France draws with South Korea 1-1

France finally broke their duck and scored in this match only for the South Koreans to equalise in a 1-1 draw.

The match began promisingly for France when Thierry Henry scored their first FIFA World Cup goal since the 1998 Final in the ninth minute. However, Korea Republic drew level when Park bundled the ball over the line in the 81st minute. To compound France's disappointment, Eric Abidal and Zinedine Zidane both collected bookings which rule them out of their final group game against Togo.

Soccer Pundit believes that the French will be cursing their bad luck in this tournament as their victory was snatched out of their hands. No doubt that they played better than in their previous encounter against the Swiss. They had more possession and were better organised but still they did not do the vital thing, which is to score another goal and finish off the match.

The Koreans have a traditional history of scoring late goals and also a reputation as a giant-killer since World Cup 2002 when they eliminated Spain, Italy and Portugal on their way to the semi-finals. Credit to them for not giving up and putting pressure on the French right till the end.

The goal scored by Park was a fluke but nevertheless, a fair result for both teams. Soccer Pundit feels that the French should reflect on their overall performance so far and improve on the weaknesses. They could do well to sprice up their attack, maybe by starting David Trezeguet or Frank Ribery (why is he still being placed on the bench??) and tighten their defence in the last match against Togo. Fabien Barthez also needs to show the critcs that he is not the weakest link.

If the French were to disappoint again, they have nobody to blame and it is a collective failure which the entire team has to be responsibe for...