Brazil, France Finish Scoreless
World champion Brazil and European champion France played to a 0-0 tie Thursday in front of 79,344 at the Stade de France in Paris in a match marking the 100th anniversary of the founding of FIFA, world soccer’s governing body.
Despite the presence of the English Premier League’s top goal scorer, Arsenal striker Thierry Henry of France, and the Spanish league’s leading scorer, Real Madrid forward Ronaldo of Brazil, neither team found the back of the net.
The closest either team came to scoring was in the 66th minute, when Brazilian defender Roberto Carlos slammed a 20-yard shot against the left post.
“The only thing missing tonight was goals,” said France Coach Jacques Santini, whose team plays England in its opening match of the European Championship in Portugal on June 13.
“We were here to give the fans a good show, but my job is to have everyone ready and at his best for the England match.”
Said Brazil Coach Carlos Alberto Parreira: “Of course, it’s a 0-0 draw ... but it does not feel like it. I think it was a very good match between two of the best sides in the world.”
Brazil will play Argentina in a 2006 World Cup qualifying match June 2 at Belo Horizonte.
FIFA was founded in Paris on May 21, 1904, and in the first half of Thursday’s game both teams wore replica uniforms dating back almost a century.
A FIFA women’s world all-star team that featured Americans Shannon Boxx and Abby Wambach defeated reigning world champion Germany, 3-2, in a game preceding the France-Brazil match.
Sweden’s Malin Mostrom and Victoria Svensson each scored for the world team. Birgit Prinz and Kerstin Garefrekes scored for Germany. Nigeria’s Mercy Akide scored the winner.
Beckham Denial
David Beckham, nearing the end of a troublesome and trophy-less first season in the Spanish league, dismissed rumors that he would return to England and said he intended to stay with Real Madrid.
“I have a long commitment to Real and to my life in Spain,” the former Manchester United star said in a prepared statement, adding that his wife, Victoria, and their two sons would be moving from London and joining him in Madrid.
Despite official denials, speculation continued in Spain that Real might still be willing to sell Beckham to Chelsea or another club to help bankroll its acquisition of new players.
Quick Passes
Charges were dropped against Leicester City players Paul Dickov, Frank Sinclair and Keith Gillespie after forensic tests found no link between them and three women who had accused them of assault during a training camp in Spain in March.... Marcel Desailly of 1998 World Cup winner France announced that he will retire from international competition in August.
-- Compiled by Grahame L. Jones
