France Prevails in the 114th Minute

For one last time in this World Cup, Paraguay goalkeeper Jose Luis Chilavert patrolled his penalty area, only now scooping up fallen teammates instead of low line drives launched by French feet.

With two burly hands he grabbed Celso Ayala by the arms and pulled him to his feet. He ordered Francisco Arce to stand up and then wrapped a hug around him. He walked over to Roberto Acuna, peeled him off the grass and literally gave the midfielder a shoulder on which to cry.

For 114 minutes Sunday, Para-

guay had defended its goal as if it were a national monument threatened by spray paint-toting graffiti hooligans. “An impenetrable wall” is how France Coach Aime Jacquet described the Paraguayan back line, with equal parts admiration and exasperation.

Then, suddenly, a ball is headed down in the Paraguay penalty area, France’s Laurent Blanc runs onto it and with one flick of the foot, the Paraguayans are knocked out of the tournament and flat on their backs, 1-0, at Stade Felix-Bollaert.

Blanc’s overtime decider was the first “golden goal” in the history of the World Cup, which adopted a sudden-death extra-time format for 1998. Under previous rules, when teams tied at the end of 90 minutes, they played two 15-minute overtime periods, which would have given Paraguay six more minutes to attempt to equalize.

Instead, Blanc’s goal ended it, leaving the Paraguay players devastated and sending France, relieved and reprieved, into Friday’s quarterfinals against Italy.

“It’s awful,” Jacquet said of the “golden goal” concept, “but for once, the ball fell in our favor.”

Playing without playmaker Zinedine Zidane, who sat out the second match of a two-match red card suspension, France made the day needlessly difficult for itself by failing to put away numerous chances early in the first half.

In a head-shaking four-minute span, France had three prime opportunities against Chilavert and came away empty as David Trezeguet, then Bernard Diomede, then Youri Djorkaeff went 0 for 3.

In the 39th minute, Thierry Henry broke loose behind the Paraguay defense, drew Chilavert off his line for a one-on-one showdown, fired the ball to the left of a sliding Chilavert . . . and clanked the ball off the far post.

“I would have preferred to win earlier,” Jacquet deadpanned. “Especially as we had so many chances to do so. . . . We controlled the game, but we lacked clarity of thought, coolheadedness and confidence.”

Every missed opportunity by the French bought Paraguay a little more time to settle down, bringing the South Americans to the realization that the heavily favored hosts could be beaten if Paraguay could hold on long enough to force a penalty shootout.

So Paraguay Coach Paulo Cesar Carpeggiani circled the wagons around Chilavert. The back four--in particular, central defenders Ayala and Carlos Gamarra--threw anything and everything at the French in desperate attempts to block shots and passes--knees, thighs, ankles, hips, foreheads.

“We did our absolute maximum,” defender Ricardo Rojas said. “We would have had a chance if it had gone to penalties because our players are very good in that situation. [But] we didn’t have as much luck as France.”

A penalty shootout would have prominently featured Chilavert, the hulking goalkeeper who regularly takes penalty kicks for the national teams. It might have made for quite the event:

Goal, Chilavert!

Save, Chilavert!

Paraguay fell six minutes shy. France canceled the shootout when Trezeguet nodded the ball down in the penalty area in the 114th minute, the loose ball bounding in between Ayala and Gamarra to Blanc. Blanc pounced on the ball and knocked it under the onrushing Chilavert, leaving Chilavert face down in the goalmouth for several seconds. Then he got up, found his back-line teammates in distress, and tried to console the unconsolable.

“We lost today,” Chilavert said, “but our team was united. I felt privileged to be part of this team. Towards the end of the match, France pushed hard, had a lot of shots on goal and that eventually paid off.

“But our morale is high. We are heroes, in spite of this defeat, and will be welcomed as such when we return home. We have represented our country well.”