FRANCE 1-1 KOREA REPUBLIC

18 June 2006

Korea Republic fought back to earn a 1-1 draw with France as Park Ji-Sung cancelled out Thierry Henry's first-half opener in Leipzig on Sunday, 18 June 2006.

The point salvaged here put the Koreans top of Group G, at least until the end of Monday's match between Togo and Switzerland in Dortmund. The evening began promisingly for Les Bleus when Thierry Henry scored their first FIFA World Cup™ goal since the 1998 Final with nine minutes on the clock.

However, Korea Republic drew level when Park bundled the ball over the line in the 81st minute. To compound France's disappointment, Eric Abidal and Zinedine Zidane both collected bookings which rule them out of their final group game against Togo.

The match:
7': France, making the far brighter start, nearly stunned their opponents with a finely crafted bit of interplay early on. Thierry Henry slipped a neat through-ball to Sylvain Wiltord, but the Lyon striker saw his close-range strike batted away by the outrushing Lee Woon-Jae.

9': That proved just a warning shot as as the one-time Arsenal team-mates linked up again soon afterwards. With Wiltord turning provider, Henry collected a deflected shot from his team-mate inside the penalty area and pushed the ball coolly past the Korean keeper to settle French nerves that must have been jangling since their goalless draw with the Swiss. (1-0)

24': After jinking into space near the edge of the box, Lyon's powerful midfielder Florent Malouda sent a tame shot trickling wide of the post. However, the French were keeping up the pressure and it seemed another goal was in the offing.

28': Henry looked to be clean through again after controlling a brilliant long ball in the Korean area. But it came to nothing and the striker's protests for a penalty were ignored by referee Benito Archundia as Lee Young-Pyo timed his last-second tackle perfectly.

30': From an inch-perfect corner-kick, Patrick Vieira powered in a header from close range and must have thought he had scored. However, the scrambling Lee Woon-Jae managed to keep the ball out before it had crossed the line.

36': The Koreans tried to hit back and nearly equalised when Lee Chun-Soo's free kick picked out Cho Jae-Jin. The striker missed his kick, though, and the ball bobbled harmlessly past the post.

Koreans roar back
53': Henry got on the end of a hoisted ball up from midfield and nodded down for Wiltord. The resulting shot was disappointing from the Lyon front-runner, however, skipping wide of the mark by a substantial margin.

60': In the hope of injecting fresh inspiration into his attack, France coach Raymond Domenech took off the tiring Wiltord and brought on Marseille's Frank Ribery.

74': Unable to find a clear way through the Korean defence, Malouda decided to try his luck from distance only to see the ball skip past the top corner.

81': The Koreans grabbed an equaliser with a goal that revived memories of their semi-final run four years ago as hosts. A stunning cross from substitute Seol Ki-Hyeon out on the right was nodded down at the back post by Cho Jae-Jin and Park Ji-Sung poked the ball over the head of a despairing William Gallas to send the red-clad fans into hysterics. (1-1) In conclusion:
Both sides went close to sealing victory in the dying minutes but in the end they had to be content with a share of the spoils. The Koreans will surely be the happier of the two as the French still hunt their first FIFA World Cup win since the Final of France 98. As Group G stands now, Korea Republic lead the pack with four points with France second with two points. Switzerland and Togo have one and no points respectively ahead of their second game.