French media viewed the national side's opening 1-1 draw with England as encouraging, praising a solid defence that had been a worry before the tournament started.
The website of sports daily L'Equipe assessed that Laurent Blanc's side even "deserved more" from the Group D encounter and said that "once again, Les Bleus showed character" by coming back from 1-0 down.
So Foot magazine for its part congratulated the team for its 22nd straight match without a defeat, praising the defence and goalscorer Sami Nasri as having mostly played well and the scoreline. Overall, the match was "not bad, not good", it said.
On France's defence, lequipe.fr singled out Philippe Mexes who had "laid to rest any doubts about his form."
Source: AFP
