Host France, Colombia Move On

Host and defending champion France and South American champion Colombia on Sunday advanced to the semifinals of the FIFA Confederations Cup with victories over New Zealand and Japan, respectively.

The French overwhelmed the Kiwis, 5-0, in front of 36,842 at Paris, where previously unheralded AS Monaco midfielder Ludovic Giuly created two goals and scored one on a volley in overtime. New Zealand exited the competition after losing three consecutive matches and being outscored, 11-1.

Olivier Kapo, Thierry Henry, Djibril Cisse and Robert Pires also scored for France, which will play Brazil, Cameroon or Turkey, depending on which team finishes second in Group B, in Thursday’s semifinals.

“Whoever our next opponent will be we’ll have to cope with it,” France Coach Jacques Santini said. “But what makes me happy is that we played in a very collective way. All the goals we scored were the result of moves involving a great number of players. They were not mere individual efforts.”

Colombia had more of a struggle before overcoming Japan, 1-0, on a goal by Giovanni Hernandez of Deportivo Cali in front of 24,541 at Saint-Etienne, France.

An error by Japanese midfielder Yasuhito Endo allowed Hernandez to control the ball, spin around and beat goalkeeper Seijo Narazaki with a shot from about eight yards.

Barring a United States upset of unbeaten Cameroon today, Colombia will play the African champion in the semifinals.

Real Is Champion

Real Madrid, proving for perhaps the last time in the next several years that it can win the Spanish league championship without David Beckham in the lineup, clinched its 29th national title Sunday with a 3-1 victory over Athletic Bilbao on the last day of the season.

Real Sociedad, which had led the league for most of the season before a late string of poor results, won its final match, 3-0, over Atletico Madrid. To win the title for the first time in 21 years, Real Sociedad needed Real Madrid to lose.

That was unlikely to happen with Real Madrid being cheered on by 75,000 at its Santiago Bernabeu Stadium. Ronaldo scored twice for Coach Vicente del Bosque’s team and fellow Brazilian Roberto Carlos scored to leave Real Madrid two points clear at the top of the table.

Del Bosque, whose star-studded roster makes selecting a starting 11 his most difficult job, praised all the players, and especially those who seldom get on the field.

“It is a good time to remember all those players who have not played as much as they would have liked,” he said. “They have also been very important in this triumph.”

Athletic Bilbao’s loss, combined with Barcelona’s 2-0 victory over Celta de Vigo, gave Barcelona sixth place and a berth in next season’s UEFA Cup, keeping intact its record of never having failed to qualify for European competition.

Former Manchester United midfielder Beckham, who rejected Barcelona in favor of Real Madrid, will join the new champions July 1.

Quick Passes

Manchester United has made a $4.95-million offer for Cameroon national team midfielder Eric Djemba-Djemba, which the 22-year-old player said Sunday has been accepted by his French club Nantes.... Paris Saint-Germain said United Coach Sir Alex Ferguson made illegal contact with Ronaldinho on Saturday by visiting the under-contract player at Brazil’s hotel before the Brazil-U.S. Confederations Cup match....FC Copenhagen won the Danish championship for the third time when it clinched the title with a 4-1 victory over AGF Aarhus on Sunday....Deportivo La Coruna’s Dutch striker, Roy Makaay, led the Spanish league with 29 goals, followed by Ronaldo and Real Sociedad’s Turkish forward Nihat Kahveci, each with 23.