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Costly victory
Injury, red card mar France's 4-0 win over Saudi Arabia
Posted: Thursday June 18, 1998 09:37 PM
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France lost Zinedine Zidane (right) to a red
card late in the game (AP) |
SAINT-DENIS, France (AP) --
Joy and agony are never far apart at the World Cup. But they rarely are so
intertwined. French stomachs were sent churning every which way
as goals, injury, victory and expulsion kept colliding in Thursday's 4-0
victory over Saudi
Arabia. With its victory France joined Brazil in the
second round of the World Cup, which featured a youthful blend of bubbly
soccer that hid the misery of yet another French injury -- this one to
Christophe Dugarry -- and the expulsion of Zinedine Zidane, the team's best
player. "All would be great if not for Dugarry's injury. All
would be great if not for Zidane's expulsion," French coach Aime Jacquet
said. "He will pay for it. His gesture had to be punished. We have been
talking to our playing about this for a long time. They must stay calm.
They must show self-control." In the 68th minute, a strike from
20-year-old David Trezeguet set 80,000 French patriots at Stade de France
screaming with delight, giving les Bleus a second goal on the way to a true
drubbing of the Saudis. Two minutes later, the vital key in the
French ambition to lift the World Cup was sent off for putting his studs in
the side of Saudi captain Fuad Amin. Zidane will automatically miss at
least one game because of the red card, one of five issued in two games
Wednesday as referees answered an order to crack down on fouls.
"I didn't deserve this," Zidane said. "I did not mean to hurt the man. I
just fell on him." Despair was also all around in the 29th
minute, when striker Dugarry was carried off with a torn hamstring, yet
another casualty to France's depleted strikeforce. Six minutes
later, Thierry Henry brought deliverance with France's first goal, the
first of two in the game for the Monaco winger who now has scored half of
France's six goals and is tied for the World Cup scoring lead.
"I have to say we missed far too many chances," said French coach Aime
Jacquet, after Les Bleus pounced on the Saudi defense throughout the game,
ceaselessly creating danger from both sides. The Saudis were
overwhelmed. "They have a long way to go in the competition,"
said Saudi coach Carlos Alberto Parreira said of the French.
Saudi Arabia was already down to 10 men because of a red card when Zidane
set Bixente Lizarazu free in the 36th minute. The lightning quick left back
perfectly passed it into the goalmouth, where Henry coolly knocked it home
for the opening strike. In the 68th minute, substitute David
Trezeguet added an insurance goal, capitalizing on a rare error from
goalkeeper Mohammed Al-Dayea, who let a simple cross from Lilian Thuram
slip through his hands, offering the simplest of headers for the
20-year-old striker.
Trezeguet (20) and Henry accounted for three of France's four goals (AP) | |
Henry, another 20-year-old and Trezeguet's
best friend, scored his second in the 77th inute, running on to a bad
defensive clearance and beating al-Dayea with a low right-footed shot.
To top off another sparkling performance, Lizarazu collected a
delicate backheel from Youri Djrkaeff in the 85th minute and set the 80,000
strong crowd at the Stade de France chanting the Marseillaise with goal No.
4. Starting forward Dugarry however, had to be carried off with
a torn right hamstring, threatening the rest of his World Cup campaign.
After the 1-1 draw between Denmark and South
Africa, France now leads Group C with 6 points, 2 ahead of the
Scandinavians. Saudi Arabia became the first team to be eliminated from
second-round contention. "We have to win the next one, too,"
Jacquet said. "It's our law of soccer and we will not start calculating
now." Saudi Arabia started defensively and was overpowered from
the start. In the 19th minute, Mohammed al-Khilaiwi was outrun by blazing
Lizarazu on the left and his late kick at the Frenchman's leg was the first
red card of the game from Mexican referee Arturo Brizio.
Brizio's tough stand came one day after FIFA president Sepp Blatter and
World Cup organizing committee chairman Michel Platini said referees
weren't following a pre-tournament dictate that rough play -- especially
foul tackles from behind -- be severely punished. Parreira was
upset over al-Khilaiwi's ejection. "This decision, which I don't
think was a right decision for the referee, made the game easy for the
French," Parreira said. "It was a very strict [red card]." After
that, France never let up. "We tried to break out of defense,
but there was just no way to stop the French team," Parreira said. "We were
demoralized." Lineups France: Fabien
Barthez; Lilian Thuram, Laurent Blanc, Marcel Desailly, Bixente Lizarazu;
Didier Deschamps, Zinedine Zidane, Alain Boghossian; Thierry Henry (Robert
Pires, 78th), Christophe Dugarry(David Trezeguet, 30th), Bernard Diomede
(Youri Djorkaeff, 58th). Saudi Arabia: Mohammed
al-Daeyea; Mohammed al-Jahni (Ahmed al-Dosari, 76th), Mohammed al-Khilaiwi,
Mohammed Zebramawi, Hussein Solaimani; Ibrahim al-Shahrani, Fuad Amin,
Khamis al-Owairan, Sayeed al-Owairan (Ibrahim al-Habri, 33rd; Khalid
al-Mowalad, 63rd); Sami al-Jaber, Hamzah Saleh.
Copyright 2003 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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