France striker Savidan a high point, says Henry

AFP - 19 November 2008 23:25

French midfielder Alou Diarra (front) heads the ball against Uruguayan midfielder Martin Caceres during the friendly football match France versus Uruguay at the Stade de France in Saint-Denis, near Paris. The match ended in a 0-0 draw.

PARIS (AFP) - Thierry Henry picked out the performance of Caen striker Steve Savidan as a high point in a dull 0-0 draw at the Stade de France in a friendly international against Uruguay.

Despite enjoying long spells of possession, the home side found themselves frustrated by the visitors' defence, with a lively second-half cameo by debutant striker Savidan one of few consolations in Wednesday's match.

"The fact we did not concede a goal and the performance of Savidan were the high points of this match. Savidan's arrival shows that the door is open to everybody and with a little luck he could have scored three goals," said Henry.

"He came on, people wanted to know if he was good enough, and he was. He shot whenever he got the chance having been told to play just the way he does with his club, and he did that. I think he got a lot of brownie points tonight."

France coach Raymond Domenech said when asked about Savidan: "He has the quality to try things. It's not easy to play naturally when you are making your debut but he managed it."

France were boosted by the return of captain Patrick Vieira after a nine-month absence through injury, but it was Uruguay who looked more threatening in the game's early stages.

Visiting skipper Diego Lugano directed a header onto the roof of the French net from Diego Forlan's inswinging free-kick in the 10th minute, with Forlan himself flashing a header over the bar moments later.

Nicolas Anelka threatened to spark France into life with a header that passed just wide of the far post from Franck Ribery's right-wing centre after 16 minutes, before the visitors were almost gifted the lead when Cristian Rodriguez seized on a loose touch from Philippe Mexes but sliced his shot wide.

Young Ajax striker Luis Suarez caught the eye with an acrobatic volley that flew well wide of French debutant Hugo Lloris's goal, with Vieira then deftly bringing down a high ball inside the Uruguay area and crashing the ball over the bar.

The French fans were given something to cheer about at half-time when 30-year-old Savidan came on in place of Anelka to make his debut.

The Caen forward had a shot tipped wide of the post by Fabian Carini after eight minutes of the second period and he delighted the crowd with an overhead bicycle kick that was narrowly off-target from a Rod Fanni throw-in just after the hour mark.

Gradually the visitors were being penned back, with Alvaro Pereira forced to hook clear a dangerous free-kick from Yoann Gourcuff before Savidan attempted another eye-catching volley that narrowly eluded Thierry Henry at the back post.

Patrice Evra was forced to hack a downward header from Carlos Adrian Valdez off the French line in the game's closing stages, before Jeremy Toulalan drove a rasping effort over the crossbar from the cusp of the Uruguay area with two minutes remaining.

France's next game is a friendly against Argentina in February, before their World Cup qualifying campaign resumes against Lithuania at the end of March.