Uruguay Tie 10-man France 0-0 in Group A

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Friday, June 07, 2002

Uruguay Tie 10-man France 0-0 in Group A

Defending champions France were on the edge of elimination from the World Cup finals after a goalless draw with Uruguay in Group A on Thursday.

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Uruguay Hold 10-man France 0-0

Defending champions France were on the edge of elimination from the World Cup finals after a goalless draw with Uruguay in Group A on Thursday.

In the bad-tempered game filled with flagrant tackles, French striker Thierre Henry was sent off at the 25th minute by Mexican referee Felipe Rmaos Rizo as the English Premier League top scorertackled, with studs up, Uruguayan Marcelo Romero.

The red card stunned French coach Roger Lemerre speechless and French legend Michel Platini frozen.

The draw left France without a goal in their first two games following a 1-0 loss to World Cup rookies Senegal. France take on Denmark in their final group match with Uruguay vs Senegal.

The last defending champions ousted in the first round were Brazil in 1966.

France and Uruguay have one point apiece, trailing Denmark and Senegal who both have four. Both France and Uruguay will have to win their final matches, which would leave all four teams with four points with goal differencial and then goals scored deciding which two teams advance to the second round.

French defender Frank Leboeuf left the pitch with a groin injury to join injured superstar Zinedine Zidane on the bench.

Leboeuf replacement Patrick Vieira was also stretchered off fora minute when Dario Silva struck his left foot with studs up.

Uruguay received three yellow cards to Sebastian Abreu, Pablo Garcia and Marcelo Romero in the first half.

Both teams had plenty of scoring chances in the second half butthey failed to convert any.

Alvaro Recoba missed a superb chance for Uruguay in the 52nd minute as he struck into the side netting after Barthez had charged out.

Uruguayan striker Sebastian Abreu also squandered two good chances.

France nearly scored the winner at the start of injury time when Bixente Lizarazu sent a through-pass to Sylvain Wiltord, who shot high.

A minute later at the other end, Federico Magallanes faced French keeper Fabien Barthez alone and hit a point-black shot thatBarthez stopped with his left foot.

Teams: France:16-Fabien Barthez, 3-Bixente Lizarazu, 8-Marcel Desailly(C), 18-Frank Leboeuf (2-Vincent Candela, 16), 15-Lilian Thuram,17-Emmanuel Petit, 4-Patrick Vieira, 22-Johan Micoud, 11-Sylvain Wiltord (21-Christophe Dugarry, 90), 12-Thierry Henry, 20-David Trezeguet (9-Djibril Cisse, 81).

Uruguay: 1-Fabian Carini, 14-Gonzalo Sorondo, 4-Paolo Montero(C), 3-Alejandro Lembo, 16-Marcelo Romero (22-Gonzalo de los Santos,71), 8-Gustavo Varela, 5-Pablo Garcia, 6-Dario Rodriguez (7-Gianni Guigou, 72), 20-Alvaro Recoba, 13-Sebastian Abreu, 9-Dario Silva(11-Federico Magallanes, 60).

"France Is Not Eliminated"

Roger Lemerre, head coach of World Cup defending champions France, said his team still had the chance of reaching the round of 16 after a goalless draw with Uruguay.

"There's still hope. We will need to play a great match against Denmark. But it's still possible," Lemerre said after the 10-man French team failed to score for the second straight game.

"I compliment all my players, they did all they could," said Lemerre, "It's a pity that once again we failed to score but France is not eliminated."

France lost their first match 1-0 against World Cup debutantes Senegal. Now they need to beat Denmark by two goals in their final group match to secure a berth in the second round.

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