France on the brink of an embarrassing exit

France 0

Uruguay 0

By David Anderson

FRANCE striker David Trezeguet hinted that Mexican referee Felipe Ramos Rizo might have been biased towards Uruguay after he dismissed Arsenal striker Thierry Henry.

Trezeguet disagreed strongly with Ramos Rizo’s decision to red card Henry in the first half for a lunge at Uruguayan Marcelo Romero.

Trezeguet seemed to question the impartiality of the official and he was unhappy that a Mexican should have refereed a match involving a South American side.

The result means France need to beat Denmark by two clear goals in their final Group A game to reach the second round.

The Juventus striker said: ‘‘I wasn’t happy with the choice of referee.

‘‘It should not have been a Mexican referee for a game against Uruguay. He was a man of limited ability.’’

Henry’s Arsenal team-mate Patrick Vieira also contested the dismissal, which rules the forward out of the must-win match against Denmark in Incheon on Tuesday.

Vieira said: ‘‘Of course I thought it was harsh. I think he went for the ball, although he might have been late.

‘‘But, even still, a straight red card was very harsh and I think that was the wrong decision by the referee.’’

Vieira was also unhappy with the behaviour of the Uruguayans and he felt they were diving at every opportunity.

‘‘We know they do these kind of things so it was not a big surprise,’’ he said.

‘‘Of course it was irritating and we were in a position where we wanted to win he game.

‘‘It was important for us to get three points and we wanted to play football.’’

Despite the loss of Henry after 25 minutes, France still had chances to win the game in the Asiad Stadium.

Emmanuel Petit, who will also miss the Denmark game after picking up his second booking for elbowing Sebastian Abreu, hit the post from a free-kick in the first half.

Uruguay goalkeeper Fabian Carini denied France repeatedly in the second half and he made three good saves to thwart Trezeguet and substitute Vincent Candela, who came on for the injured Frank Leboeuf, before he punched away a free-kick from Johan Micoud.

Fabien Barthez was also kept busy and he denied Uruguayan danger man Alvaro Recoba four times, including one save with his right boot in the first half, before he made a vital block from substitute Federico Magallanes in the dying seconds.

The stalemate means both sides need to win their last games by two clear goals to progress to the second round and French coach Roger Lemerre remains hopeful.

‘‘If we win by two goals we can still qualify so we still have an opportunity,’’ he said.

‘‘But it’s true that against Senegal and Uruguay we haven’t scored so to win by two goals is asking a lot.

‘‘But the fact that when we went down to 10 men we still got a point shows the quality of the team cannot be doubted.’’

Zinedine Zidane missed out again with his torn thigh muscle and Lemerre said the midfield star would return when he was ready.

‘‘Zidane is still recovering and he will decide when he’s ready to come back,’’ he said.

Uruguay coach Victor Pau echoed Lemerre’s sentiments and he said: ‘‘We have to beat Senegal by two goals.

‘‘It’s going to be a tough game, but that’s how things are at this World Cup and we will go for it.’’

FRANCE: Barthez, Lizarazu, Desailly, Leboeuf (Candela 16), Thuram, Vieira, Micoud, Petit, Henry, Wiltord (Dugarry 90), Trezeguet (Cisse 80). Subs Not Used: Boghossian, Christanval, Coupet, Djorkaeff, Makelele, Rame, Sagnol, Silvestre, Zidane.

URUGUAY: Carini, Lembo, Montero, Sorondo, Rodriguez (Guigou 72), Varela, Romero (de los Santos 71), Garcia, Recoba, Silva (Magallanes 59), Abreu.