France's Patrick Vieira (right,
bottom) celebrates his goal against Togo with team- mates Franck Ribery (left) and Claude Makelele during their Group G World Cup 2006 soccer match in Cologne yesterday. France won 2-0. - Reuters
BERLIN (Reuters):
France rediscovered a little of the magic that made them world champions eight years ago, beating Togo 2-0 yesterday in an energetic World Cup performance that set up a tantalising second round clash with Spain.
The win for "les Bleus" was the first in the tournament since they shocked Brazil 3-0 in the 1998 final, helped by two goals from midfield maestro Zinedine Zidane.
Zidane, who will retire after the World Cup, could not play yesterday after picking up yellow cards in prior matches, but goals from Thierry Henry and Patrick Vieira - two of his teammates from 1998 - were enough to send France through.
Next they will face Spain, who beat Saudi Arabia 1-0 yesterday using a second-string team and are now being mentioned among the favourites for the title after an impressive start in which they won all three of their first round matches.
Switzerland and Ukraine were also victorious yesterday, eliminating South Korea and Tunisia. They will meet in Cologne in another knockout match on Monday.
Among the favourites to win the World Cup in 2002, France stumbled out at the group stage after failing to score a goal and suffering humiliating defeats to Senegal and Denmark.
DISAPPOINTING DRAWS
In Germany so far they had managed only disappointing draws against Switzerland and South Korea and many were dismissing them as tired and washed up.
They had to wait until the 55th minute to take the lead against Togo. Vieira, who was 30 yesterday, swivelled in the box to rifle a shot into the corner of the net.
Henry followed suit six minutes later with a close range shot set up by a Vieira header.
"There is great potential in this team and I hope this qualification will help us play more freely because we aren't bad at all," said Vieira.
SWISS WIN
In yesterday's other matches, goals from Philippe Senderos and Alex Frei gave Switzerland a 2-0 win over South Korea.
Senderos headed the opening goal from a free-kick by Hakan Yakin in the 23rd minute and Frei made sure of victory with 13 minutes left, pouncing on a stray pass by a defender, rounding goalkeeper Lee Woon-jae and slotting the ball into an empty net.
South Korea, semi-finalists four years ago, were angry that Argentine referee Horacio Eilzondo ignored a linesman's offside flag in the build-up to Frei's goal.
Ukraine, playing in their first World Cup finals, advanced with a 1-0 victory over Tunisia.
SHEVCHENKO PENALTY
Captain Andriy Shevchenko, European Footballer of the Year in 2004, powered his way into the Tunisian box in the 70th minute and was bumped by two defenders before stumbling over his own feet and crashing to the ground. He was awarded a penalty and slotted calmly past goalkeeper Ali Boumnijel.
Ukraine suffered a humiliating 4-0 defeat to Spain in their first match of the tournament, but bounced back to thrash Saudi Arabia by the same score.
"It's a hugely important achievement for Ukrainian football that we are into the next round," said Shevchenko. "We always kept our belief despite the terrible defeat against Spain."
Needing a win to progress, Tunisia's hopes were dimmed just before half-time when striker Ziad Jaziri was shown a second yellow card. Jaziri's dismissal was the 18th of the World Cup, one more than in the entire 2002 tournament. A record 22 players were sent off at the 1998 World Cup in France.
