From Time
France vs South Korea
Leipzig
Previous Encounters:
France and South Korea have met twice before with both wins going to France. France won
the 2001 Confederations Cup group match (5:0), in Daegu on 30th May 2001; and they met a
year later in a friendly, prior to the Korea-Japan
2002 World Cup Finals.
This time the match was a little closer. With home support in Suwon
cheering on the South Koreans, France only narrowly won the 26th May World Cup warm-up
game (3:2).
At the 2002 World Cup Finals itself, France flew home after the group
stage while South Korea went on to contest the third-place match with Turkey.
The Match:
The South Korean fans were in full song in Leipzig, almost as good as in 2002. 300,000 fans in Seoul
were said to be watching this game live in the streets of the South Korean capital; at 4am
local time.
France started much better than did against the predictable Swiss, in
Stuttgart. South Korea are predictable too, so France needed to match them for pace.
After threatening to score in the early minutes, Thierry Henry scored
France's first World Cup Finals goal, since 1998.
Even a goal down, the Korean fans continued chanting and drumming.
France could have been two goals in front, just after the half-hour,
when Patrick Vieira's header appeared to cross the line before Woon-Jae Lee could palm it
away.
Despite the continued effort from their fans, South Korea struggled to
get into the game in the first-half; their forwards just not getting the service.
Half-time: (1:0).
The French players were a little slow getting out onto the pitch for
the second half.
South Korea's normal running game wasn't happening, so they tried to
pass the ball around patiently; in their own half.
In the 56th minute, Patrick Vieira directed another powerful header
goalward; the South Korean keeper diving down to the ground with the ball, in front of the
line this time.
France completely controlled the game for eighty minutes, then shortly
after Abidal was booked he had to step back from the Korean on the run and the cross was
headed into the middle of the area by Jae-Jin Cho. Park Ji-Sung just clipped the ball
between a desperate Barthez and William Gallas.
Zidane will miss France's last game after getting a second booking and
if France don't qualify from the group, he's just made his last World Cup appearance.
Final Score:
France 1 - South Korea 1
 Goalscorers:
1:0 Thierry Henry (9)
1:1 Park Ji-Sung(80)
Teams
France: (Captain Zinedine Zidane)
16 Fabien Barthez; 3 Eric Abidal, 5 William Gallas, 15 Lilian Thuram,
19 Willy Sagnol; 4 Patrick Vieira, 6 Claude Makelele, 7 Florent
Malouda, 10 Zinedine Zidane; 11 Sylvain Wiltord, 12 Thierry Henry.
South Korea: (Captain Woon-Jae
Lee)
1 Woon-Jae Lee; 2 Young-Chul Kim, 3 Dong-Jin Kim, 4 Jin-Chul Choi, 12 Young-Pyo Lee; 5
Nam-Il Kim, 7 Park Ji-Sung, 13 Eul-Yong Lee, 17 Ho Lee; 14 Chun-Soo Lee, 19 Jae-Jin Cho.
Referee:
Benito Archundia (Mexico)
 Substitutions:
46 Mins (South Korea) - 11 Ki-Hyun Seol on for 13 Eul-Yong Lee
60 Mins (France) - 22 Franck Ribery on for 11 Sylvain Wiltord
69 Mins (South Korea) - 18 Sang-Sik Kim on for 17 Ho Lee
72 Mins (South Korea) - 9 Jung-Hwan Ahn on for 14 Chun-Soo Lee
88 Mins (France) - 8 Vikash Dhorasoo on for 7 Florent Malouda
90 Mins (France) - 20 David Trezeguet on for 10 Zinedine Zidane
 4 Yellow
Cards:
11 Mins - Ho Lee (South Korea)
28 Mins - Dong-Jin Kim (South Korea)
79 Mins - Eric Abidal (France)
85 Mins - Zinedine Zidane (France)
 0 Red Cards.
2006 World Cup Finals - Knockout Stage.
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