England Lose Against France

Benzema scored the first goal

England have lost against France 2-1 in a friendly match that was played at Wembley tonight. The Three Lions failed to get off to the best of starts with France dominating most of the possession in the first half. They knocked the ball around with typicla French panache in comparison to their English opponants.

In terms of performance, it has to be admitted that England were woeful.  Unable to retain possession and make any meaningful passes, they gave the ball away on numerous occasions.

England went behind early when Karim Benzema played a nice one-two with Sami Nasri around the seemingly hapless Rio Ferdinand. Benzema lashed in a low left footed shot in the area which went underneath England goalkeeper Ben Foster.

Fabio Capello gave his first international caps to Andy Carroll, Kieron Gibbs and Jordan Henderson. Two of them will probably find cause to regret this. Andy Carroll gave a good performance, winning all the balls in the air that came his way, and holding up the play and bringing in midfield players.

The other pair had an undistinguished time representing their country.

England were unable to create any clear cut chances in first half and were relying on Carroll winning battles in the air, hoofing long balls up field for the Newcastle man to challenge.

In the second half Capello made three changes, taking off Kieron Gibbs, Rio Ferdinand and Theo Walcott for Stephen Warnock, Micah Richards and Ashley Young.  Thein hope was that this would create more chances for England, but this tactic failed miserably as England fell further behind.

Bacra Sagna was allowed space and time to cross on the right hand side for Mathieu Valbuena to volley home making the score 2-0. Moments later Andy Carroll was substituted for Jay Bothroyd who was making his Three Lions debut.

England had more chances in the second half but they failed to capitalize on these opportunities.

Steven Gerrard burst through in the the French area a couple of times, only to see his efforts whisk wide of the goal.

A dangerous move - it was one of those runs from Gerrard that forced the Liverpool player to withdraw due to a hamstring problem.

Peter Crouch was then brought on for the injured Gerrard and made an instant impact getting on the end of a back post cross to volley home, making the score 2-1.  Despite this, England were unable to find an equaliser towards the end of game.

A time to gather thought for the squad, perhaps.

John Terry reveals injury woe

Terry struggling with nerve pain

Chelsea captain John Terry has revealed the he has been struggling with a nerve pain in his leg which kept him out of Chelsea's 3-0 defeat to Sunderland at the weekend, the defender has also been withdrawn from the England squad when they face France in a friendly match tomorrow night and is expected to miss Chelsea's game against Birmingham at the weekend.

The 29 year old is due to see a couple of specialists in hope of finding a cue to his long-standing injury, insisting that the injury has worsened in recent weeks and that the time has come to have a rest.

"It started towards the end of last season, but with Chelsea being in the mix until the day of the FA Cup final, I didn't have the chance to rest or pull out of games. Then I went straight to the World Cup with England.

"I had three weeks' rest after that and thought I would come back without it, but since then it has got worse and worse.

"It has been manageable up until the last two weeks, but when we played Fulham I stretched to win the ball against Clint Dempsey and it got a lot worse.

"It is at a point where I can't carry on with it. I used to be able to make it through games because the adrenaline gets going and you blank the pain out, but now there really is no decision to make.

"After games I am in agony and not sleeping at all. I used to play with pain at seven out of 10. Now it's 10 out of 10. I need to take a few weeks rest, see a couple of specialists and solve the problem."

Terry received epidural treatment last week, but the injury failed to improve and the defender is not sure when he will return to action, he added, "The epidural could have helped with the pain for between six weeks and two years. They said it works on 75 per cent of cases, but unfortunately I am in the other 25 per cent.

"Basically, I am trying whatever is suggested. I'm at my wits' end.

"I know I won't play on Saturday against Birmingham City, but beyond that there are no clues. It could be weeks, it could be months."

The Amazing Remi Gaillard

Perhaps if the French World Cup Soccer team had had Rémi Gaillard on their side they would not have left the tournament so shamelessly early.  The thirty five year old prankster has gained a massive reputation as a football trickster over the years and his awesomely accurate footwork might have come in handy for the French team a month or so ago! 

This video shows his full capacity and amazing ability to hit a target from a great distance - if these were nets here then the French would have won the World Cup!

Over the years Gaillard has infiltrated French football, including disguising himself as a Lorient player, taking part in the celebrations when the team won and being greeted by the French President, Jacques Chirac.  He also makes a lot of TV appearance and has never, despite the occasional humourlessness of the French authorities, been arrested for his pranks.

Go Gaillard!

FOOTBALL: Franck Ribery and Karim Benzema caught up in sex scandal

French internationals Franck Ribery and Karim Benzema have been caught up in a sex scandal and have been placed under judicial investigation on suspicion of soliciting sex with an under-age prostitute.

Police had been investigating a prostitution ring and the players were among those detained. If convicted both players could receive the maximum penalty of three years imprisonment.  Until the case goes to trial Franck Ribery and Karim Benzema have been released from custody pending further investigation.

"One has to ask whether he is not being made to pay for France's World Cup failure,"  exhorted Ribery's lawyer, Sophie Bottai in an attempt to gain the player some sympathy votes even though saying this is likely to infuriate the French public, already fed up to the back teeth with a team (and so its players) which represented their nation so dimally in South Africa.

In an interview with Paris Match the girl in question, who is called Zahia Dehar and is now aged 18 said, "I was Ribery's birthday present."

"Franck approached me in a Paris club. He booked me and flew me to Munich to celebrate his 26th birthday.

"He made reservations at a luxury hotel in Munich. We had sex and he paid me. I was a lovely little present, wasn't I?" Miss Dehar had pleaded with French coach Raymond Domenech not to drop the winger from France's World Cup squad, saying he had been unaware of her age.