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EARNING THE CRUCIAL GOAL: French forward Franck Ribery (left) is congratulated by teammate Nicolas Anelka (right) after scoring from the spot. It gave the French a deserving 1-0 win. -- PHOTO: AFP
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SAINT-DENIS (FRANCE) - FRANCE had three strikers missing and still had no trouble beating England 1-0 on Wednesday.
England coach Fabio Capello tried all his forwards, and they all they mustered was a single shot on goal.
No wonder the French are going to the European Championship as one of the favourites and the English will be watching them on TV.
Even qualifying for the 2010 World Cup is no guarantee, after their dour play on Wednesday abruptly ended Capello's honeymoon period.
The fact that the French goal came from the penalty spot disguised an overall supremacy for a line-up without Thierry Henry, Karim Benzema and Louis Saha.
Capello does not have the luxury of such choices, and now is faced with more questions than answers.
Does he finally end the international career of David Beckham, after handing the midfielder his 100th cap?
The 32-year-old's main contribution, other than showing off his golden shoes and a couple of promising passes, was to pick up a yellow card for tugging back the excellent Franck Ribery, who scored from the spot.
It showed that Beckham has little answer to pacier and younger players.
It was the 16th caution of his international career, overtaking Paul Ince's record in the process.
After playing for 62 minutes, the Los Angeles Galaxy player left the pitch to a standing ovation.
And he gave what could be a very significant goodbye, mostly to the French fans given that most of the English had already left save for his mother, father, sisters, wife and three sons.
'The wave at the end was not a goodbye, just a thank you,' said Beckham. 'It is 100 not out as far as I am concerned.
'The most important thing for me was to prove my fitness and I felt that I did that. I'd love to be part of the squad in 2010.'
The saving grace, from Beckham's perspective, was that he was no worse than many of his teammates.
Wayne Rooney was used as a lone striker, and failed miserably, although his header straight at the goalkeeper was England's only attempt on goal.
Rooney can go it alone for Manchester United. The reason for that is he has the brilliant Cristiano Ronaldo playing behind him,.
The Portuguese is the tactical genius who can create the time and space that the Englishman thrives on.
So, what did Rooney do? Well, he ran for all he was worth. But, with no midfield magician able to help him, he became almost redundant, reported The Times.
Steven Gerrard played just behind the striker, but he simply does not possess the craftiness shared by Francesco Totti, Zinedine Zidane, Ronaldinho or Ronaldo.
His game is all about effort and workrate, and then only in a Liverpool shirt.
For England, he again had a poor game in midfield and failed to test French goalkeeper Gregory Coupet with any of his three chances.
At the back, John Terry was not his usual self when Nicolas Anelka slipped his Chelsea teammate's attention and made for goal, before being clattered by goalkeeper David James for the penalty.
He has been hurt by Capello's insistence on a captaincy audition and to see the armband given to Rio Ferdinand must have been painful. Has it rocked his confidence with England?
Who knows, but he certainly was not happy, and made it clear he wanted the captaincy back.
'I will say here and now that I want to be the England captain. I am really passionate about it,' he said.
Terry was criticised strongly for his haranguing of referee Mike Riley in the recent Premier League match at Tottenham.
In spite of the criticism, Terry maintains that his actions against Spurs were acceptable, reported the Telegraph.
'I get frustrated and I like to make my point. As captain I am entitled to ask questions.
'If Mr Capello wants someone who is going to go out there, desperate to win and do everything it takes, then I'll be his right choice. If not, that's down to him to make the decision.'
At least Ferdinand fail to rouse his teammates in any way, and that should work in Terry's favour.
Capello took off Rooney and Gerrard and reverted from 4-2-3-1 to an orthodox 4-4-2 with Peter Crouch and Michael Owen in attack for the second half.
England still did nothing. Capello saw plenty of positives, however.
'We made progress compared with the Switzerland game,' he said, referring to England's 2-1 victory over the Swiss at Wembley last month.
'I am happy because I made the team play two different ways and I could see many players. Therefore my ideas are a lot clearer for the future.'
ASSOCIATED PRESS
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