France 0 : 0 Switzerland

France take on Switzerland
Zinedine Zidane leads France against Switzerland in the influential playmaker's last World Cup campaign. The 1998 World Cup winner's France are aiming to have a better tournament than in 2002 where they suffered an embarrassing first round exit. Switzerland are confident they can overcome the stiff opposition and set themselves up for the second round.

Team Line-Up
France: 16-Fabien Barthez; 19-Willy Sagnol, 15-Lilian Thuram, 5-William Gallas, 3-Eric Abidal; 11-Sylvain Wiltord, 4-Patrick Vieira, 10-Zinedine Zidane (c), 6-Claude Makelele, 22-Franck Ribery; 12-Thierry Henry Switzerland: 1-Pascal Zuberbuehler; 23-Philipp Degen, 20-Patrick Mueller, 4-Philippe Senderos, 3-Ludovic Magnin; 16-Tranquillo Barnetta, 6-Johann Vogel (c), 7-Ricardo Cabanas, 8-Raphael Wicky; 9-Alexander Frei, 11-Marco Streller Referee: Valentin Ivanov (Russia)

1. min.
Kick-Off France vs. Switzerland
Kick-off between Group G's two top teams on paper. Both sides know that whoever wins here will have one foot in the next round. France take to the pitch with a lone striker, Thierry Henry. Switzerland have a more attacking formation with Marco Streller alongside top scorer Alex Frei in the front line.

2. min.
Sunny Stuttgart
A beautiful evening in Stuttgart with the temperature hovering around 30 degrees Centigrade.

3. min.
Zidane starts first French attack but his pass fails to reach Ribery on the edge of the box

5. min.
Switzerland make their first move forward but stiff French defending stops the flow

6. min.
First French Shot
Zidane feeds Wiltord on the right and his cross finds the head of Henry but the Arsenal striker couldn't direct his header on goal.

7. min.
France are in control, disturbing the Swiss who are trying to settle and find their feet.

9. min.
Henry with a cross from the left but Switzerland clear.

10. min.
An interesting game at the moment with both Switzerland and France holding the ball and attempting to set up their attackers

12. min.
Ricardo Cabanas has Switzerland's first shot from outside the box but his effort goes right and wide. No trouble for Barthez.

14. min.
France on the attack again. Magin brings down Wiltord.

14. min.
Zidane's free-kick is cleared for a corner by Wicky

14. min.
The ball falls to Vieira after the corner but the midfielder can't control his shot which goes flying over the bar

16. min.
Switzerland are tackling hard but making sloppy mistakes - France in control

17. min.
The Swiss are trying the long ball from midfield but the French defense is standing firm and hasn't been troubled yet

19. min.
Swiss Shot
Barnetta tries a long range shot from 25 meters out but Barthez plucks it easily out of the air

21. min.
Zidane fires a pass 30 metres for Henry who plays ball square across the box but no French players on hand to tap it in.

23. min.
Switzerland steal the ball off France and Gallas brings down Cabanas 30 meters out

24. min.
Swiss Chance
Swiss free-kick taken by Barnetta flies over French defense crashes off the post and Alex Frei is all alone in front of goal but shoots over the bar

26. min.
Switzerland have more of the possession now and really should be one nil in the lead.

27. min.
France playing lovely combination football now but the Swiss defense is standing firm and the French can't find the final killer pass

29. min.
With almost half an hour played the game is pretty even. France have had more of the ball but Switzerland had the best scoring opportunity so far.

31. min.
Switzerland give the ball away again and Henry passes to Ribery but his off-balance shot goes over the bar from 20 meters out.

32. min.
Henry tests Zuberbühler in the Swiss goal who manages to gather at the second attempt and save a corner

34. min.
Zidane sets up another attack with a great pass to Ribery but he's closed down by the Swiss defenders

35. min.
Zidane floats a high ball into the box which is picked from the air wonderfully by Zuberbühler

37. min.
Zidane sets up another forward move with a high ball for Henry. The ref's assistant flags offside after a substantial delay.

38. min.
France Chance
France have a great chance to score after a mistake by Senderos. But Ribery chooses not to shoot and plays the ball behind Henry. His shot hits Magnin's arm but the ref waves play on.

39. min.
Zidane with another wonderful ball to Henry who shoots himself rather than supplying Vieira in the middle and Zuberbühler saves. Zidane is on top form at the moment!!

41. min.
Henry is down injured holding his upper thigh. The French fans are booing because the Swiss have not kicked the ball out of play.

42. min.
The Swiss kick out to allow Henry time for assistance. Henry is back on and now the Swiss are booing because they believe he was play-acting.

