Samir Nasri canceled out his Manchester City teammate Joleon Lescott’s header as England and France played out an enthralling draw in the Group D game at the Donbass Arena. Billed as the toughest game in Group D, both teams will be content to take a point home before meeting relatively easier opponents in Sweden and Ukraine.
Euro 2012: The Three Lions and Le Bleus split points after 1-1 draw
Everyone had an eye on the team Roy Hodgson would put out on the field and the former West Brom coach opted for the pace of Oxlade Chamberlain on the left over Stewart Downing. He also opted for Manchester United Danny Welbeck to lead the attack in the absence of Wayne Rooney while Steven Gerrard played the role of the assisting striker. France, unbeaten in 21 games, until then had a fearsome attacking trio in Nasri, Ribery and Benzema leading their attack as they looked to make a winning start to their European campaign.
The game panned out slowly with both teams exchanging passes and keeping possession until Ashley Young carved out the first chance of the game. The Manchester United midfielder slid a perfectly weighted pass through to Milner who went past Hugo Lloris but was unable to slot the ball into the empty net from the left of the box. France dominated possession after that with Cabaye and Nasri frustrating the opponents to no measure before England took the first blood.
Gerrard floated in a freekick to the far post where Joleon Lescott jumped higher than any of his teammates and headed in strongly past Lloris and into the back of the net. France upped the ante after the goal and Diarra’s header had to be well saved by Joe Hart.
The goal would come soon enough.
Nasri collected the ball on the edge of the box and took his shot quickly. The low ball caught Hart unawares as it sneaked into the bottom corner as the scores were level as the teams went into the tunnel at half time.
The second half totally belonged to France with Les Bleus making numerous attempts at goal only to be thwarted by Joe Hart. A weak pass from Milner gave the ball away to Nasri who found himself clear on goal only to be denied by his City goalkeeper before Cabaye had a powerful strike deflected wide.
Karim Benzema was undoubtedly England’s biggest danger and the Real Madrid striker tested Hart at various times from various ranges but there was no way through for the French. England brought on Jermaine Defoe but that didn’t stop the French domination as England clearly missed the cutting edge that Wayne Rooney brought to the team.
At the end, both teams would have been content with a point, England more so as they were clearly the second best team on the night while France will be left ruing their chances as they wasted a chance to go to the top of the table.
Tags: England, EURO 2012, Football, France, Joleon Lescott, Manchester City, Samir Nasri, Soccer
