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.

Mourinho: Rooney will stay at United

Real Madrid coach Jose Mourinho has dismissed speculation that Manchester United striker Wayne Rooney might leave the club after falling out with his boss Alex Ferguson. Much media speculation had suggested that Rooney wants to leave Old Trafford after rejecting signing an extension to his current deal as his contract is due to run out in 2012.

"I don't think he will leave. I think the big man (Ferguson) will persuade him to stay," Mourinho said.

There were reports that Rooney would join Real Madrid in January, but sporting director Jorge Valdano told Spanish television station Telemadrid.

"We have two marvellous players up front in Cristiano Ronaldo and Gonzalo Higuain and they proved they were able to score 60 goals between them last season,"

"Mesut Ozil and Angel Di Maria will help... The question is who do we take out if Rooney comes? We have young players at the club with a lot to prove, such as Karim Benzema, and at best we are sorted out for the next 10 years."

But elsewhere for Real Madrid, Jose Mourinho has claimed that the Galacticos are close to signing European and World Cup winner Zinedine Zidane up to the coaching set-up at the Bernabeu.

"This seems to be too big for me to talk about, it's for the chairman to do," Mourinho said.

"When we've made a decision, we will make it known. But I feel that [Zidane] is close to being linked with the professional team.

"Zidane is part of the heritage of football and of Real Madrid. He should, I believe, be tied to football, tied to Real Madrid and he should be happy."

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.