France

1-0

England

Ribery 32 pen

 

 


International Friendly
8pm, Wednesday 26 March 2008
Stade de France, Paris
Live on Sky Sports

90+2

The final whistle is sounded on time, as Fabio Capello tastes defeat for the first time as England manager, although his side could be considered unfortunate not to have at least drawn the game.


89

It is announced that there will be two minutes of added time as England look to find a late equaliser.


86

Cisse is played through on goal as France hit England on the counter attack, but the former Liverpool man places his effort into the side netting.


85

Ribery has a low shot of his well saved by James as the home team look to add a second and secure victory.


83

England enjoy a short spell of pressure when Downing headed Bentley's cross back into the danger zone, only for the French defence to clear with both Owen and Crouch lurking with intent.


79

France bring on striker Djibril Cisse in place of Anelka up front.


74

Ribery fires a shot wide of the target with the outside of his right foot after being set up well by Anelka.


70

Anelka's powerful shot from 25 yards sails high and wide of the England goal.


62

England introduce Glen Johnson and David Bentley to the action, replacing Beckham and Brown in straight positional changes. France also make a change with David Trezeguet replaced by Sidney Govou up front.

62

Crouch fires a shot over the bar after Owen nodded the ball to him just outside the area.


57

A good England move ends with Cole in space on the left, but his cross is caught by Couplet with men waiting in the box.


50

Malouda fires a low shot at goal, but drags it wide of the post after finding some space to line up his effort in the centre.


49

Anelka flashes a left footer just over the cross bar from a tight angle, with James well placed to make the save.


47

England win an early corner in the second half, but Beckham's flag kick from the left hand side is headed over by Crouch.


46

England kick-off the second half, as they look to find their way back into the game.

Fabio Capello makes four substitutions at the break, with Peter Crouch, Stewart Downing, Michael Owen and Joleon Lescott coming on to replace Wayne Rooney, Steven Gerrard, Joe Cole and John Terry .

45

After a short amount of added time, the referee blows for half time with England trailing their hosts by a single goal.


43

Wayne Rooney has a header saved by Coupet, after guiding Barry's cross from the left towards goal.


36

James saves well to deny Malouda after Brown's mis-cued clearance landed at his feet in the left channel.


35

Gerrard sees his long range shot deflect off William Gallas and behind for a corner kick.


31

GOAL! Franck Ribery sends James the wrong way from the penalty spot to put the hosts ahead.


30

France are awarded a penalty after Anelka is brought down in the area by James following a through ball into the area.


23

Ferdinand wins a header at the far post from Cole's corner, but Gerrard diverts his effort wide under pressure from the French defence.


22

A flowing move from England involving Gareth Barry and Gerrard ends with Joe Cole breaking into the area where he is tackled by Thuram at the expense of a corner.


20

Steven Gerrard heads over at the far post after connecting with a cross from Wes Brown from the right.

 

 

14

Beckham is inches away from connecting with a cross from Ashley Cole, which was missed by Franch goalkeeper Gregory Coupet.


11

David James is forced into a save to deny Anelka, who shot on the turn from the edge of the area.

9

Rio Ferdinand makes another good tackle, this time on Florent Malouda in the area.

7

Nicolas Anelka heads narrowly wide from a free kick played in from the right hand side.

4

David Beckham's cross from the right is headed behind for a corner by French skipper Lilian Thuram.
 

3

Rio Ferdinand makes a strong and successful tackle on Claude Makelele as the French look to make an early breakthrough.


 The game is underway, with France kicking off the game after a minute's silence in memory of popular a French commentator Thierry Gilardi.



France: 23 Gregory Coupet, 3 Eric Abidal, 5 William Gallas, 5 Claude Makelele, 7 Florent Malouda, 8 Jeremy Toulalan, Francois Clerc, Lilian Thuram (c), 20 David Trezeguet (Sidney Govou, 62), 22 Franck Ribery, 39 Nicolas Anelka (Djibril Cisse, 79)

Substitutes: 1 Mickael Landreau, 4 Philippe Mexes, 17 Sebastien Squillaci, 18 Alou Diarra, 21 Mathieu Flamini, 27 Patrice Evra

England: 1 David James, 2 Wes Brown (Glen Johnson, 62) 3 Ashley Cole, 4 Owen Hargreaves, 5 Rio Ferdinand (c), 6 John Terry (Joleon Lescott, 46) 7 David Beckham (David Bentley, 62), 8 Gareth Barry, 9 Wayne Rooney (Michael Owen, 46) 10 Steven Gerrard (Peter Crouch, 46) 11 Joe Cole (Stewart Downing, 46)

Substitutes not used: 12 Paul Robinson, 15 Wayne Bridge, 20 Theo Walcott, 21 Robert Green.

Match Officials

Referee: Florian Meyer (German)

Assistant Referees: Sonke Glindmann and Mark Borsch (Both German)

Kit Colours

France: Blue shirts, blue shorts, blue socks

England: Red shirts, white shorts, red socks