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Ribery penalty hands Capello first loss as England boss

26/03/2008

A first-half penalty from Franck Ribery earned France a 1-0 victory over England in the international friendly in Paris.

The result meant Fabio Capello was beaten as England manager for the first time in his reign, while David Beckham was denied a win on his 100th cap.

The 32-year-old midfielder became only the fifth Englishman to play 100 times for his country in a match that never got going.

Both England and France looked unwilling to commit in the early stages of the friendly, which produced little until Nicolas Anelka won a penalty for the hosts.

The Chelsea striker went down after beating Portsmouth goalkeeper David James to the ball inside the penalty area and the referee gave a spot kick.

Ribery sent James the wrong way to put France ahead after 32 minutes but was booked for taking off his shirt to reveal a tribute to French TV commentator Thierry Gilardi, who died yesterday.

Fabio Capello rung the changes at the halfway stage, removing John Terry, Joe Cole, Steven Gerrard and Wayne Rooney and bringing on Joleon Lescott, Stewart Downing, Peter Crouch and Michael Owen.

France came close to another goal after 50 minutes when Florent Malouda's low shot went just wide after good movement from David Trezeguet.

Owen Hargreaves nearly picked out Downing with a long ball but Gregory Coupet was out to meet the Middlesbrough winger before he could get to the ball.

Beckham departed to a warm reception mid-way through the second period and was replaced with David Bentley, while Glen Johnson came on for Wes Brown.

France nearly added a second in the last five minutes when Ribery set Djibril Cisse free, but the former Liverpool player could only find the side-netting.