France through to face Cameroon

Defending champions France booked their ticket to the Confederations Cup final, but their enthralling 3-2 victory over World Cup semi-finalists Turkey could never lift the shadow of Cameroon midfielder Marc-Vivien Foe’s death earlier in the day.

The 28-year-old midfielder, who was loaned from Lyon to English outfit Manchester City last campaign, suddenly lost consciousness and collapsed to the ground during the second half of Cameroon’s 1-0 semi-final win over Colombia at Lyon’s Stade Gerland.

He was stretchered off the pitch and doctors spent 45 minutes attempted to resuscitate him, but it was in vain.

FIFA confirmed his death just before kick-off at the Stade de France, where the 41,195 spectators observed a minute’s silence accompanied by a picture of Foe on the arena’s two big screens.

The tragedy clearly hit the players hard, with Thierry Henry noticeably affected during the tribute at the start of the match.

Other members of the French squad would also have been hit badly by the news, with boss Jacques Santini, goalkeeper Gregory Coupet and strikers Sydney Govou and Steve Marlet all having known Foe from his time at Lyon.

When the match got underway, goals from Arsenal duo Henry and Robert Pires in the first 25 minutes secured a comfortable lead for France.

Gokdeniz Karadeniz reduced the deficit in the 41st minute but France responded immediately and a goal from Sylvain Wiltord helped secure France a 3-1 lead at half-time.

Turkey fought back in the early minutes of the second half with a goal from Fenerbahce striker Tuncay Sanli but they wasted a gilt-edged chance to send the game into extra time in the final minutes.

Olivier Dacourt conceded a foul in the box but Okan Yilmaz fired wide from the resulting penalty to let the Roma midfielder and his French team-mates off the hook.