Vieira dismissed for diving as France labour to beat Faroes

Ten-man France struggled to beat a brave Faroe Islands side 2-0 in Torshavn after their captain, Patrick Vieira, was sent off in their World Cup qualifier on Wednesday.

Ten-man France struggled to beat a brave Faroe Islands side 2-0 in Torshavn after their captain, Patrick Vieira, was sent off in their World Cup qualifier on Wednesday.

Still lacking cohesion and confidence after the retirements of Zinedine Zidane and other pillars of the side, France scored once in the scrappy first half against the semi-professional team from the archipelago of 18 islands between Scotland and Iceland.

Surprisingly, the Faroese got an early attempt on goal from a corner on four minutes. Otherwise, most of the play went France's way, but they failed to convert a host of chances.

The slippery pitch caught out several players in the early minutes, with Robert Pires, Patrice Evra, several Faroese players and Louis Saha losing their footing. Saha lay clutching his right knee after his slip, and was replaced by Djibril Cissé after just eight minutes.

Benoit Pedretti's long-range shot from outside the box was nudged over the crossbar by the Faroe Islands' goalkeeper, Jakup Mikkelsen, in the 24th minute. Mikkelsen also saved a well-struck strike from Cissé four minutes later.

Ludovic Giuly opened the scoring in the 32nd minute. Mikkelsen failed to hold a Pirse shot, and the ball rebounded into the path of Giuly, whose weakly struck kick crept under the prostrate keeper's outstretched fingers into the bottom right-hand corner.

Thierry Henry's header off a corner from Benoit Pedretti bounced off the right-hand post in the 39th minute, sending France into half-time with a slim one-goal lead.

Vieira picked up a second yellow 10 minutes into the second half, for diving in the penalty area. Henry took over the captain's armband until the new France coach, Raymond Domenech, took him off on 63 minutes, beefing up the shaky France defence by bringing on Vikash Dhorasoo.

Dhorasoo was instrumental in what could have been a second goal in the 66th minute, with a neat pass to Cissé who let the ball run on to a well-placed Pires in the area. But the Arsenal player's pass, apparently for Cissé, was cut out by a Faroese defender.

France's second goal, an easy slot-in for Cissé, came off a Giuly pass on 73 minutes.

A lacklustre victory over these Group Four outsiders, who were thumped 6-0 in their opening match in Switzerland, was France's first success in four outings.

There was more bad news for the French yesterday when Zidane said he has had no second thoughts about his retirement from internationals despite calls for him to reconsider. "It was difficult to leave the national side after 10 years," the 32-year-old Real Madrid player said yesterday. "But whenever I think about it I know it was the right decision. I've said that I've finished and that's it and there's no going back."

When asked what he thought of France's goalless draw at home to Israel in their opening World Cup qualifier on Saturday, he said he had not even watched the game.

"I was at a Madonna concert," he said. "All I can say is I hope the new players in the French side help lead the team to some great successes in the future."

FAROE ISLANDS: Mikkelsen, Thorsteinsson, Olsen, Johannesen, Jacobsen, Jacobsen (Andrew av Flotum, 68), Jakup a Borg, Frodi Benjaminsen, Johnsson, Jorgensen, Frederiksberg.

Substitutes: Flotum for Jacobson 68, Danielsen for Jorgensen 83.

FRANCE: Coupet, Gallas, Squillaci, Givet, Evra, Giuly, Pedretti, Vieira (cap), Pires, Henry, Saha.

Substitues: Cisse for Saha 8, Dhorasoo for Henry 63.

Referee: Craig Thomson (Scotland).