"Pushing, shoving, elbowing, the French were allowed to run through the full Continental book of obstruction, yet the most innocuous England tackle was punished." - Monday, 16 May 1955, Daily Mirror

"It was a bad performance. Our young players failed!" - Sir Stanley Rous, F.A. Secretary  
"We did not use the ball well and there was too much individualism!" - Walter Winterbottom
  

After the euphoria of the magnificent win against Scotland, England were brought back down to earth by France on this the first leg of their 1955 summer tour. It was a very disappointing performance by England and the Union Jacks in the crowd were waving in a rather forlorn way at the end. Once again the continental style of play contrasted greatly to England's and the gap in class seemed to widen again.

Nearly 55,000 people packed into the Colombes Stadium to see France quickly move into their stride. Marche, their captain, soon latched on to Stan Matthews and subdued the great man in a better way than many defenders before him. It was also obvious why France had had such a good season. Wins against Sweden, Germany and Spain, combined with a good draw at Belgium, had boosted their confidence and now they were looking to add the biggest scalp of all.

England looked sluggish and for long spells the quick and delightful football of the French stole the honours. Kopa, Glovacki, Bliard and the long-legged coloured player Louis showed some super skills. Alas, the English challenge never really got going. Matthews was marked out of it by Marche and with Ron Flowers having a quiet debut, thus making Don Revie ineffective, they rarely threatened.

Only Dennis Wilshaw looked dangerous for the visitors and he put in some spirited attempts. Ironically, despite the quality of France's football, the goal that settled the match came from a penalty. Indeed, some questionable refereeing decisions had a big say in the outcome.

In the 21st minute, Blunstone was sent sprawling by a reckless challenge in the French penalty area. To England's disgust the German official waved play on. It was a different story some 15 minutes later, though. This time Peter Sillett brought down the elusive Vincent in the England box and the referee showed no hesitation in awarding the spot-kick. There was no doubting his decision but this foul was no less obvious than the one against Blunstone. Kopa stepped up calmly to beat Bert Williams with his shot and the French fans went wild with delight.

After the interval, Kopa, who was outstanding throughout, and Vincent, both crashed fierce shots against the England goalposts and the writing was on the wall. Bliard featured in one amazing incident when he found himself clean through. Believing he was offside he simply tapped the ball to Williams, only afterwards realising the whistle had not blown. Williams, always the busier of the two goalkeepers, then made flying saves from Bliard and Vincent. Despite all of this French pressure, England could still have won the match. On 62 minutes they began an eight-minute spell when they might easily have scored three times.

First Wilshaw sent Nat Lofthouse clean through, only for his shot to strike Remetter's body as the 'keeper came out. Then, England's best move of the game involving Duncan Edwards, Revie and Wilshaw ended with the latter also finding his shot somewhat fortuitously blocked by Remetter's body. Finally, Matthews, with a marvellous piece of skill, killed a high pass superbly to set up Lofthouse. This time the centre-forward did beat Remetter, only to see Penverne appear from nowhere to clear off the goal line.

That was the end of England's efforts and at the end France did a lap of honour to celebrate their famous victory. As for England, only Billy Wright and Edwards could be totally happy with their performances and the party now moved on to Spain.
     

Peter Sillett, making his debut at right-back, conceded the thirty-sixth minute penalty from which the great Raymond Kopa scored the winning goal for France. Just a month earlier Sillett's penalty goal against Wolves had virtually clinched the League championship for Chelsea, and forced Wolves into settling for runners-up place. Ron Flowers, making his debut alongside his Wolves skipper Billy Wright, had to wait three years for his second cap and then won forty in a row - an unbroken sequence beaten only by Billy's seventy consecutive appearances. The nearest England came to scoring was when Frank Blunstone was unceremoniously pulled down as he shaped to shoot. England appeals for a penalty were turned down, while the German referee had no hesitation in awarding the penalty to France for a less obvious foul by Sillett.
  

England began her May Continental tour with a 1-0 defeat by a French team which had already beaten Germany, Spain, and Sweden, England, with two new 'Under-23' caps, also did not play as well as expected. The game was hard but scrappy, and the English forwards seldom co-ordinated their movements in the way they had done at Wembley. Nevertheless they were resented with enough chances to win, if only they had taken them, and they could be said to have been unfortunate to have lost as a result of a penalty-kick (taken by Kopa).
Williams made several splendid saves and Wright defended as brilliantly as ever; our wing-halves and inside-forwards on the other hand showed a general lack of constructive idea. The French captain and left-back clung to Matthews like a leech, and on that foundation the home team steadily built up a mid-field superiority, with left-half Louis the outstanding player. It was a disappointing and somewhat discouragement start to the tour.