After a frustrating first half of missed chances, Vieira marked his 30th birthday with the breakthrough goal after 55 minutes. Henry added France's second six minutes later to give France the win they needed to progress as the second-placed team in Group G behind Switzerland.
France, whose success here was their first on the world stage since the 1998 Final, will play Spain in Hanover on 27 June. As for Togo, they return home without a point from their first World Cup campaign.
The match:
4‘: France, needing their first win at the World Cup since the 1998 Final to hope for survival, made a positive start. David Trezeguet had the first shot after the ball broke to him just inside the area off Thierry Henry, but it flashed wide.
7‘: Trezeguet brought a smart save from Kossi Agassa after heading Frank Ribery’s cross on target, but the Togo goalkeeper tipped it over.
9‘: Kader Mohamed curled a shot in at Barthez from the corner of the penalty area, but Fabien Barthez fisted it to safety.
12‘: Togo, gaining in confidence, went close when Emmanuel Adebayor clipped a volley into the side netting.
14‘: Henry played in Ribery behind the Togolese defence and he squared the ball to Trezeguet, who placed it into the net, but an offside flag had been raised against him.
15‘: Florent Malouda had a go at goal with a testing 20-metre drive, but Agassa dived at full stretch to save well.
21‘: Trezeguet continued his promising linkup play with Ribery, playing a neat one-two with him before side-footing a weak attempt at Agassa, who was worked harder by a Mikael Silvestre shot soon afterwards.
28‘: Moustapha Salifou fired a shot through the legs of Lilian Thuram and Barthez did well to block it after seeing it late. When the ball was sent straight downfield, Ribery found himself in a glorious position but lacked composure as he blasted the chance high over the bar.
39‘: Agassa showed great class and composure again with a fantastic save to keep out Malouda's thundering shot and he also saved the rebound which fell to Trezeguet, even though the French striker was in an offside position.
48‘: Ribery played a well-worked free-kick to Trezeguet, who made an intelligent darting run across the box but his shot was partially blocked by Togo captain Jean-Paul Abalo and it went out for a corner.
53‘: Henry’s backheel released Malouda, who in turn fed it to Ribery, but he still could not find the breakthrough and French desperation was visibly growing.
55‘: The impressive Ribery once again jinked at the Togo defence and passed to Patrick Vieira and the French captain celebrated his 30th birthday by spinning around and firing a right-footed shot in the corner, sparking great relief among the French players, staff and supporters (0-1).
58‘: Willy Sagnol curled in a teasing cross in towards Henry, but he tried to be too cute with his side-footed volley by using the outside of his boot and he steered it well wide.
61‘: Vieira, who painfully clashed heads with Abalo for his troubles, flicked a header on to Henry,
who produced a deft first touch and fired a low right-footer into the opposite corner to give France some much-needed breathing space (0-2).
81‘: France no longer felt the need to force the pace and they brought goalscoring skipper Vieira off in their final substitution shortly after he took a second blow to the head. The match went into a quiet, largely uneventful phase and the lively crowd in Cologne kept themselves entertained. Togo battled on in search of a goal but with no reward.
France got the World Cup victory they have been waiting eight years for, meaning they finished as runners-up behind Switzerland in Group G and they will now face Spain in Hannover in the Round of 16 on Tuesday. Togo, beset by internal problems, head home after three straight defeats.
(Source: FIFA)
