After a disappointing opening Group G draw with Switzerland, French horror shows are becoming a feature of World Cups and this match was no exception as a late equaliser by South Korea’s Park Ji-Sung means more humiliation now threatens for Les Bleus.

France dominated possession and scored their first World Cup goal since Emmanuel Petit’s in the final in 1998 after just nine minutes. Thierry Henry neatly tucked home a Sylvain Wiltord pass from eight yards after a concerted spell of early pressure.

France should have doubled their lead just after the half-hour mark after Patrick Vieira’s powerful header from a Zinedine Zidane corner was clawed back from behind the line by Woon-Jae Lee, but the goal was not given and a free-kick was awarded against Florent Malouda moments later.

Kim Dong-Jin sent a second-half header over the top after making it first to Lee Chun-Soo’s free-kick, then Vieira headed straight at Lee Woon-Jae from Willy Sagnol’s cross.

But with nine minutes remaining Park shocked France by bundling home the equaliser.

A deep cross from the right wing was headed back across the face of goal from Jae-Jin Cho and Park connected to divert the ball beyond Fabien Barthez.

Henry burst through with five minutes remaining but Lee was quickly off his line to deny him down to his left and the striker missed another late chance although the assistant referee had flagged him offside.

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This entry was posted on Monday, June 19th, 2006 at 1:23 am and is filed under 2010 FIFA World Cup, France, Soccer News, South Korea. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.