Soccer: France slump to 2-1 home defeat to Belgium

PARIS - France bid their fans a dismal farewell when they slumped a 2-1 home defeat by Belgium on Saturday before heading to South Korea to defend their World Cup crown.

Marc Wilmots netted a superb injury-time winner to hand France their first home defeat for three years and send Belgium off to the World Cup in excellent heart.

Without playmaker Zinedine Zidane and striker Thierry Henry, France were strangely off colour with just 13 days to go before their opening game against Senegal in Seoul.

The visitors opened the scoring thanks to a goal by defender Glen De Boeck who headed home a free-kick by playmaker Johan Walem in the 20th minute.

But the hosts equalised when defender Frank Leboeuf's shot was deflected by midfielder Timmy Simmons into his own net after an untidy move five minutes from the break.

Wilmots slotted home a fantastic volley two minutes into injury time to hand his side an unexpected victory.

Although France dominated most of the match against a strong Belgian defence, they lacked the inspiration of Zidane, who missed the game to be at the birth of his child.

France had not lost in front of their home crowd since a 3-2 defeat by Russia during a qualifying match for the 2000 European championships in June 1999.

But coach Roger Lemerre was quick to downplay the importance of the result.

"This loss doesn't have immediate consequences," he said. "But obviously we didn't have the capacity to play faster against Belgium who displayed a strong will.

"Defeat is always tough to take and we would have preferred a win as the World Cup is getting very close now.

"We are very keen to play the next match to bounce back," he added.

France started well with Zidane's stand-in Youri Djorkaeff creating an opportunity for Sylvain Wiltord who beat keeper Geert De Vlieger with a 20m shot but saw it bounce off the post.

But it was the visitors who opened the scoring through De Boeck to the amazement of the 80,000 fans.

Normal service seemed to have been resumed with Leboeuf's scrappy shot and the stage seemed set for Djibrill Cisse to mark his debut in style.

The AJ Auxerre striker, who scored 22 goals to top the charts in France last season, received a tremendous ovation from the crowd as he replaced David Trezeguet at the start of the second half.

Cisse almost brought the house down when he shot against the crossbar just past the hour mark.

He continued to catch the eye with his pace and movement but it was Wilmots who stole the limelight with a stunning late finish to clinch victory.

"I don't want to say anything about France's performance tonight," said Belgium coach Robert Waisege.

"I thought we defended very well which is really comforting."

- REUTERS

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