World Cup Champs Are Out
Au revoir, Les Bleus.
Wails of disappointment echoed through France after its beloved national team was knocked out of the World Cup. The defending champions, who managed no goals in three games, were sent home after a 2-0 loss to Denmark.
"It's a nightmare," said Paris student Jean-Baptiste Golled, 21, as he watched the game. "In three matches, France did nothing. They were far too confident at the start."
Senegal, Denmark, Germany and Ireland all are advancing after the day's matches.
Playing a man down against Cameroon in a match plagued by yellow and red cards in Shizuoka, Japan, the Germans came away with a 2-0 result after patient attacking sequences featuring the German specialty: crossing passes and head strikes. German forward Miroslav Klose put in a six-yard header for his tournament-leading fifth goal.
Ireland, needing a win against Group E weakling Saudi Arabia, got what it needed and more with a 3-0 drubbing. The Saudis went home without a goal in the tournament. Ireland moved on even though its star, Roy Keane, was thrown off the team before the tournament. The match was played on a rainy and humid night at the International Stadium Yokohama, the site of the World Cup final on June 30.
Nearly all of France was transfixed by the team's last-gasp effort to qualify; it needed to win by least two goals in order to advance beyond the first round. Instead, France became the first defending champion to be eliminated in the opening phase since Brazil in 1966.
Former French captain Laurent Blanc was not in a forgiving mood.
"What they showed today was just not good enough," Blanc said. "Some (players) should wonder whether they should keep playing for the national team."
President Jacques Chirac, in a letter to team captain Marcel Desailly, said he was "profoundly disappointed" with the result, but that France was still behind the team.
"Nothing will make us forget the great adventure that you helped this country live in 1998 and 2000," Chirac said. France won the European Championship in 2000.
This humiliating loss in Incheon, South Korea, came even though superstar midfielder Zinedine Zidane returned from a thigh injury. He missed the team's first two World Cup matches, a 1-0 loss to Senegal and a 0-0 tie with Uruguay.
A handful of Danish fans, some draped in their red-and-white national flag, were the only ones celebrating on the famed Parisian thoroughfare after Tuesday's match.
At the Danish House, a cultural center, Mikael Jakobsson celebrated with a beer despite the early-morning hour in Paris. "Nobody suspected the Danes would win 2-0," he said. "I think France came to the World Cup with too much assurance. They were too relaxed."
Also Tuesday, Senegal reached the second round of the World Cup at their first attempt on Tuesday with a thrilling 3-3 draw against Uruguay that saw the South Americans fight back from 3-0 down at halftime.
The African first timers will now play Argentina, England or Sweden as they bid to become only the second team from their continent to reach the quarterfinals.
"It's a victory for African football - it's beautiful and it's a victory for the Senegalese people," captain Aliou Cisse said as the team looked ahead to that second-round clash with the winners of group F.
Senegal gained its 3-0 lead on a penalty by Khalilou Fadiga in the 20th minute and goals by Papa Bouba Diop in the 26th and 38th. In the second half, Uruguay had goals by Richard Morales in the 46th minute and Diego Forlan in the 69th, and tied the game on Alvaro Recoba's penalty kick in the 88th.
Uruguay narrowly missed advancing instead of Senegal in the first minute of injury time. Senegal's Lamine Diatta headed a shot off the line and, staring at an open net, Morales sent a close-in header wide. When the whistle eventually blew, the shattered South Americans dropped to their knees around the pitch knowing their World Cup was over.