LEIPZIG, Germany: France were denied a valid goal in Sunday's 1-1 World Cup Group G draw with South Korea, an angry Raymond Domenech said.

"We did not score one goal but two," the France coach said at a news conference. "The problem is that the referee only allowed us one."

He was referring to an incident after 32 minutes at the Zentralstadion when a header by midfielder Patrick Vieira from a corner appeared to cross the line before Korean keeper Lee Won-jae pushed it out.

"We could have been, and should have been, and normally would have been, 2-0 up," said striker Thierry Henry, who put France 1-0 ahead with a goal after nine minutes.

"At that moment we were clearly putting them under pressure," Domenech said. "We did exactly what we had to. If that goal had been allowed, we would have been in control. That was clearly a turning point in the match."

If Mexican referee Benito Archundia had given the goal the match would indeed have been a completely different story.

Late equalizer

Instead, South Korea grabbed a late equalizer that left the French, who started with a dull goalless draw against Switzerland, in danger of another early exit after they failed to survive the group stage at the 2002 finals.

"Referees are pretty quick to give yellow cards for no reason but when it's about a proper referee's decision, I did not see one today," Henry said.

He was referring to the second bookings of the tournament for French left back Eric Abidal and playmaker Zinedine Zidane, which means both will miss France's last group match against Togo.

"We didn't complain although we knew the ball was clearly in," Henry said of the "goal" that was not given. "We had a clear penalty against Switzerland, the ball went in today. Things are not going our way."

Domenech ruled out an official protest but said the incident should help convince world soccer's ruling body FIFA to introduce video to assist referees at major tournaments.

"We're not going to file a complaint, but we keep saying that video is useful to help out referees," the France coach said. "Sadly, we could not benefit from it today."

Vieira himself would not be drawn too much, simply saying: "It's a pity but what can we do?"

When asked about the incident, South Korea's Dutch coach Dick Advocaat was silent for a moment, then said: "It was not a goal, because the final score is 1-1."

Source: China Daily