WRAPUP 3-Soccer-World-Brazil make winning start, France held

— -- (Releads with Brazil match, previous FRANKFURT) By Andrew Gray BERLIN, June 13 - Champions Brazil kicked off their World Cup campaign with a 1-0 win over Croatia in Berlin on Tuesday while France fired blanks in a scoreless draw against Switzerland and South Korea beat troubled Togo. Aiming to claim their sixth World Cup, tournament favourites Brazil won their Group F match with a long-range goal from Kaka in front of more than 70,000 fans at the Olympiastadion. Earlier, 1998 champions France could find no way past the Swiss in Group G and South Korea came from a goal down to beat troubled 10-man Togo 2-1 in the same group. Berlin was buzzing with excitement at hosting its first match of the tournament, Brazil's opener against Croatia. Brazilian fans in gold and green mingled with Croatian supporters dressed from top to toe in the distinctive red and white checks featured on their national flag. One group of Brazilian supporters partied to samba-style music on a barge complete with mini-beach and small football pitch as it floated up the river Spree. In the stadium, Brazil made a lively start but could not find a way past a well-organised Croatian side until Kaka hit a powerful curling shot from outside the area past helpless goalkeeper Stipe Pletikosa late in the first half. The Brazilians rode their luck at times in the second half as Croatia failed to make the most of their chances. Brazil coach Carlos Alberto Parreira said the win was an "excellent" result against tough opponents. "The performance could be better but it will improve in the next game," he said. "For us today it was so important to start with a win to get the confidence, to get going for the competition." RECORD RUN Brazil's win, following their triumph at the last World Cup, makes them the first team in the history of the tournament to win eight successive matches in the finals. France's result, by contrast, means they have not scored a goal in the finals since a heady night in Paris eight years ago when they beat Brazil 3-0 to win the title for the only time. Playmaker Zinedine Zidane and striker Thierry Henry could not break down the Swiss defence and things could have been worse for the French had Switzerland taken their chances. South Korea lead Group G ahead of France and Switzerland after beating debutants Togo. The Africans made a strong start on their World Cup debut despite turmoil in their camp including a players' pay dispute that prompted German coach Otto Pfister to quit last week. Pfister made a surprise return to his post the day before the match in Frankfurt and his team took a first-half lead with an impressive goal from Mohamed Kader Coubadja. But Togo captain Jean-Paul Yaovi Abalo Dosseh was sent off in the 53rd minute for bringing down Park Ji-sung on the edge of the area and Lee Chun-soo curled the freekick into the net. Substitute Ahn Jung-hwan rifled home the winner in the 72nd minute for Korea, semi-finalists as co-hosts four years ago. Togo said on Tuesday that they would decide within 24 hours whether to stick with Pfister as coach. "I don't know for the moment," the Togolese football association's secretary-general Assogbavi Komlan said when asked who would be in charge against Switzerland on Monday. Komlan made clear he was not in favour of Pfister. "I don't like Pfister," he said. "He is not a good trainer. For me, Pfister is not the coach of Togo."