Croatia give France a fright

Croatia 2 France 2

Croatia gave defending champions France a real fright but in the end had to settle for a 2-2 Group B draw in Leiria.

France dominated the first half and took the lead with an Igor Tudor own goal after he had deflected a Zinedine Zidane free-kick past Tomislav Butina.

But the Croats shocked France to take charge of the match with two goals in the first seven minutes of the second period.

Milan Rapaic equalised from the penalty spot before Dado Prso crashed home a second after hesitant defending by Marcel Desailly.

However, Tudor’s poor match continued when his slack backpass allowed Trezeguet to level the scores.

France started brightly and Thierry Henry was much to the fore in the early stages.

First he raced past two Croatian tackles only to be stopped by Robert Kovac as he tried to beat his third man, then he was set up by Dacourt but only managed to hook the ball wide of goalkeeper Tomislav Butina’s far post after turning his man well.

Another dangerous foray down the right by Henry saw him centre towards David Trezeguet but Tudor stretched out a leg to put the ball behind for a corner.

Then the French won a free-kick after Henry was halted on the edge of the box after a slick French passing movement.

Zinedine Zidane, whose first of two injury-time goals against England was from a free-kick, could only strike the wall but from the ensuing melee Wiltord fired just wide of the near post.

Finally Rosso had Croatia’s first strike on goal but it was a weak effort, easily gathered by Fabien Barthez.

An offside flag foiled Henry after Zidane put him through with a clever chipped pass in what was a tight decision.

Then Les Bleus took the lead with a goal which had a large stroke of good fortune about it.

Once again it was a dead ball situation involving Zidane although the playmaker will not get the credit for it.

Silvestre attempted to make contact but the crucial deflection which wrong-footed Butina and took the ball into the corner of the net came off the left foot of Tudor.

After initially being awarded to Silvestre – the goal was then deemed an own goal by Zidane’s former Juventus team-mate.

Croatia tried to hit back and Nenad Bjelica fired just over from the right-hand corner of the penalty area.

But at the other end a lovely move saw Zidane chip the ball to Trezeguet, whose cushioned header almost let in Wiltord – only for the Croatian defence to save the situation at the expense of a corner.

In a rare Croatian push forward Patrick Vieira became the first name in Danish referee Kim Milton Neilsen’s book for crudely halting an advance.

Tudor was the next booked for an equally vigorous challenge on Vieira.

William Gallas almost headed France further ahead but missed the target from close range when a delightful Zidane flick from Henry’s corner caused confusion in the Croatian defence.

There was still time for Dario Simic to warm the fingertips of Barthez before the interval.

There were no replacements at the break but almost as soon as the second half got under way, France nearly scored a second when Henry fed Wiltord but his cross just eluded Trezeguet with the goal at his mercy.

But then Croatia equalised with a dramatic goal after a good move down the right.

Rosso was bundled over by Silvestre and Milan Rapaic scored from the penalty, foiling Barthez who had saved David Beckham’s spot-kick against England.

The Croatian fans, already outsinging their French counterparts, roared their approval.

All of a sudden they were rampant and then they took the lead with another devastating strike.

Desailly looked sluggish after Dado Prso had overrun the ball and he allowed the Rangers-bound Monaco forward a second bite at the cherry and he lashed the ball home with his left foot.

France were looking rattled and Dacourt became the next to be booked when he halted another Croatian break illegally.

Zidane was given another chance from a free-kick on the hour mark but once again the Croatian wall proved to be made of stern stuff.

Henry was foiled by a fine Butina save when he tried another shot on the turn but then the Croatians self-destructed again.

In 1998 the Croats threw away a winning position when they led France 1-0 in the World Cup semi-final – only for a Zvonimir Boban mistake to allow the French to equalise.

This time it was Tudor who made the blunder as his underhit backpass found Trezeguet, who rounded Butina to level the scores with his left foot.

Baric promptly made his first change with Bjelica replaced by Jerko Leko.

More changes followed with Wiltord replaced by Pires and Olic coming on for Tomislav Sokota.

Leko was next to be booked as the fleet-footed Henry threatened a breakaway after a Croatian corner had gone wrong.

Pedretti then got his chance as a replacement for Dacourt, who had faded in the second half, before Willy Sagnol replaced Gallas.

The final change saw Mornar replace Rapaic and Butina made a fine save from Pires in a hectic finale before doing even better to deny Henry.

And in stoppage-time French hearts were in their mouths as Ivica Mornar missed a chance to seal a famous win.