Here's a report on the France-Togo game.
France managed to scrape a 2-0 win, their first in the World Cup outside of France since 1986, against a side ranked only 59th in the world and qualified for the next round in second place in their group behind Switzerland who are ranked 35th.
They play Spain (5th in the world) in the next round, a team with 3 wins out of 3 in the World Cup.
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Henry and Vieira bring relief and belief to France
Dominic Fifield in Cologne
Saturday June 24, 2006
The Guardian
French substitutes sitting on the bench during the game against Togo.
For France, relief will prompt hope this morning. An evening of palpable tension and, for too long, familiar frustrations ultimately saw Les Bleus scramble from their group and into the knockout stages. The champions of 1998 have recorded their first win since they hosted the final at the Stade de France and, by the end last night, they were even mustering some of the swagger which had typified that glorious occasion.
Yet if Raymond Domenech departed this arena elated at his side's reprieve, that joy may be tempered by realism in the days to come. This was a comfortable victory over spirited but limited opponents who had somehow clung to parity until a little short of the hour mark. The expectation will be that victory generates momentum to make France's great players look like their former selves. The suspicion lingers that this has merely papered over deeper cracks which Spain, so impressive to date, may well expose in Hanover on Tuesday.
Above all, profligacy still undermines France's impact. They should have run up a cricket score here, so porous was the Africans' defence, but the early goal did not come and each desperate Togo block or spurned opportunity chipped away at France's self-conviction. It took Patrick Vieira, a towering presence on his 30th birthday in the muddled midfield scrap, to force his side ahead with his fifth goal in 90 appearances.
Yet those within the French camp, possibly the eccentric Domenech aside, will not be fooled by the ease with which their side strolled through the final half-hour. Spain's centre-halves will not prove as generous as their Togo counterparts, who parted as early as the fourth minute to offer David Trezeguet the first of a flurry of chances the Juventus striker could not take. Likewise, Franck Ribéry and Florent Malouda will not be offered the space in which to thrive as they were here, the former tarnishing his own bright display with some wasteful finishes when this game was still goalless. And will Vieira be so dominant in loftier company?
Those supporters bearing Tricolors had booed Domenech's name as it was announced over the Tannoy before kick-off, a reminder of the pressure under which his side are currently playing. This, after all, was France without Zinédine Zidane [[the French have given him the typically girly French nickname of "Zizou]]. The playmaker sat out his own birthday, the 34th, suspended on the sidelines and, although qualification has prolonged his career, it will be intriguing to see whether the coach, with whom he endures such a fractious relationship, breaks up last night's midfield quartet to recall his maestro on Tuesday.
Such is Domenech's stubborn streak that he may not, pointing perhaps to the chances chiselled out so easily here. Trezeguet could have marked his first start of this tournament with a hat-trick but ended with nothing, his scuffed attempt into the excellent Kossi Agassa's arms midway through the first period the miss of a player shorn of confidence. His outlook could hardly have been helped by the cancelling of a perfectly good goal just after the quarter-hour, the linesman flagging for offside as Ribéry squared his pass and Trezeguet tapped in.
The mistake did not have the same demoralising effect as previous refereeing blunders in the games against South Korea and Switzerland, though there was plenty of angst to suffer yet. Ribéry, for all his roving menace, was guilty of two dreadful misses when set up by Malouda before he made amends. Driving through the centre, the Marseille midfielder slipped a neat pass inside for Vieira to spin and arc a fine shot into the far corner. Some six minutes later, Willy Sagnol's centre was flicked on by the French captain for Thierry Henry, edging away from Massamasso Tchangai, to slide in his 35th international goal.
Togo were breached but not bowed. Their supporters were congoing around the stadium before the end, their first taste of the finals having been embraced with enthusiasm. This was perhaps their most admirable performance, their players relishing the occasion with a long-running pay dispute behind them. Fifa will investigate the Togolese Football Association's conduct over that bitter saga, but it is better to remember the team for their eager attacking in this game.
The striker Mohamed Kader, one of five of their starters who play in France - more than the French could offer - forced Fabian Barthez to save in the first half and Moustapha Salifou, marauding through the middle, impressed. Indeed, there were times when the French breathed uneasily before redemption, at last, was theirs.
http://football.guardian.co.uk/worldcup2006/matchreport/0,,1804967,00.html
:wink: