France finally broke the deadlock and scored their first win in the World Cup since their famous triumph over Brazil in 1998.
Birthday boy Patrick Viera (hey..same birthday date as me!) scored the first goal against a very organised Togolese defence,and that seem to ignite the french as they continued to pile the pressure on Togo and managed to score the all important second goal courtesy of Henry in the 61st minute,just 6 minute after the first goal.
But it wasn’t all that easy to begin with as Togo denied the french an early lead,thanks largely to their inspired goalkeeper - Kossi Agassa.David Trezeguet was denied time after time and so was Henry as the french begun the game knowing that only a 2 goal win would ensure their passage through.
Togo held out until half-time as France spurned a series of chances to open the scoring in a match.
All that change in the second half as Vieira celebrated his 30th birthday in style by opening the scoring in the 55th minute and then setting up Thierry Henry for the second six minutes later.
It was a fine performance from the Juventus player who was standing in as skipper for the suspended Zinedine Zidane, who was also celebrating his birthday - the Real Madrid playmaker is 34.
For me, Franck Ribery & Willy Sagnol were the livewire in the french team,Ribery producing accurate crosses and Sagnol making very important defensive tackles.
I’m a little suprise that Raymond Domenech chose to stick with David Trezeguet till the end, i would have thought that he would give a run out to Louis Saha,who himself finished the season imppresively with Manchester United, but than again Domenech and even Sven Goran has been known to be people who dare not to take a little risk..but that’s a whole different story.
In the end,France produced their first win,Togo head over back with their head held high,not to mention richer $$,and unlucky South korea were forced out by a late french comeback.
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