World Cup - France 0 Senegal 1

Senegal pulled off one of the great World Cup shocks in history and downed holders France 1-0 in Seoul.

But the way the 17th World Cup finals started it was little surprise that the leggy African side ran out winners in the end.

A compact display saw them hold off a tired-looking France with some ease although both sides did hit the woodwork in the second half.

France will not have to find wins against Uruguay and Denmark to stay in the competition and the loss of Zinedine Zidane to injury for at least one of those games looks potentially fatal to their title chances on this evidence.

The warning signs were clear for the French from the very start.

The clever approach play of Pape Boubar Diop and El Hadji Diouf were allied to the latter's express speed and they headed right for the hearty of the holder's ageing defence.

The French back line played for offside to try and catch Lens star Diouf and he certainly fell for the trap but there were some very close decisions and it added to the air of unease on a cool evening in Seoul about the capacity of the French veterans to go again for glory and hold off the younger and hungrier Senegal stars who have come to dominate their first division.

Diop was clear in the first minute to head into the arms of Fabien Barthez and the French responded by holding possession well and going down to walking pace at times.

A neat flick to reverse pass the ball into David Trezeguet's run set the Juventus star up to hit the post with a low drive but it became clear the French were missing play maker Zinedine Zidane.

A tight Senegal defence led by Aliou Cisse, Ferdinand Coly and goalkeeper Tony Sylva presented a formidable obstacle to the champions and on occasions like this Roger Lemerre's side really need the art of Zidane to find the right pass for the right run.

It was not to be and with Diouf pressing right on to Leboeuf the OM centre back was starting to make mistakes.

He and partner Marcel Desailly were twice provoked to foul the striker who took his revenge by skipping past a laboured Leboeuf tackle on 31 minutes and crossing low for Diop to clip the ball in which hit goalkeeper Fabien Barthez and Emmanuel Petit before falling for the Senegal player. Barthez was again poorly positioned to collect the driven cross and caused chaos in his defence with indecision.

A low drive from Sylvain Wiltord was all the French could muster in reply and Petit was booked in injury time for a foul on French tormentor Diouf.

The Africans sat back and the greater space allowed Djorkaeff to get further involved in the action than he had been up until the goal but he had little to prompt as Trezeguet and Henry rarely combined.

The French pushed four or five players into attack at the end as they tried to equalise but they lacked inspiration.

Trezeguet started the second half by missing a headed goal by hitting his effort high and wide after a cross from Thuram but France almost conceded a second in the 65th minute when Fadiga hit a powerful drive against their bar.

Seconds later Trezeguet did link up with Henry to set up the Arsenal star for a measured chip onto the crossbar over goalkeeper Sylva who later defied him and Trezeguet with good saves as Senegal sealed their place in history and gained the chance to fight for a place in the second phase.