Paris, June 19: France finally won again in a major international tournament while Japan managed to shutout the competition's underdog yesterday as the Confederations Cup got started. The host nation barely got by Colombia 1-0 on a contentious penalty in Lyon, while Japan soundly defeated New Zealand 3-0 in Saint-Denis. After failing to score a single goal in defence of its 1998 world cup title at soccer's showcase event last year, France finally found the net on Thierry Henry's powerful penalty blast in the 39th minute.
A couple minutes earlier, Sylvain Wiltord snaked his way through on the right, ran into the penalty area and tried to pass past Velasquez. Wiltord immediately claimed a hand ball, but referee Lucilio Cardoso waved play on until the linesman started waving his flag for an infraction. Replays showed the penalty could easily not have been given.
"We didn't see much. The referee was not well placed and it had to be pointed out by his assistant", France coach Jacques Santini said.
Vehement protests from the Colombian players didn't matter to the Portuguese referee.
Shunsuke Nakamura and Hidetoshi Nakata led the way for Japan. Nakamura scored twice and fellow Italian league player Nakata found the net once.
Only 36,038 fans showed up in the 78,000-seat Stade de France just outside Paris, while France played Colombia in front of a capacity crowd of some 42,000 in the late match. Bureau Report