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'French history' France wins Confederations Cup over Japan
Updated: Monday June 11, 2001 1:03 AM
YOKOHAMA, Japan (AP) -- France added the only jewel missing in its crown with plenty of sparkle, if only a lone goal. France added the Confederations Cup to its world and European title Sunday, thanks to a Patrick Vieira header and a goalie's blunder that were enough to beat Japan 1-0 in the tournament final. Yoshikatsu Kawaguchi, who had been outstanding throughout the past two weeks, made his only error of the tournament to give away Japan's sole goal in the Cup and the title. In the 28th minute, defender Frank Leboeuf spotted Vieira making a run through the center and sent a high ball his way. Kawaguchi, playing in front of a home crowd of 72,000, totally misjudged the flight of the ball, foolishly came off his line, and the towering Vieira only had to head it over the flailing hands and into the open net to give France a deserved victory. "The goalie came out all wrong and I only had to put my head under the ball," said the Arsenal midfielder. "It was important to go ahead at that time," said French coach Roger Lemerre. Kawaguchi, voted the tournament's top goalie by a team of FIFA observers, was resigned. "It's tough to lose at home," he said. France never gave away a serious chance to the Japanese, who rarely played better than their 44th ranking on Sunday.
"Our performance was completely honorable against the champions of the world," said Japan's French coach Philippe Troussier, whose team lost 5-0 to France in March. "We realize we can compete against the best teams in the world, and this gives us confidence for the future." Les Blues, three days after reinforcing its top ranking in the world by beating Brazil in the semis 2-1, played with brilliance in defense and midfield but sorely missed a lethal striker. Its top forward line of Thierry Henry and David Trazeguet did not come to the Confederations Cup because of club commitments or injury. "The forward line worries me somewhat," said Lemerre, even though his team finished with a tournament high 12 goals in five games. Five of them came in an opening-game 5-0 romp over South Korea. Only Brazil has clinched such a triple -- a world, continental and Confederations title at the same time -- when they achieved the feat in 1997. "This Confederations Cup will enter French history," said Lemerre, whose team returns here in 2002 to defend its 1998 World Cup title. "Next year we'll be here with a team that's just as competitive as in '98." Both teams were without their top stars. Zinedine Zidane and several other World Cup heroes never came to the tournament, but Japan was hurt by the departure of the inspirational Hidetoshi Nakata and suspension of forward Takayuki Suzuki. Rain just before the game turned the pitch in the sold-out International Stadium slippery. It bothered the Japanese, who often had trouble making simple plays. Nowadays, the skills of the French are such that they seemingly could play on water alone. From the start, they dominated with fluent moves across the pitch, and Kawaguchi was an early hero with two good saves in the first five minutes. Steve Marlet and Nicolas Anelka dazzled on the flanks, and throughout the first half, French physical strength and skills got the upper hand. Naoki Matsuda and Ryuzo Moriaki plugged holes as much as they could, but their stamina, and luck, would not last. Matsuda kicked a Marlet shot off the line in the 19th minute. When Vieira's goal came, the only surprising thing was Kawaguchi's blunder that preceded it. In the second half, Japan's French coach Philippe Troussier made two early substitutions to give his team more offensive push. But the most dangerous chances still came from France, with shots from Leboeuf and Youri Djorkaeff. In the 66th minute, Kawaguchi made two outstanding close-range saves off substitute Laurent Robert and Pires, leaving him to rue his only blunder ever more. With Japan pushing forward, it opened up its defense to counters. In the 76th minute Robert failed to spot the unmarked Anelka in the center and preferred to shoot himself -- wide. Lemerre sprang a surprise when he left Bayern Munich rightback Willy Sagnol, a standout performer throughout the tournament, on the bench and replaced him with veteran Christian Karembeu. He also preferred the agile Steve Marlet over playmaker Eric Carriere. Troussier chose an ultra defensive lineup, adding several defensive midfielders to an already beefy defense. Japan was the only unbeaten team and unscored on in the tournament coming into the final and had grown in stature throughout the cup. "Japan has learned fast," said Lemerre.
SummaryScorer: Patrick Vieira 29 Halftime: 0-1, Attendance: 65,335 Teams: Japan: 1-Yoshikatsu Kawaguchi; 3-Naoki Matsuda, 4-Ryuzo Morioka (capt), 16-Koji Nakata; 5-Junichi Inamoto (10-Atsuhiro Miura 46), 14-Teruyoshi Ito, 18-Kazuyuki Toda, 20-Yasuhiro Hato, 21-Shinji Ono (19-Tatsuhiko Kubo 60); 8-Hiroaki Morishima, 9-Akinori Nishizawa (11-Masashi Nakayama 74) France: 1-Ulrich Rame; 3-Bixente Lizarazu, 8-Marcel Desailly (capt), 18-Frank Leboeuf, 19-Christian Karembeu; 4-Patrick Vieira, 6-Youri Djorkaeff (10-Eric Carriere 65), 7-Robert Pires, 17-Steve Marlet (22-Laurent Robert 58); 9-Nicolas Anelka, 11-Sylvain Wiltord Referee: Ali Mohamed Bujsaim (United Arab Emirates)
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