FRANCE 98 – General Media News Template
Morocco beat France 6-5 on penalties in the Hassan II tournament here on Friday night after the match was tied 2-2 after 90 minutes play.
Salaheddine Bassir twice put Morocco ahead but Laurent Blanc and then Youri Djorkaeff both equalized.
Then in the shootout France’s Vincent Candela had his shot saved to settle the outcome after earlier misses by Morocco’s Lahcen Abrami and Youri Djorkaeff of France.
French coach Aime Jacquet was surely not pleased by their performance, particularly the way they conceded the first goal. However France won the tournament, which has a very strange system, by scoring more goals than England.
Laurent Blanc, normally so sure in defence, was beaten to an easy header and the ball fell to Bassir who easily lobbed keeper Bernard Lama in the ninth minute.
France, who were having trouble with the speed and work rate of their opponents were immediately up against it. However Blanc made up for his error in the 22nd minute when, from a Zinedine Zidane corner, Marseille’s central defender rose to powerfully head home an equalizer. It was Blanc’s 13th international goal. Bassir put Morocco ahead once more in the 68th minute but Youri Djorkaeff levelled five minutes later.
Lama almost put the ball into his own net in the closing minutes but his miscued kick ended up trickling just past the post.
The teams
Morroco: Brazi – Abrami, Rossi, Triki, Hadrioui (cap, Saber, 46) – Amzine, Azzouzi (Sellami, 64), Chippo (Ouakili, 64), Chiba – Bassir (El Khattabi, 77), Hadda.
France: Lama – Karembeu, Leboeuf, Blanc, Candela – Boghossian, Deschamps (cap, Vieira, 46) – Henry, Zidane (Djorkaeff, 63), Diomède (Pires, 75) – Dugarry (Trezeguet, 68).