Cambon clinches Group B for France
Saturday, 23 July 2005
By David Farrelly at Mourneview Park

France booked their place in the semi-finals of the
2005 UEFA European Under-19 Championship and a tie
against Germany following their defeat of spirited
Armenia.

Cedron winner
The French dominated proceedings throughout and scored
from Cédric Cambon’s header after 31 minutes to clinch
first place in Group B. Armenia finished bottom with
one point from three matches on their debut in a UEFA
final tournament.

Five changes
France coach Jean Gallice, back on the sidelines after
serving a two-match ban, tinkered with his team
selection, with five changes compared to Wednesday’s
win against Norway. For Armenia, Samuel Petrosyan made
one alteration to the lineup that started the 1-1 draw
with England as Artak Hovhannisyan came in on the left
of midfield.

Fast start
Needing only a point to guarantee qualification,
France were quickly into their stride. Didier Digard
found Moussa Sow with a raking 40-metre pass for a
clear shot from 15 metres in the second minute, but
the striker fired the ball into Edel Bete’s arms. A
neat interchange involving Digard and Franck Dja
Djedje set up the latter, but he shot wide from 20
metres.

Manucharyan miss
Bete then flapped at Frederic Sammaritano’s corner on
the quarter-hour, but after the ball fell to Yohan
Cabaye, he angled his shot narrowly over the target.
Although the French had almost absolute dominance
during the opening stages, Edgar Manucharyan had a
chance when he was played clean through, but screwed a
low shot wide of Hugo Lloris’s right-hand post.

French lead
Digard again came close from 20 metres before Armenian
resistance was finally broken as Cambon got the
slightest of touches to deviate Sammaritano’s corner
into Bede’s unguarded net. It was a satisfactory
reward for French efforts, but Armenia could have
levelled four minutes before the break when
Manucharyan was first to react to Aleksandr
Petrosyan’s header, but was denied by the legs of
Lloris.

Opportunities missed
The pace slowed during the second period and although
Armenia remained competitive for the 90 minutes, it
was France who created the best opportunities. Younes
Kaboul’s goalbound header was blocked on the line by
substitute Artak Oseyan, then Dja Djedje crossed from
the goalline for Sow, who planted his header wide from
two metres with the net at his mercy.

Armenia denied
Bete denied Cabaye two minutes from time, but there
was still time for Armenia to create their best chance
of the half. Petrosyan found Manucharyan inside the
left edge of the box with an excellent cross from the
right, but once more Lloris denied the AFC Ajax
striker, parrying the ball into the ground before the
danger was cleared by a retreating defender.