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World Cup qualifying: France brush aside Faroes with Cisse double [Mon Sep 5th, 2005]
Lens (Reuters) - Two goals from an outstanding Djibril Cisse helped France overrun the Faroe Islands 3-0 in a World Cup qualifier.
The Liverpool striker was the best man on the pitch and was involved in all three goals, helping France boost their confidence before a tricky trip to Ireland.
The former world and European champions joined Switzerland and Ireland at the top of a tightly-bunched Group Four with 13 points from seven games.
France, with influential playmaker Zinedine Zidane back to help them, now face Ireland in Dublin in a match that could be decisive in determining who eventually wins the group.
Cisse opened the scoring on 13 minutes with a powerful header from a Florent Malouda cross.
Faroes defender Suni Olsen contributed to France's victory five minutes later when he deflected a cross from Cisse into his own net.
France were in a class of their own throughout the match against the brave but limited, largely amateur, side from the North Atlantic.
However, they missed several opportunities before Cisse completed the victory by firing under the crossbar from a fine Sylvain Wiltord pass on 76 minutes.
ACROBATIC VOLLEYS
France threatened early on through two acrobatic volleys from Cisse, the first being well saved by Faroes goalkeeper Jakup Mikkelsen, and the second flying narrowly over the crossbar.
Cisse again came close to scoring in the 12th minute with a header that went wide, but he found the net a few seconds later to put France ahead.
The hosts kept creating opportunities, and defender Willy Sagnol struck the post with a close-range shot on 34 minutes.
Zidane, who returned to international duty with Lilian Thuram and Claude Makelele in a 3-0 friendly win over Ivory Coast last month, was an instrumental figure with his creative midfield play until he was substituted in the second half.
Although Zidane left the field to a standing ovation, the most impressive player in the match was Cisse.
The Liverpool striker twice threatened the Faroes goal on the brink of half-time, forcing Mikkelsen into a diving save and then hitting the side netting from a tight angle.
The second half was just as one-sided, Patrick Vieira collecting a fine pass from Thierry Henry, his former team-mate at Arsenal, only to miss with the goal at his mercy on 52 minutes.
Henry fired wide from a free kick nine minutes later.
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