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Steady France float Ribery's boat
By Christian Chatelet from Paris
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Nicolas Anelka went down under a challenge from
David James to give France a penalty (¿Getty Images)
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Franck Ribery felt France's contained performance
against England was "a good sign for the future" as his penalty
proved to be the only goal in Paris.
Anelka fouled
In a game of few chances, two players with fond memories of previous matches
against England made the difference for Raymond Domenech's side. To begin
with, Chelsea FC's Nicolas Anelka, who made his international breakthrough
by scoring both goals in a 2-0 win for France at Wembley in 1999, was
floored by goalkeeper David James to earn the spot-kick. That allowed
Ribery to convert, the 24-year-old having also scored to qualify Les Bleus
for the 2006 UEFA European Under-21 Championship at England's expense.
'Very serious'
"It was a good game, very serious," commented the match-winner
afterwards. England barely troubled France goalkeeper Gregory Coupet,
in fact, and Ribery added: "Defensively, we were very steady and
that's a good sign for the future." Domenech was equally pleased
with a performance which saw France play within themselves but hang on
for a comfortable win. "It was maybe not a great show but it was
a clever performance from my team," explained the coach. "They
could not find a way to attack us and finally resorted to using long balls.
It's in the spirit of what we need to do to go a long way at the EURO."
Late arrivals
With France facing Romania, the Netherlands and Italy in Group C, Domenech
is expected to select his UEFA EURO 2008T squad on 9 or 10 May, and while
he has been naming 40-man squads for recent friendlies he insists he has
a firm idea of his final selection: "I already have an idea of how
the list will look but we know that many things can happen in the last
two months." Of course, any wild-card selections will surely look
to Wednesday's goalscorer for inspiration, with Ribery having been a surprise
inclusion for the 2006 FIFA World Cup and a sensation ever since.
Euro2008.uefa.com,
27 March 2008
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