A free-kick strike In the 38th minute, Frank Lampard opened the scoring, and it seemed that the reigning European champions would begin EURO 2004 with a defeat. However, the Real Madrid playmaker equalized on the first minute of stoppage time with a brilliant free-kick strike.
A pass to the opponent And then Steven Gerrard gave a careless back pass, Thierry Henry rushed to the ball like a hawk, and the British goalkeeper David James was forced to bring down the Arsenal forward in the penalty area, for which he received a yellow card. Zidane stepped up to the spot and completed his brace, and a few seconds later the referee blew the final whistle.
Problems in defense Both teams suffered losses in the defensive line. In the absence of the suspended Rio Ferdinand and the injured John Terry, Sol Campbell and Ledley King started in the center of England's defense. For France, Chelsea defender William Gallas replaced his injured club-mate Marcel Desailly on the right flank. For Lilian Thuram, who plays for Juventus, the match against the English became his hundredth on the international stage.
First moments In the opening minutes, the French looked more active, immediately earning the right to a corner. Soon Patrick Vieira struck a decent shot from 25 meters, but the ball went over the crossbar. Then the tension subsided, and the teams played with more confidence - tension arose now at one goal, now at the other. Pirès's cross and Zidane's free kick were memorable, while the English for the time being did not have even half-chances to their credit.
Trézéguet's miss The French national team confidently controlled the ball, so Sven-Göran Eriksson's charges had few chances to prove themselves. Zidane struck a decent shot, and seconds later the "tricolors" were obliged to open the scoring - after Vieira's cross, David Trézéguet sent the ball over the goal with his head from a advantageous position.
On a starvation ration The French team's active play favorably differed from the inert actions of the English national team, and forwards Michael Owen and Wayne Rooney barely received the ball. But despite the large advantage in possession, Jacques Santini's team could not set unsolvable tasks before David James and soon found themselves in the role of the chasing side.
like a bolt from the blue The first goal in the match came like a bolt from the blue, but there was nothing surprising in the fact that it was scored from a set piece. All the more so since the one who volunteered to take the free kick was - who else? - David Beckham. The Englishman delivered a filigree cross from the right flank, and Lampard, who in the past season rose to a leading role at Chelsea, beat Mikaël Silvestre in the air and headed the ball into the near top corner of Fabien Barthez's goal. It was his third goal in 20 matches for the English national team, and the French had not conceded for 1078 playing minutes before that - but every record comes to an end once.
No substitutions At halftime, Jacques Santini decided to do without substitutions, and his faith in his charges nearly materialized into a goal at the very start of the second half, when Henry first shot straight at James and then squandered two promising chances.
Ro-oo-ney! Ro-oo-ney! But this burst of activity led to nothing, while the English perked up and began to act more actively and confidently. In the center of the British defense, Campbell and King worked as if they had played on the same team for an eternity, understanding each other at a half-glance. In the 70th minute, Darius Vassell replaced the exhausted Owen, but the hero of the next episode was still not him, but that lot fell to Wayne Rooney.
Two on one Two minutes later, England organized a quick break, during which Rooney and Vassell went two-on-one against Barthez. The Everton forward did not pass to his partner, who was in an advantageous position, and turned out to be right - in the penalty area Silvestre caught up with him with a foul, and the referee awarded a penalty.
Barthez's feats The Manchester United defender received a yellow card, but the score of 1:0 and the 11-meter kick that Beckham was preparing to take promised nothing good for France. The England captain struck into the right corner, but Fabien Barthez dived there too - and to the boundless joy of the fans in blue, he saved his goal from a second goal. Minutes later, Barthez again entered the game - he misjudged his position on Vassell's shot, and the ball hit him right in the nose. But the main thing - the goal remained untouched, and soon the dramatic denouement came.
France - England - 2:1 Goals: Lampard 38, Zidane 90+1, 90+3 - from a penalty. Missed penalty - Beckham 73 - goalkeeper. France: Barthez, Gallas, Thuram, Silvestre (Sagnol 78), Lizarazu, Pirès (Wiltord 76), Makélélé (Dacourt 90), Zidane, Vieira, Henry, Trézéguet. England: James, G. Neville, King, Campbell, Ash. Cole, Beckham, Lampard, Gerrard, Scholes (Hargreaves 76), Owen (Vassell 70), Rooney (Heskey 76).
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