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Dugarry solves French puzzle
Posted: Friday June 12, 1998 08:09 PM
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Dugarry (facing) tallied France's first goal in the 34th minute (AP) |
ATLANTA (CNN/SI) -- The first day with three games brought three contests varying greatly in style and substance.
Clearly the one that drew the most attention was the France-South Africa match, pitting the host nation against one making its World Cup debut. For all of 15 minutes it was a competitive contest.
But after the French got rolling, it turned into quite the display of Gallic power for the assembled
dignitaries.
With French Prime Minister Lionel Jospin and France '98 organizing committee president Michel Platini in the stands, Christophe Dugarry quite possibly put to rest the French people's fear that there is no legitimate striker on the squad. Dugarry came o
n after starting striker Stephane Guivarc'h went off with an injury midway through the first half, and he dominated play the rest of the game.
He scored France's first goal in the 34th minute when he soared high to head a corner kick from his good friend Zinedine Zidane into the far right corner of the goal. But Dugarry was not done there. He caused problems for the South African defense with
quick runs to goal that showed off his above-average speed.
France got another goal in the second half when South Africa scored an own goal. That's right -- three days, three own goals. No line yet on who will score on themselves Saturday.
Then a garbage goal in extra time gave the French the largest margin of victory thus far.
The other two games were on opposite ends of the spectrum. Paraguay-Bulgaria was too hard, and Denmark-Saudi Arabia was too soft.
There were a total of 41 fouls and no goals in the Bulgaria match. The Bulgarians were forced to finish the match with 10 players when Anatoli Nankov picked up two yellow cards and became the first player to be sent off the pitch in France '98, in what
was the most physical contest thus far.
The highlight of the scoreless match was a 25-yard Paraguay free kick from the right side by goalkeeper Jose Luis Chilavert. He nearly scored with a beautiful sweeping shot towards the upper left corner of the goal.
Chilavert has talked openly in the days preceding the World Cup of his desire to become the first goalkeeper to ever score in a Cup match, and he never hesitated when the kick was awarded to Paraguay. He came charging up the field, and if not for a spe
ctacular save from Zdravko Zdravkov on the shot, Paraguay might have won 1-0.
In the middle game of the day, Denmark and Saudi Arabia played more wide-open soccer, but neither generated very many good scoring opportunities.
Yes, they combined for 32 fouls and four yellow cards, but you would never have known it from watching the contest, especially considering two of those cards came when the referee felt Saudi players were faking injuries. The Saudis, who played such lov
ely build-up style soccer in '94, tried time and again to play long balls over the tall Danes with little to no success, while the Danes created multiple chances without any scoring success.
It looked for a while like we would have two straight games without a goal until Denmark defender Marc Reiper headed home a cross in the 68th minute after making an unmarked run into the penalty area.
Not to give anything away, but Reiper's score did earn him some 91st Minute honors.
Player of the Day: Christophe Dugarry. The French media had assailed the French strikers, Dugarry in particular, over the past three weeks, questioning who would do the scoring for France. As the media correctly pointed out, France is quite powe
rful on defense and in the midfield. But if it did not score, how could it win?
Dugarry was the answer. He struggled the last half of his club season after being transferred, and was a much-criticized selection to the French squad. Many in the media suggested he was simply on the team because he was a friend of team leader Zinedin
e Zidane.
Well, he may be a friend, but after Friday he also looks like the answer up front for France. He created numerous scoring opportunities for the French in addition to scoring France's first goal.
Goal of the Day: Marc Reiper. If Paraguay goalkeeper Jose Luis Chilavert had scored off his free kick, he would have been a shoe-in for this honor. But instead, it goes to the Danish defender who kept his squad from drawing with Saudi Arabia.
The Danes had created many more chances than Saudi Arabia, but none had found the back of the net. Rieper took matters into his own hands, though, in the 68th minute when he made a strong run up the left side from his defensive position.
No Saudi marked him, and Reiper was able to easily get his head on Brian Laudrup's cross from the right corner and direct it into the net for the game's only goal.
Quote of the day: "We all wanted to start the World Cup well and we did, scoring three goals. I think we owed that to the French people. We owed them a great match." -- Zinedine Zidane, French midfielder after his team's 3-0 win over South Afric
a.
Outlook for Saturday: What a day this should be! First, there's Spain vs. Nigeria. Time to find out if Nigeria has been trying to lull people to sleep with its poor play of late, or if it truly is incapable of playing defense.
The Nigerians gave up 12 goals in their final three friendlies, while scoring none (perhaps they will score the day's own goal). In Spain, they will face the favorite in Group D, a team expected to make good on its bountiful talent.
But the match of the day figures to be the 120th meeting between the Netherlands and Belgium. Neither team likes each other, and both countries and the French are bringing in extra police for this affair.
Somehow these two ended up in the same group in '94 as well, and Belgium prevailed 1-0 in that meeting. Since then the Dutch won both meetings in World Cup qualification.
The Dutch are a trendy favorite to take the title this year, but they always have problems with their southern neighbors whenever they meet .
Here's betting Saturday's meeting will be one of the more memorable between the two teams.
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