Match Summary

England Team

France Team

The brave decision to play this friendly international, after the dreadful experiences of the French people in Paris the previous Friday, was rewarded with a wonderful tribute and declaration of solidarity from the two squads and both sets of fans.  Wembley was bathed in the French tricolor, with the blue, red and white dominating the stadium.  Never before has an opposition's national anthem been sung so heartily and so sincerely, by everyone, at the English home of football.  It was a very moving and unforgettable moment when both sets of players stood side by side on the centre circle for a perfectly observed minute's silence.

It could easily have been forgiven if the actual game of football had fallen flat after all the pre-match emotion, but to the enormous credit of both sets of players, the crowd were treated to the best friendly international seen at Wembley for years.

Both sides had good spells of possession at the start with the first decent attack coming from the visitors in the 7th minute.  Yohan Cabaye was given too much time and space and moved forward to hit a fierce shot that flew just over Joe Hart's crossbar.  A minute later though, and Hugo Lloris made a real hash of a clearance, sending it straight to his Tottenham teammate Harry Kane.  Kane attempted to find Wayne Rooney at the far post but Raphael Varane easily intercepted the ball, much to the goalkeeper's relief.  Then good play by John Stones, not for the last time on this night, showed cool authority as he strode forward with the ball confidently from defence.  It augured well for England and on 13 minutes Raheem Sterling and Nathaniel Clyne combined well before Lloris just beat Rooney to the ball.

England were keeping possession much better than against Spain, in their previous match, although France were not pressing in the way that the Spaniards had done.  In fact, for the first fifteen minutes the French were slightly subdued, understandably of course in the circumstances, but a burst from young Anthony Martial enlivened the visitors.  He broke swiftly down the left before cutting inside to fire a good low shot at goal, Hart doing well, diving to his left to save.  A minute later and it was England on the counter attack, with five men up.  Kane found Deli Alli with a fine pass and it looked as though the youngster was in.  Unfortunately poor control let Alli down and the golden chance was lost.  Rooney then saw a free-kick saved by Lloris and, as against Spain, England were finding it difficult in the attacking third, with their final pass never quite right.  A typical example came when the impressive Clyne went down the right, clear of the defence, only for a poor cross to be easily cleared.

On 31 minutes the England skipper so nearly broke the deadlock.  Kane's great pass sent the record breaker clear and Rooney's fierce shot went agonisingly close, but the wrong side of a post with Lloris beaten, the nearest to a goal so far.

England were playing well though, with plenty of good control and movement and with six minutes of the half remaining they finally broke through, and what a cracking goal it was too.  Alli made a crunching tackle to win possession for England and then moved forward to take a return pass from Rooney.  Alli continued his forward run, looked up, and fired in a tremendous shot that flew into the far top corner with Lloris left groping thin air.  What a way to open your goalscoring account for your country!

Two minutes after the goal another bad French clearance gave Kane another chance but this time the goalkeeper saved the shot, and then just before the break Sterling jinked his way into the box, but his final shot was deflected wide.  The corner was cleared but England thoroughly deserved their half-time lead.

At the start of the second half France brought on Paul Pogba and Kingsley Coman to try and pep up their attack, whilst England brought on Jack Butland for Hart in goal.  It was soon obvious that France meant business as the pace of the game quickened, but within two minutes of the restart England doubled their lead.  Again Alli won possession in midfield and sent Sterling scampering down the left.  For once the pass inside was perfect as Sterling's cross found Rooney at the far post and the skipper's volley was too hot for Lloris to handle.

That goal was a real setback to the second half plans of the French and four minutes later Kane almost made it three with a fine shot that again went just the wrong side of the post.  At the other end Martial produced a mazy dribble that took him right into the danger area, but Alli was there again to make a crucial saving tackle.  Pogba was already showing his class and he was now at the heart of the best French play.  With Olivier Giroud also now on as a substitute, France were looking to their key players to find a way back.  England were standing firm though, and very disciplined in their play.  Gary Cahill was working well with Stones and both Clyne and Kieron Gibbs were outstanding in their full-back roles.

On 59 minutes a piece of magic from Pogba almost pulled a goal back as his delightful chipped shot only just cleared the England crossbar, and then, as France increased the pressure, Pogba set up Martial with a clever back heel, but Butland was quickly out to block the shot.  It is very comforting to note that the England goalkeeping position is in very safe hands with both Hart and Butland on top of their game at the moment.

England's impressive workrate continued throughout the 90 minutes and for the remainder of the match they cleverly kept France at arm's length, and yet broke forward positively when given the opportunity.  More substitutions came and went for both sides but the game continued in an exciting vein and there were some very good performances from the England players.  Kane never stopped working, Clyne was superb up and down the right and Rooney showed all his class and experience with his touch and vision.  And in young Alli, England seemed to have found a real gem.

The last action saw Pogba fire a shot over the crossbar as the French, to their utmost credit, kept going right to the end.  It all made for a very enjoyable game on a night when two great football nations joined forces to show how this wonderful sport can bring countries and people together.  It was a night that over 71,000 spectators in the stadium and the millions watching on television will never forget.
  

Source Notes