44. min.
Sagnol hits a high ball into the box which floats too far and goes behind for a goal kick

44. min.
Yellow Card
Marco Streller gets a yellow card for delaying tactics after standing in front of the ball on a French free kick

45. min.
One minute stoppage time added

45+1. min.
Half Time
Half time in Stuttgart. France had the upper hand and came close to scoring with some fantastic passes from the great Zinedine Zidane. The Swiss could have snatched one too but failed to make the most of it. We can look forward to an interesting and exciting second half in a game that could go any way at the moment.

46. min.
Second Half Begins
France kick off the second half still searching for their first World Cup goal since the legendary final in 1998 against Brazil

46. min.
Both teams unchanged for the second half

47. min.
France start the first attack of the second half. Magnin stops Sagnol and clears for corner

47. min.
Zuberbühler no problem in catching the ball off the corner

49. min.
Zidane feeds Ribery who plays across the edge of the box but Vieira miscues his shot right and wide.

50. min.
Degen picks up ball outside French box and stopped by three French defenders

51. min.
Makele wins ball in own half. Long pass to Henry who gains a throw in

52. min.
Free-kick to Switzerland after a push by Zidane

54. min.
Long free kick out of French half. Ribery looses ball but Switzerland lacking ideas and give away ball needlessly.

56. min.
Yellow Card
Philipp Degen is given a yellow card for a foul on Zidane

57. min.
Swiss Substitution
Daniel Gygax comes on for Marco Streller in an effort to kick-start the Swiss midfield.

57. min.
Slow Start
The second half has got off to a slow start with neither team risking much and little action in the front lines

59. min.
Wicky is caught ball watching in midfield and Henry is stopped only by a great tackle from his Arsenal teammate Senderos

60. min.
Switzerland set up a rare attack with a through pass to Alex Frei. Gallas remains cool and clears the danger.

62. min.
Switzerland's Barnetta strides into the box but his half shot half pass is cleared for a corner.

63. min.
The way the game is going one goal could settle things. France look the more lively but Switzerland have had the occasional chance.

64. min.
Yellow Card
Abidal gets a yellow card for kicking away the ball after a foul

65. min.
Barthez squinting in the sun punches away a cross from Magnin

65. min.
Gygax comes agonizingly close to scoring with a header but Barthez saves from close range

67. min.
Switzerland have another free kick on the right side of the box after a foul by Ribery

69. min.
Magnin's free kick comes to nothing and easily cleared

70. min.
France Substitution
Ribery is taken off and replaced by Louis Saha from Manchester United

72. min.
Yellow Card
Ricardo Cabanas becomes the fourth Swiss player to be booked

73. min.
Yellow Card
Zidane booked for taking free kick too early. At the second attempt Henry tries a glancing header but fails to hit the target.

75. min.
Swiss Substitution
Johann Djourou replaces Patrick Müller

77. min.
France have little to offer as the game is dying down. Maybe another substitution can breathe new life into the team.

78. min.
Zidane has failed to make any impression in the second half after an impressive first 45 minutes.

80. min.
A terrible cross from Vieira brings boos from the French fans who are getting impatient at the lack of vision from the former World Cup winners.

81. min.
Swiss Substitution
Rafael Wicky is taken off in exchange for Xavier Margairaz in the Swiss team's final substitution

82. min.
Wiltord makes surging run and plays a neat one-two with Zidane but the ball flies too far and into the hands of the keeper

85. min.
French Substitution
Vikash Dhorasoo comes on for Sylvain Wiltord

86. min.
Philipp Degen is limping but cannot be replaced as the Swiss have used up all their substitutes

88. min.
Both teams seem to have settled for a draw. The second half has been disappointing compared to the first.

89. min.
France have a last free kick on the right. Zidane to hit. Zuberbühler comes to take it but fumbles and the Swiss manage to clear.

90. min.
Dhorasoo misses by inches after Zidane flicks a ball into the box

90+1. min.
3 minutes stoppage time added as Swiss awarded dubious free-kick

90+3. min.
Sagnol given yellow card

90+3. min.
Yellow Card
Yellow Card given to Alex Frei for deliberately touching the ball off the Swiss free-kick

90+4. min.
Final whistle in Stuttgart. All in all the game was disappointing after a promising first half. Zinedine Zidane lacked bite in the second forty five minutes after impressing in the first half. Both teams may be happy with the point but the French press is sure to ask questions after France play another World Cup game without scoring a goal. Switzerland will be happy with the result knowing that they have a great chance of finishing top of the group. The one thing both sides will definitely be unhappy about is the trigger-happy Russian referee that branded 8 yellow cards, 5 for Switzerland and 3 for France in what was basically a pretty clean and fair game.