13th June - 19.45 - Group B Match
		v
	2 - 2
France Team			Croatia Team
Fabien Barthez William Gallas Lilian Thuram Marcel Desailly Mikael Silvestre Sylvain Wiltord Patrick Vieira Olivier Dacourt Zinedine Zidane David Trezeguet Thierry Henry			Tomislav Butina Dario Simic Robert Kovac Igor Tudor Josip Simunic Nenad Bjelica Nico Kovac Giovanni Rosso Milan Rapaic Dado Prso Tomislav Sokota
France Subs			Croatia Subs
Gregory Coupet Mickael Landreau Sydney Govou Jean-Alain Boumsong Bixente Lizarazu Claude Makelele Steve Marlet Benoit Pedretti Robert Pires Jerome Rothen Willy Sagnol Louis Saha			Joseph Didulica Vladimir Vasilj Ivan Klasnic Jerko Leko Ivica Mornar Mato Neretljak Ivica Olic Darijo Srna Mario Tokic Stjepan Tomas Boris Zivkovic Marko Babic

Match Report

Having wastefully drawn their opening match with Switzerland, not many people fancied Croatia to get anything against an undoubtedly-strong French side. Their negative start did little to allay any of these fears. Juventus star Igor Tudor returned to the defence, but looked anything-but the class player his reputation brings. It was only a matter of time before France broke the deadlock. Henry had already gone close with a drive following a classy throughball from Zidane, before the opening goal was scored. On 22 minutes, ZZ clipped a free-kcik into the area. It avoided everybody except Tudor, who had pulled away to the back post and tried to volley it clear. Unfortunately for him it hit his standing foot and diverted the ball goalwards. This gave France the ascendency. They never reached top gear - Croatia never threatened them enough for that to be necessary. Gallas missed a gilt-edged opportunity before half time though. Henry's corner from the left was sublimely flicked into the air by Zidane, and the Chelsea defender headed wide a glorious chance with the goal at his mercy. What was mystifying about Croatia was their unwillingness to attack and take the game to France. With England winning earlier, it was in their best interest to go for broke, but that looked unlikely to happen. Then, after the interval, everything turned on its head. Croata came firing out of the blocks, and France looked disinterested. Just three minutes into the half, Rosso burst into the area but was tripped from behind by Silvestre. The Utd defender had already conceeded what could have turned out to be a crucial peenalty against England, and his team mates must have been non-too-impressed with this either. Milan Rapaic drove the ball confidently to Barthez's left, and thought the Marseille keepr got a finger to it he couldn't keep it from making the net bulge. This shocked France and buoyed Croatia one. The equiliser was surpriseing enough, but nobody could have forseen what was to happen four minutes later. Prso received the ball in the French area with seemingly a lot to do. Unsurprisingly enough, he lost control, but Desailly comically missed a bouncing ball with an airshot of a volley. This allowed Prso to hammer the ball past Barthez with his left foot to send Croatia into extacy. For all their possession and fancy flicks, France weren't translating it into goals. Trezeguet and Henry, the most hyped up strikeforce perhaps in the world, still weren't clicking. Henry, in particular, looks a shadow of the player who cleaned up in the PFA awards and dribbled through his own house despite the presence of several high-profile footballers. Just after the hour though, one of them rescued France. Tudor's nonsensical backpass to his goalkeeper was driven straight into the arm of Trezeguet, who in fairness couldn't have gotten out the way. He then casually rolled the ball into an unguarded net to sink Croatian hopes of victory. Even this may not have been enough. In the second minute of injury time, Croatia broke and delivered the ball to substitute Mornar six yards out. He used his body well to turn Desailly, but skied the ball with it looking seemingly easier to score. At the end of the day, Croatia will see this as a good draw. However, their initial reaction will be one of disappointment for not winning. France have found themselves behind in both games and shown character to come back. However, can they continue to get out of jail? They look sure to progress, and if Henry and Trezeguet find their form they will once again look irresistable.