Wednesday Mar 26 2008 22:24
A first half penalty from Frank Ribery was enough to see France past an average England team as Fabio Capello lost for the first time as England manager.
Capello had given into the Beckham bandwagon and picked the former Manchester United and Real Madrid midfielder to make his 100th appearance for England.
With Rio Ferdinand given the captaincy and Gareth Barry and Owen Hargreaves paired in midfield it was a conservatively experimental line-up from the Italian.
England looked promising for spells in the first half, stringing together moves 10 or 20 passes long. Yet control without an end product proved little use and France struck just as England were looking their best.
Nicolas Anelka blazed onto a Franck Ribery pass and the Chelsea striker beat David James to the ball, flicked it past the goalkeeper and ran into the collision.
James could do little but concede a penalty in the end but his speed off the line and decision-making will be called into question.
Ribery placed the penalty to James' left and gave the home side a lead which they held with worrying ease.
Headers from Wayne Rooney and substitute Peter Crouch either side of half time gave England some hope that France could be broken down but it was the home side which looked the more likely to score.
Ribery, Anelka and Florent Malouda were a constant menace for the French and they could have bagged a goal each on another day.
More worrying for Capello was a familiar lack of creativity in the England side and even their early dominance was based on an Italian-style build up rather than an offensive surge.
The French can look forward to Euro 2008 with confidence as they aim to regain the crown they last won in 2000, while England must work hard to prepare for a difficult World Cup qualifying campaign
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