France v Korea

France 1-1 Korea
'9 Henry
'81 Park

Henry finally broke the "drought" for France, who hadn't scored in four world cup games going back to 2002. A bit much is being made of this, listing their last goal as Petit's back in the final in '98. Since then France competed in two Euros, winning one, and scored a few times along the way. They do still seem oddly toothless, which hurt them today. As did the goal that the keeper stopped while standing at least a foot on the far side of the goal line, that would have put France up 2-0.

The French goal was set up by Sylvain Wiltord fighitng off Korean defenders at the top of the box and chipping the ball into the box for an onrushing Thierry Henry, who awkwardly controls it, between two defenders who give him a lot of space, and taps it past the keeper. Wiltord was making things happen for France offensively, and even though he annoys me for being so mediocre in his time at Arsenal, I was surprised when he got subbed out an hour in for Frank Ribery, who wasn't too great against Switzerland.

Late in the game, Fabian Barthez showed why he's a questionable first choice goalkeeper, as he flapped at a cross, which was headed down by Cho Jae Jin for Park Ji Sung, who chips it over the keeper from close range, along the goal line. Barthez slaps it without slowing it down or knocking it over the bar, and as it comes down, Gallas seems to just watch it barely cross the line before getting to the post. Mystere et boule de gomme.

Zidane gets a yellow card in the 85th minute so he can't play against Togo, making this potentially his last game for France. Here's my theory, though. Spain looks likely to take group H, and the most likely runner-up is the Ukraine. France always has huge problems with the Ukraine, so I think they're angling for second place to avoid them.