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England Dominate France in Euro 2004 Draw
By R. Kilroy-Silk
The English side drew with France yesterday during the Euro 2004 play offs.
The English played a strong game dominating the field from the start to the very end of the game over a weak and badly organised Froggy team.
The first goal, Lampard's 38th-minute header put England in clear command and was the first goal given up by France in 1,078 minutes - 12 games.
Beckham missed a chance to make it 2-0 after Wayne Rooney — capping a brilliant 40-metre run down the left side - was pulled down by Mikael Silvestre. French goalkeeper Fabien Barthez had an unprecedented stroke of pure luck and guessed correctly and dived right to stop Beckham's spot kick.
By the end of play the French had scraped an equalising goal due to a free kick by Zidane, however everyone agreed that despite the draw the English had clearly played a far superior game.
"We battled for 89 minutes to win the game and fought really well," said Beckham. “We deserved to win.”
Editors note: After the proper end of the game in so called extra time, faced with a spot-kick, Zidane misjudged and kicked the ball right while James dived left unfortunately giving France a theoretical 2-1 paper victory.
See also: French Maire suspended for gay marriage
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