Uninspiring French Fluff Their Lines

It could have been the smooth transition from qualifying round to quarter-final with two wins from two games but the battling Croatians had read the wrong script. Despite taking an early lead, France had to fight back from 2-1 down to secure a draw which leaves them with a final group day cliffhanger to decide the fate of Les Bleus.

France went into the second game of their title defense buoyed by the injury time recovery against England in Sunday's opening game which saw them record their first points of Euro 2004 at the first asking. With the champions now getting into their stride, meeting the threat head on and getting a result seemed a tall order for the Croatians, a team that struggled for a point against Switzerland.

The early exchanges in Leiria were typically physical. While the French have a reputation for flair, they also exhibit a fierce determination and met with the uncompromising Croatians, the first five minutes were a crunching affair.

Far from being overwhelmed by the opposition, Croatia began to counter-attack when they had the chance, mostly when a French move broke on the 10-man defense employed to thwart Henry and Trezeguet's rampaging pace. However, most of the early charges forward by the Croatians met with stern resistance from Vieria and his midfield cohorts and very rarely got anywhere near the French goal.

Henry had the first real chance to break the deadlock on seven minutes when a neat Zidane pass left the striker with time to spin in the penalty area and place his shot just a meter wide of the Croatian goal.

Tomislav Butina may not have had any real threat to deal with in the first 15 minutes but he was definately the more involved goalkeeper with the majority of play taking place in the third of the pitch in front of his goal. His opposite number Fabien Barthez was content to exercise in his own area just to keep his concentration up as France pressed on in search of the opening goal.

ZiZu's magic foot claims first blood

And that goal came from -- who else? A free kick from Zidane wide on the left flank was adjudged to have been touched in by French defender Mickael Silvestre but closer inspection showed that ZiZu's curling effort eluded everyone and skipped through Igor Tudor's legs, past his keeper and inside the far post. France were ahead with just 22 minutes on the clock.

The competition had apparently lost its edge by the half hour mark but this didn't stop Patrick Vieira getting booked for what seemed like an innocuous challenge.

As the game neared half time, the French continued to attack but without any real penetration. At this point it became clear why their goals so far had all come from dead ball situations -- this was a France team worryingly devoid of the ideas that have led to incisive finishes from open play in the past.

Croatia, ironically, fashioned something the French could not in the 43rd minute. A shot from Niko Kovac from distance skidded along the turf, forcing Bathez to gather at the foot of his left post. It proved to be the last play of the half.

Croatia rocks the champions' world

The second half opened with drama and controversy. Davoni was bundled over in the French area barely 2 minutes into the second half after evading the first tackle by Siolvestre but the Frech defender carried on and brought him down. Milan Rapaic then stepped up and did what David Beckham failed to do and scored the resultant penalty past Fabien Barthez.

Three minutes later France were rocking. Dado Prso capitalized on a Desailly air-kick to rifle in a wicked effort past Barthez to turn the game on its head after first dancing past the ageing defender at the first attempt.

Suddenly France had to find the spark that had been lacking in their offensive play. Sylvain Wiltord had a shot saved by the feet of Butina as Les Bleus threw everything at Croatia in a farntic five minute spell. Henry, Zidane and Trezeguet all had efforts bundled away as Croatia seemd to have weathered the storm.

Les Bleus back in the game

But the blue wave was too strong and on 64 minutes, David Trezuguet was given the benefit of the doubt when it looked as though he had controlled the ball with his hand and slid the ball into the empty Croatia net with Butina angrily protesting.

As the game wore on, both sides gave no quarter in their pursuit of the victory. France queued up to take shots at Tomislav Butina while Dado Prso continued to harrass Desailly and co. at the other end.

And it all could have been such a different story had Mornar the substitute kept his injury time shot a few feet lower after skying the potential winner over the bar with 92 minutes played.

Instead, Group B is wide open with everything to play for. France has four points, England three, Croatia two and Switzerland one. For the French, the automatic qualification will have to wait.

Croatia: Butina, Simunic, Simic, Tudor, R Kovac, N Kovac, Rosso, Rapaic, Bjelica, Dado Prso, Tom Sokota.

France: Barthez, Gallas, Thuram, Silvestre, Desailly, Vieira, Makelele, Zidane, Henry, Trezeguet, Wiltord.

Referee: Kim Milton Nielsen (Den).