23-Sep-2001
France beat Brazil 2-1 in clash of giants


France dethroned two-time defending champions Brazil with a dramatic 2-1 win
in the quarter-final of the FIFA U-17 World Championship Trinidad & Tobago
2001 presented by JVC played on Sunday 23 September at the Dwight Yorke
Stadium in Bacolet, Tobago.

France will now face the winner of the Mali v. Argentina match on 27
September in the semi-final.

"I am very happy because this is the first French under-17 team to qualify
for the semi-final of this tournament. Beating Brazil is a great
achievement," said France under-17 head coach Jean-Francois Jodar.

The first real chance of the game did not come until the 11th minute when
Brazil's goal-wizard Caetano crossed from the right, but Bruno could not
re-direct the ball on goal.

Just after the quarter-hour mark, France playmaker Mourad Meghni slipped
past two defenders and sent a low cross to the edge of the six-yard box that
Brazilian goalkeeper Felipe bravely punched away.

In the 29th minute, it was the combination of club (Liverpool) team-mates
Anthony Le Tallec and Florent Sinama Pongolle proving dangerous, once again.
Le Tallec chipped the ball inside the area to Sinama Pongolle who broke in
on goal, but only the outstretched foot of Brazilian defender Wendel knocked
the ball to safety.

In the 38th minute, France started a scintillating three minutes of football
that would finally see them take the lead. French midfielder Emmers Fae took
the ball down the left flank, and cut into the penalty box beating two
defenders as he stormed toward goal. Only an acrobatic block from Felipe
denied Fae the opening goal.

On the ensuing corner-kick, Meghni's cross was headed down to Samuel Pietre
at the top of the penalty area. Pietre did not strike the ball true, but it
took a fortuitous bounce to the head of Florent Sinama Pongolle who knocked
it past Felipe from eight metres out to open the scoring.

For Sinama Pongolle, it was his eighth goal of the tournament, tying the
all-time scoring record held by West Germany's Marcel Witeczek.

One minute later, Emmers Fae slotted the ball to Sinama Pongolle in the
area. The tournament's leading scorer left the ball for Le Tallec who was
wide-open six metres from goal. Le Tallec missed on his first try, but swept
in his second for his first goal of the tournament.

In the second half, Brazil began to generate more of the chances. Just
before the hour-mark, the South Americans strung a beautiful stretch of four
passes together to free Bruno for a shot that whistled just wide of the net.

Brazil's offence got a further boost when head coach Sergio Farias brought
on Diego for Caetano in the 61st minute and Anderson for Bruno in the 67th.
France coach Jean Francois Jodar countered, bringing Gael Maia on for
Stephen Drouin in the 69th minute.

In the 70th minute, Brazil had the ball in midfield as the French defence
pushed up to keep Brazil's lone attacker offside. Alberoni timed his run
perfectly, ran onto the ball, and slotted past France goalkeeper Florent
Chaigneau for his first goal of the tournament.

France survived a nervous moment in the 86th minute when Diego played a ball
through to Leandro. He crossed the ball to Anderson who just missed running
onto the tying goal from some 10 metres out.

In stoppage time, Brazil had

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