WHERE NOW FABIO?

 

The last time we faced the France was in a Euro 2004 Group B match at the Estadio da Luz. Sven was the manager and it was a game we should have won but France came away with the 2-1 win after turning it around in injury time. Keegan's men did slightly better, taking a 1-1 draw away from a friendly at the Stade de France in '00 but for the last time we beat the French you have to go back to the Glenn Hoddle era and a mini-tournament in the summer of '97 called Le Tournoi de France. Alan Shearer getting the only goal at the Stade de la Mosson.

Well this time round it was Fabio Capello's second match in charge with two more friendlies to go before the 2010 World Cup qualifiers. The Three Lions were headed to the Stade de France to face a French side that are one of the favourites for Euro 2008. Capello fielded what was best described as a 4-2-3-1. Rio(captain) and Terry in central defence, Hargeves and Barry defensive midfield, Becks(for his 100th cap), Gerrard and Joe Cole attacking midfield.

Well the opening minutes of the match were certainly promising. England dominated the play and had pretty much all of the chances. Admittedly it didn't look like a classic, the French seemed to be trying to cruise their way through the game but the penalty they got in the 32nd minute was well against the run of play. Still, Franck Ribery stuck it in the net and after that Les Bleus got their act together. England needed some kind of response in the second half.

In the second half, we we shifted to a more normal looking 4-4-2 and that seemed to provide an initial spark. However that came to nothing and that was really all there was. The French were just passing it around at leisure and the England defence were just playing like they were holding out for a non-existant 0-0. Credit to James for not conceding any more goals but this made for depressing viewing and Fabio has got a lot of work to do.

Elsewhere, Scotland faced Croatia at Hampden Park for George Burley's first game in charge. Nico Kranjaer opened the scoring for the Croatians early on though Kenny Miller levelled the match before half time. The Croatians were the better side in the second half but Scotland managed to hold out. Burley would have wanted a home win but it could have been worse.

Wales faced Luxumbourg at the Josy Barthel Stadium. The best idea the minnows seemed to have to to try and hack the classier Welsh players. Freddy Eastwood had other ideas though and hit the net either side of half time. The Welsh didn't really need to do much more after that and just cruised to the finish. Why John Toshack thought that a friendly against Luxumbourg was a good idea I'm not sure but it was job done at least.

Northern Ireland faced Georgia at Windsor Park. Kyle Lafferty(Burnley) opened the scoring for the home side with David Healy making it two before Lafferty got his second to put NI 3-0 up at half time. Healy then put the ball in his own net but and hope Georgia had of a turnaround ended with a penalty miss and Levan Kobiashvili finished his own side off - nothing to complain about for Nigel Worthington!

Back to Premiership action next week.

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