France vs Senegal - 2002 World Cup Opening Match

Home: World Cup 2002: Korea-Japan Finals: 1st Round: Match Report

Friday May 31st, 2002

Senegal Lead From The Back

After four years of waiting, the 2002 World Cup finally kicked off in Seoul, with World and European Champions France taking on newcomers Senegal.

Senegal lined up for their first World Cup finals match with a very defensive outlook, while the defending champions offered plenty of attacking options.

On paper it looked like the makings of a stalemate.

With Thierry Henry, Sylvain Wiltord, David Trezeguet up front and Youri Djorkaeff - in for the injured Zidane - orchestrating behind them, Senegal needed a strong rearguard most of the time. Even Tony Sylva came to the edge of his area to head away danger on a number of occasions.

Senegal kicked the tournament off and earned an early free-kick. Fabien Barthez, who has proved far from reliable for Manchester United this season, had his first touch of the ball and seemed to look upfield for applause from his team-mates..... he actually held the ball.

Senegal didn't take long to show how they intended to play this game..... dampen France's firepower and strike on the counter.

As early as the 6th minute, El Hadji Diouf was already behind the French defence. France looked slow to read the danger and seemed to believe that their strikeforce would outweigh their defensive slowness of foot.

As much as Thierry Henry on the left and Sylvain Wiltord on the right searched forward, they couldn't provide the ammunition for David Trezeguet..... or rather Trezeguet couldn't find the space he needed.

While Youri Djorkaeff tried equally hard to create something from midfield and Emmanuel Petit wasted his corners, the French showed that they clearly missed Zinedine Zidane.

Maybe France could have gone ahead on a few occasions, if Tony Sylva hadn't been so alert to every danger.

Quite frankly, France can only blame themselves for this defeat. They couldn't deal with the pace of El Hadji Diouf, who had already been called offside a couple of times, and paid for it in the 30th minute.

0:1
The troublesome El Hadji Diouf wriggled his way behind Frank Leboeuf, on the left, and crossed into the middle of the French area. As the ball bobbled, between Emmanuel Petit and Fabien Barthez, Pape Bouba Diop - sitting on the floor - hooked the ball into an empty net..... to give the African newcomers the lead against France.

France tried to regain their compusure but Senegal closed them down and frustrated them in their search for space to be creative. Thierry Henry likes to run at goal and not into a wall of defenders.

Youri Djorkaeff offered hope with a direct free-kick in the 38th minute but Tony Sylva was equal to it, getting down well to collect the ball before it could pass between him and his left post.

The tactic of packing the defence and getting long-balls up to Diouf worked well. The French defence were caught flat-footed on numerous occassions and their forwards lacked spark.

The first yellow card of the tournament was given to France's Emmanuel Petit, for a rough chalenge on El Hadji Diouf, just before the break.

Half-time: France 0 - Senegal 1

France didn't come out in the second-half with much of a different approach, instead we were treated to a nice drum-rhythm in the background from the Senegal fans; who were understandably happy to be in front against the World Champions.

Youri Djorkaeff was replaced by Christophe Dugarry on the hour but it did little to add inspiration to their game.

Khalilou Fadiga struck the French crossbar in the 65th minute, to sound a warning that they were very much looking for a second goal, and a minute later Thierry Henry turned and dropped a curling shot on the bar as well.

With ten minutes left, France tried to add some fresh legs to the equation.... Sylvain Wiltord making way for Djibril Cisse.

But it was not be. Senegal survived the final onslaught and the whole of French West Africa shared in their delight.

Congratulations to Senegal for beating the World and European Champions in the opening game of the 2002 World Cup.

Final Score:
France 0 - Senegal 1

Man of the Match:
Tony Sylva - The Senegal goalkeeper helped his country to create the biggest opening day upset since Cameroon beat Argentina 1-0, in Italia 90.

Argentina recovered from this defeat and went on to reach the Final, so it's not all over for France..... but the day belongs to Senegal, who led from the back.

Yellow Cards:
Emmanuel Petit (45 mins)
Aliou Cisse (51 mins)

The Teams

France:
16 Fabien Barthez; 15 Lilian Thuram, 8 Marcel Desailly, 18 Frank Leboeuf, 3 Bixente Lizarazu; 4 Patrick Vieira, 17 Emmanuel Petit, 6 Youri Djorkaeff (21 Christophe Dugarry - 60 mins); 11 Sylvain Wiltord (9 Djibril Cisse - 81 mins), 20 David Trezeguet, 12 Thierry Henry.

Senegal:
1 Tony Sylva; 2 Oumar Daf, 4 Pape Malick Diop, 13 Lamine Diatta, 6 Aliou Cisse, 17 Ferdinand Coly; 10 Khalilou Fadiga, 15 Salif Diao, 19 Pape Bouba Diop, 14 Moussa N'Diaye; 11 El Hadji Diouf.

Referee: Ali Bujsaim

Previous World Cup Opening Games

France 98 - Brasil vs Scotland (2:1)
USA 94 - Germany vs Bolivia (1:0)
Italia 90 - Cameroon vs Argentina (1:0)
Mexico 86 - Italy vs Bulgaria (1:1)
Spain 82 - Belgiun vs Argentina (1:0)
Argentina 78 - West Germany vs Poland (0:0)
West Germany 74 - Brazil vs Yugoslavia (0:0)
Mexico 70 - Mexico vs Soviet Union (0:0)
England 66 - England vs Uruguay (0:0)
Chile 62 - Chile vs Switzerland (3:1)
Sweden 58 - Sweden vs Mexico (3:0)
Switzerland 54 - Yugoslavia vs France (1:0)
Brazil 1950 - Brazil vs Mexico (4:0)
France 1938 - Germany vs Switzerland (1:1)
Italy 1934 - Germany vs Belgium (5:2)
Uruguay 1930 - France vs Mexico (4:1)