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French lesson Five-star world champion crushes South Korea
Updated: Wednesday May 30, 2001 8:04 PM
DAEGU, South Korea (AP) -- Two brilliant volleys early in the game set up world champion France for an easy 5-0 win over co-host South Korea Wednesday in the opening game of the Confederations Cup. Even without Zinedine Zidane and with an experimental lineup, France displayed all its trademark sparkle and skills and easily exposed the tender nerves of a host nation which now faces an uphill struggle to advance in the tournament. "You never noticed there were 'new' players on the squad," said French coach Roger Lemerre. "This is very encouraging for the World Cup." France got its first goal in the eighth minute from rookie international Steve Marlet, with an airborne volley from the heart of the penalty area to score his first goal for France in only his second match. Ten minutes later, Patrick Vieira also got his maiden goal for Les Bleus after he got hold of a deflected freekick from Pires. From 24 meters out, his scorching right-foot volley flashed past Lee, high in the righthand corner. "I scored a few goals like that in the past, but it was a pleasure to do it wearing blue," the Arsenal midfielder said. It took all tension out of the game. "The morale of the team went down after that," said South Korea's coach Guus Hiddink. France should have made it three in just 20 minutes when captain Hong Myung-bo floored the charging Nicolas Anelka in the penalty area. But the sloppy penalty from Christophe Dugarry allowed Lee to briefly become a hero for the 61,500 fans in the World Cup stadium, saving the shot low to his left. His misery soon continued. In the 33rd minute, playmaker Eric Carriere made an impact in his maiden match, breaking through on the right and passing low into the path of Anelka, who slid the ball past Lee. Pires set up substitute Youri Djorkaeff for the fourth goal in the 79th minute, and with a controlled shot from 16 meters out, the veteran midfielder scored his 28th goal for France. Capping a great day for France, substitute Sylvain Wiltord darted through the defense and past Lee to put the ball in the empty net in injury time. "This showed we are taking the tournament very seriously," said Pires. It was the second demolishing of a co-host this year since France already beat Japan 5-0 in March. In the other Group A match, defending champion Mexico opens its campaign against Australia. Group B in Japan opens Thursday with Brazil against Olympic champion Cameroon and co-host Japan against Canada. The top two from each group advance into next week's semifinals. The final is June 10. "This result gives us confidence for the rest of the tournament," said Lemerre. For Korea, it was a bitter disappointment, highlighting the gap between Europe's and Asia's level of play. "We have a long way to go to minimize the gap that now exists," said Hiddink. Even after France's early goals, Korea was timid and rarely put enough men ahead of the ball to exert pressure. Yoo Sang-chul's long-range attempt straight in the hands of Ulrich Rame was Korea's only shot on goal in the first half. In the second half, France lowered its guard and the home team briefly had the crowd roaring when a low right-foot shot from Ko Jong-su forced Rame to pull off a save. The Bordeaux goalie proved a worthy replacement for the absent Fabien Barthez. South Korea produced its best play when the match was already out of reach and in the 72nd minute, Song Chong-gug cleverly found Seol Ki-hyeon in the center, who turned and tested Rame with fierce left-footer. "We could not show much penetration up front because we lacked the final pass," said Hiddink. Lineups: France: Ulrich Rame; Willy Sagnol, Marcel Desailly, Mikael Silvestre, Bixente Lizarazu; Partrick Vieira, Robert Pires (83, Olivier Dacourt), Eric Carriere, Christophe Dugarry (73, Youri Djorkaeff); Nicolas Anelka, Steve Marlet (66, Sylvain Wiltord). South Korea: Lee Woon-jae; Song Chong-gug, Hong Myung-bo, Lee Min-sung, Kim Tae-young (75, Ha Seok-ju); Park Si-sung, Lee Young-pyo (46, Hwang Sun-hong), Yoo Sang-chul; Choi Sung-yong, Seol Ki-Hyeon, Ko Jong-Su (70, An Hyo-yeon) Referee: Gamal Al-Ghandour, Egypt.
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