Sunday, May 3, 1998 Published at 17:43 GMT 18:43 UK

Results and Reports

Sweden 0 France 0 (April 22)

David Fortune reporting on the match [42'']

Despite controlling much of the first half, World Cup hosts France were unable to capitalise on their possession as they were held by Sweden in Stockholm.

Constant rain made the conditions difficult on the already bumpy Rasunda Stadium pitch and the new-look French strike-force of Nicolas Anelka and Christophe Dugarry failed to stake a claim for the forward positions in Aime Jacquet's first-choice line-up.

French keeper Bernard Lama kept the game level

The first half started with a few sparkling midfield combinations by France with Zinedine Zidane at the heart of things. But Sweden kept the visitors at long range and went close themselves after 15 minutes when Real Sociedad's Hakan Mild was foiled by the French keeper Bernard Lama.

France continued to control the midfield but failed to carve out many clear chances. Anelka tested the Swedish keeper Magnus Hedman with a long shot but France offered little else in the first half.

Sweden, who failed to qualify for the World Cup after finishing third in 1994, continued to look the sharper up front and Lama saved a difficult shot from Andreas Andersson.

Dugarry and Anelka were replaced by Youri Djorkaeff and David Trezeguet in the second half but the changes did little to improve the French attacks. "We tried to go into a higher gear but the substitutions did not help us much," said Jacquet.

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