FRANCE 98 – General Media News Template

Norway thrashed Saudi Arabia 6-0 in a World Cup warm-up game in Molde on Wednesday night to boost their hopes for the upcoming finals in France. Kjetil Rekdal, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer (2), Egil Ostenstad, Tore Andre Flo and Roar Strand all found the net for the Scandinavian side.Norway are now unbeaten in 14 matches and no other team can boast such an impressive record going into the World Cup finals.

But elsewhere the performances from finalists were nowhere near as impressive. Three-time World Cup winners Germany could only draw 0-0 in Finland, England won 1-0 against Morocco, France beat Belgium 1-0 and Holland could only manage a 0-0 drawn with Cameroon.   Austria beat Tunisia 2-1 and, earlier in the day, South Korea fought back to earn a 2-2 draw with the Czech Republic in Seoul. Surely the worst performance of the night must have been by World Cup finalists Mexico, who fell 4-1 to German club VfL Wolfsburg.

Norway opened the scoring in the 21st minute from the spot through attacking midfielder Kjetil Rekdal after Saudi ‘keeper Mohammed Al-Daeya committed the offence and was sent off. Mohammed Al-Khlawi was also given his marching orders during the match. Ten minutes after the opener, Norway’s Erik Mykland cut through the Saudi defence before finding Manchester United striker Ole Gunnar Solksjaer, who controlled the ball with his chest before scoring. And Solskjaer hit another just three minutes before the break. Norway continued to dominate and Solskjaer hit the net a third time but it was ruled offside. Ostenstad, who replaced Haavard Flo in the 72nd minute, scored the fourth goal after a Strand pass in the 83rd minute. Tore Andre Flo and then Strand hit the final two goals in the 87th and 88th minutes as Norway overwhelmed a team that drew 0-0 with England at the weekend.

France notched up a 1-0 win over Belgium in the Hassan II tournament in Casablanca, but the World Cup hosts were far from impressive. Juventus attacking midfielder Zinedine Zidane scored in the 63rd minute, following good work by Lilian Thuram and Stephane Guivarc’h, in a far from convincing display. Both sides lacked energy in the Mohamed V stadium but both are coming to the end of an arduous World Cup warm-up schedule.

France, who had two draws and a defeat in their last three matches, earned their first success since their 1-0 victory over Spain on January 28. And it was Zidane, who now has nine goals for his country, who scored in that win at the inauguration of the Stade de France. France still have work to do in their build-up and they have two warm-up games left. First they face Morocco in the Hassan II tournament on Friday and then meet Finland in Helsinki on June 5. French coach Aime Jacquet said afterwards: ” We expected a difficult match and it was. I have to say the players were very tired because we have done a lot of physical work in training. Their movements were slow and it didn’t make for a great match. “

Substitute Michael Owen scored his first-ever senior international goal as England beat hosts Morocco 1-0 in the other match in the Hassan II tournament. Liverpool’s 18-year-old Owen found the net in the 59th-minute of this opening match of the four-nation event. More than 80,000 fans roared the home side on, but could not prevent England earning a dour win. Steven McManaman was the creator after Sol Campbell had started the move by robbing Said Chiba on the edge of his own penalty area. He found McManaman, who broke down the left and at the second attempt managed to release Owen. Owen needed no second invitation as he moved past Hadrioui and then clinically fired the ball into the left-hand corner of the net.

European champions Germany were lucky to hold out for a 0-0 draw against little Finland in their match in Helsinki. It was a mediocre game on a bumpy pitch, but had the run of play gone more Finland’s way, they might have grabbed a historic victory. The Finns have only beaten the Germans once in 16 matches dating back to 1923.

South Korea had to fight back to get a 2-2 draw with the Czech Republic. South Korea went behind to goals from Jiri Nemec in the 17th minute and striker Vratislav Lokvenc with a 31st minute shot. But the Koreans tightened their defence in the second half and started launching fast counter-attacks which led to Hwang Sun-Hong’s goal in the 57th minute. The equalizer came nine minutes from the end when Choi Yong-Soo turned a loose ball into the net during a goalmouth scramble.

Austria ended a run of disappointing defeats with their win over Tunisia in Vienna. The win, secured by two goals early in the game, followed a 3-2 loss to Hungary and a 3-0 reverse at the hands of the United States. ” We can now approach the World Cup with a degree of confidence, “ said coach Herbert Prohaska after the win. Goals from Harald Cerny and Arnold Wetl in the first 17 minutes put Austria in command, although Tunisia replied with a header from Khaled Badra.