Henry celebrates

COLOGNE: Patrick Vieira and Thierry Henry scored a goal each yesterday to help France beat Togo 2-0 and advance to the second round at the World Cup.

France, who won for the first time in six World Cup matches, took the lead in the 55th minute when Vieira scored on his 30th birthday. Henry added another in the 61st.

Switzerland, who beat South Korea 2-0 in the other Group “G” match, won the group with seven points. France were next with five.

“We’re happy to get out of this group,” France coach Raymond Domenech said. “All the matches were close. It was not easy and went right to the end.”

France will face Spain in the next round on Tuesday in Hanover while Switzerland play Ukraine on Monday in Cologne.

France, who drew their opening two matches, would have been eliminated with another draw. The win means that Zinedine Zidane will get another chance to play for France.

The Real Madrid midfielder was suspended for yesterday’s match because he got a second yellow card against South Korea on Sunday in a 1-1 draw.

Zidane has said he will retire from football after the World Cup.

Both David Trezeguet and Franck Ribery also had chances for France, who beat Brazil in the 1998 World Cup final but were eliminated in the first round four years ago.

Knowing another first round elimination would be another disaster, France wasted no time in putting pressure on the Togo defence and created a stream of early chances.

Trezeguet forced goalkeeper Kossi Agassa to palm his close-range header over the bar. Soon after, he tapped the ball into an empty net only for the goal to be disallowed for offside.

Chances were soon coming quickly, but Trezeguet finished off a slick move with a feeble shot straight at Agassa and Ribery shot over the bar after Henry’s pass left him with just the goalkeeper to beat.

Vieira had a 25-metre shot deflected over the top and Agassa saved a shot from Florent Malouda as the French kept pressing.

The chances kept coming after the break and Henry’s backheel fed Malouda, whose low cross found Ribery unmarked in front of goal. He again shot high over the bar.

“It’s stressful when you don’t score, and is especially when we couldn’t afford to concede a goal. But once we found out the Swiss had scored a second goal, we were much more calm,” Domenech said.

The breakthrough came when Ribery went on a run and, instead of shooting, opted to feed the ball inside to Vieira. The Juventus midfielder spun and fired a powerful right foot shot past Agassa.

There was still danger at the other end and France defender Willy Sagnol had to block a powerful, goalbound shot from Emmanuel Adebayor.

But France’s problems disappeared in the 61st when Vieira headed on a lobbed pass from Sagnol and Henry held off a defender to score with a low right foot shot.

“I’ve been right for a long time about him, when others have not. He is exceptional,” Domenech said of Vieira. “He scored a goal and he created a goal.”

Next up for France is Spain, who are trying to shed their underachiever tag. The Spanish team beat Saudi Arabia 1-0 earlier Friday to win their group with three straight victories.

Lineups:

Togo: Kossi Agassa, Richmond Forson, Dare Nibombe, Massamasso Tchangai, Jean-Paul Abalo, Moustapha Salifou, Sheriff Toure Mamam (Adekanmi Olufade, 59th), Yao Kaka Aziawonou, Yao Junior Senaya, Emmanuel Adebayor (Thomas Dossevi, 75th), Mohamed Kader.

France: Fabien Barthez, Willy Sagnol, Lilian Thuram, William Gallas, Mikael Silvestre, Franck Ribery (Sidney Govou, 77th), Patrick Vieira (Alou Diarra, 81st), Claude Makelele, Florent Malouda (Sylvain Wiltord, 74th), Thierry Henry, David Trezeguet. (AP)