Franck Ribéry 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 Ribéry 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 Grégory Coupet, in fact, and Ribéry 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 2008™ 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 Ribéry having been a surprise inclusion for the 2006 FIFA World Cup and a sensation ever since.
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