France end goal drought but held by Korea

By Patrick Vignal

LEIPZIG (Reuters) – France were held to a 1-1 draw by a
dogged South Korea side on Sunday that left Group G wide open
after the former champions missed a series of late chances.

France ended a worrying goal drought at World Cup finals
thanks to an early goal from Thierry Henry but Park Ji-sung
grabbed Korea’s equalizer in the 81st minute.

The 1998 champions, who had started with a dull 0-0 draw
with Switzerland, stepped up a gear in a bid to keep alive
their chances of reaching the knockout stage.

Henry gave them a ninth minute lead with a cool left-foot
finish after a Sylvain Wiltord shot took a deflection and broke
into his path. It was France’s first at World Cup finals since
they beat Brazil 3-0 in the final in Paris eight years ago.

Les Bleus, the 1998 champions, went out in the group stage
in 2002 without scoring and would have matched Bolivia’s
unwanted record of five World Cup matches without a goal had
they not scored on Sunday.

An aging France team certainly did not look like title
contenders on a dry, mild evening in Saxony and are still not
sure of avoiding another embarrassing early exit.

South Korea were lively as ever but looked also naive and
harmless against opponents a lot tougher than Togo, whom the
2002 semi-finalists had beaten 2-1 in their opening match.

Looking a lot fresher and more aggressive than in their
opening match, France benefited from a convincing World Cup
debut by midfielder Florent Malouda, who had missed the match
against the Swiss suffering from hemorrhoids.

France had threatened after seven minutes with a
close-range effort by Wiltord which Korean goalkeeper Lee
Woon-jae managed to kick out.

The French contingent in the Zentralstadion shouted for a
goal after 32 minutes when a header from a corner by Patrick
Vieira appeared to cross the line before Korean keeper Lee
Won-jae pushed it out.

The Koreans threatened on a few occasions but were never
able to keep up any sustained pressure on the French.

The tempo dropped in a relatively sluggish second half
until top prospect Franck Ribery came on for France and treated
the fans with a few of his trademark exciting runs.

But it was Korea who proved the most dangerous when a cross
was headed back into the area by Cho Jae-jin and Park popped up
to steer the ball over Fabien Barthez for a priceless
equalizer.