France’s preparations for the World Cup suffered a reality check in Rades, Tunisia, on Sunday when the 2006 finalists had to come from behind to snatch a 1-1 draw against non-South Africa-bound Tunisia.
France turned up in Rades on the back of Wednesday’s confidence-boosting 2-1 win over Costa Rica in Lens.
As at Lens, France’s top scorer, Thierry Henry, found himself on the bench with manager Raymond Domenech preferring to start Chelsea striker Nicolas Anelka.
PHOTO: EPA
Hugo Lloris was back in goal after having ceded his place to Steve Mandanda, who failed to advertise his claims against Costa Rica.
The rest of the side was the same as Domenech stuck with his new 4-3-3 formation.
The match was a personal milestone for Domenech, who drew level with former manager Michel Hidalgo’s record of 75 matches in charge of the national side.
The 58-year-old Domenech, who succeeded Jacques Santini after Euro 2004, is stepping down to be replaced by Bordeaux coach Laurent Blanc after the World Cup.
France failed to assert as they had done on Wednesday last week and were behind by as early as the sixth minute when lax defending resulted in Isaam Jemaa tapping in past Lloris.
Tunisia had the French backline on the rack two minutes later when Ben Khalfallah charged goalbound unchallenged down the center in a one-on-one with Lloris, but the danger petered out after he elected to pass to his left with the move petering out.
France, notably with a searing shot from Franck Ribery that skimmed just wide of the near post, had their chances, but went into the break trailing.
Domenech tinkered with his second half cast list, introducing Henry on the left and debutant Marc Planus for Ribery and Eric Abidal.
TO THE TOP: After securing the international title on Saturday, Team Taiwan were to face Las Vegas to potentially win their 18th Little League World Series championship A team from Taipei’s Dong Yuan Elementary School won the Little League Baseball World Series’ international title on Saturday by defeating Aruba 1-0 in the annual baseball tournament held in South Williamsport, Pennsylvania. The Taiwan team, competing under the name Chinese Taipei, were after press time last night to face a team from Las Vegas, Nevada, which beat a team from Fairfield, Connecticut, in the US championship 8-2. Taiwan are seeking to win their first Little League Baseball World Series title since 1996. “Really haven’t taken a moment to data dump right now on Taiwan,” Nevada manager T.J. Fescher said. “They’re a
Marc Marquez continued his winning streak as he cruised to victory in the Hungarian GP sprint by two seconds on Saturday night to pad his championship lead. It was a seventh straight Sprint victory for the Spaniard, who has also won the last six longer Sunday grand prix races on his factory Ducati. Fabio Di Giannantonio, an Italian with the VR46 Ducati satellite team was a distant second at Balaton Park, followed by his team-mate and compatriot Franco Morbidelli third. Marquez, a six-time world champion, started the race from pole position. “I felt someone really close on the first corner, from there I
Former European champions Celtic exited the UEFA Champions League in the qualifiers after a 3-2 penalty shoot-out defeat at Kazakhstan’s Kairat Almaty on Tuesday, following two goalless legs in the playoff tie. Kairat are to compete in the competition proper for the first time, while Norway’s Bodo/Glimt and Cyprus’s Pafos also secured debut appearances after coming through the playoffs. Celtic’s night ended in disappointment as they missed three penalties in the shoot-out, Daizen Maeda failing with the decisive spot-kick. The slugfest of a match went into extra-time with neither side finding the net and few overall chances, echoing the first
Russian Diana Shnaider continued her impressive winning streak in tour-level finals at the Monterrey Open on Saturday, beating compatriot Ekaterina Alexandrova 6-4, 4-6, 6-4 in the WTA 500 event’s final. Shnaider had little trouble in the opening set but struggled in a topsy-turvy second, as Alexandrova clinched the set’s fifth and decisive break at 5-4 to force a decider. Third-seed Shnaider carved out an advantage early on in the third set when she broke Alexandrova in the first game and held serve to go 2-0 up, an advantage she would not relinquish. World No. 12 Shnaider is now unbeaten in her last five