Soccer-France fell into Hampden Park trap say players

CLAIREFONTAINE, France, Oct 8 (Reuters) France were lured into a Scottish trap in their upset 1-0 defeat at Hampden Park in a Euro 2008 qualifier, French players said today.

The result left World Cup runners-up France second in Group B with six points from three matches while Walter Smith's Scotland top the table with a maximum nine points.

''We played the way they wanted us to play,'' captain Patrick Vieira told a news conference.

''They were looking for a battle, for tackles, because they are more at ease than us in this pattern,'' the Inter Milan midfielder added.

''They knew they were playing a stronger team so they did the minimum and just waited for set pieces.'' France have conceded their last five goals from set pieces.

Fellow midfielder Claude Makelele said France tried to rush things after failing to score before the interval.

''We badly wanted to win, we badly wanted to score and we just rushed things as they expected us to do. We fell into their trap,'' he said.

Scotland held out for the first half and defender Gary Caldwell scored the winner in the 67th minute when he latched on to a corner to beat goalkeeper Gregory Coupet, who had until then spent a quiet afternoon.

Coach Raymond Domenech said: ''In the first half, it was too nice, too easy.

''We know that when everything is alright, when you are sure to win, there is always a time when you wake up and it's already too late.'' Vieira, looking ahead to France's next qualifier against Faroe Islands in Sochaux, said: ''We will have to draw the lesson for Wednesday's game.'' France had not lost away in 23 World Cup or European Championship qualifying games since a 2-0 defeat against Bulgaria on September 9, 1992.

REUTERS AB BS1935