Senegal Stuns France In Cup Opener

Senegal, in its first appearance on the world's most-watched sporting stage, shocked defending champion France 1-0 Friday night in Seoul, South Korea.

Papa Bouba Diop put in a left-footed kick on a rebound while he was lying down in front of the French net. From there, the upstart Africans held on, helped greatly by France hitting goalposts and the crossbar.

And by goalkeeper Tony Sylva, who made a half-dozen key saves.

"It made me very happy. I've always dreamed of this," Diop said of his - and his nation's - feat.

It made for a spectacular opening to the soccer championship, which continues Saturday in South Korea and Japan. For the first time, FIFA split the World Cup between two nations.

Hours before the upset, Asia lifted the curtain on its first soccer World Cup with calls for global peace and unity and an end to the scourge of terrorism.

Co-hosts Japan and South Korea, their relations strained in the past by the legacy of Japan's colonial occupation of the Korean peninsula, joined hands to launch the tournament in South Korea's capital Seoul.

South Korea's president, Kim Dae-jung, opened the month-long festival in the city's 64,000-seat main stadium ahead of the first game.

"The Korean people and I have striven to make this World Cup a global festivity inspiring the six billion people of the world with peace, harmony and hope for the future," Kim said earlier in a pre-match message in English-language newspapers.

Underscoring the message, Kim attended the opening ceremony with Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, leader of a country still deeply mistrusted by many Koreans for its harsh military occupation of the peninsula from 1910 to 1945.

They watched an elaborate performance, staged at a cost of $8 million, that included 32 giant triangular drums - one for each team taking part - and a symbolic coming together of the Japanese and South Korean flags.

With so much at stake, South Korea is taking no chances with security at the tournament, the world's biggest sporting event since the September 11 suicide attacks on the United States.

Some 420,000 police will be on guard, anti-aircraft missiles have been deployed near the stadiums and fighter jets will scour the skies.

"This is the World Cup of Safety," said Prime Minister Lee Han-dong.

Just 24 miles north at the demilitarized zone, 11 American players, coach Bruce Arena and his staff met U.S. soldiers and toured the area.

"I was so clueless until today," said 20-year-old DaMarcus Beasley, the youngest U.S. player. "People take for granted what goes on in the world. You forget how much people do for our country."

A traveling party of 23 landed by helicopter on a baseball field at U.S. Army Camp Liberty Bell a short distance from the DMZ. The Americans then took a quick bus ride to the Tae Song Don village on the South Korean side of the DMZ at the 38th parallel.

Joining Arena and other staff members were Kasey Keller, Joe-Max Moore, Claudio Reyna, DeMarcus Beasley, Tony Meola, Tony Sanneh, John O'Brien, Landon Donovan, Gregg Berhalter, Jeff Agoos and Eddie Pope.

The Americans get started on Wednesday vs. Portugal in Suwon, South Korea. The action in Japan begins Saturday with Ireland against Cameroon and Germany playing Saudi Arabia. Uruguay faces Denmark on Saturday in South Korea.

Ticket woes continued to plague the event even as it was beginning. FIFA admitted Friday that up to 100,000 fans (about 2,000 per game) will have to pick up their World Cup tickets on match day.

"It's all under control, there are just bits and pieces still to sort out," FIFA spokesman Andreas Herren said, adding the delivery problems stemmed from delays in receiving information from soccer federations.

Japanese organizers expressed concern that disgruntled spectators who can't get into games may riot.