France 1-0 England: Ribery ruins Beckham's tonUpdated: March 26, 2008, 3:00 AM ET
http://soccernet.espn.go.com/report?id=238013&cc=5901Franck Ribery ruined David Beckham's 100th appearance for England by scoring the winner from the penalty spot as France edged a tight international friendly in Paris on Wednesday.
Ribery, who is enjoying a stellar season with Bayern Munich, slotted home from 12 yards just after the half-hour mark as Les Bleus got back to winning ways after three matches without a victory.
The right-winger was, along with striker Nicolas Anelka, the most dangerous player on show and overshadowed Beckham, who was given a start by Fabio Capello and joined an exclusive band of players to reach triple figures in caps on the international stage.
The French were without a host of key players, such as Thierry Henry, Patrick Vieira and Karim Benzema, so coach Raymond Domenech will be satisfied with the way his team managed to subdue a full-strength England.
And in William Gallas and Lilian Thuram, Domenech had two towers of strength at the back.
He now has a month and a half to finalise his 23-man squad for this summer's European Championships and provided his main players stay fit, the French will be a danger in Austria and Switzerland.
They settled quicker after the teams observed a minute's silence before kick-off following the death of respected French presenter/commentator Thierry Gilardi on Tuesday.
The lively Anelka, now a fixture for Les Bleus up front, first headed wide a Ribery free-kick and then dribbled a shot straight at David James from 15 yards.
England kept possession well for the rest of the half and
Steven Gerrard - playing just off lone striker Wayne Rooney - had some half-chances, heading over twice from decent positions and curling another shot way over.
Ribery's winner came against the run of play, even though France had been the more penetrating all half.
Francois Clerc's through-ball was latched onto by Anelka, who was sent tumbling spectacularly by David James.
The foul was reminiscent of the one James made on Henry in the last meeting of the countries, in Euro 2004.
On that occasion, Zinedine Zidane slotted home to win the game 2-1 for the French and, four years on, Ribery made no mistake either.
In celebration, the midfielder took off his shirt to reveal a tribute to Gilardi, and was promptly booked.
And Beckham was also shown a yellow card just before half-time, for pulling Ribery's shirt.
Unlike England, who made four alterations at half-time, France were unchanged for the second period.
And they twice almost extended their lead early on, Anelka twisting and turning before firing over left-footed and Florent Malouda driving a low 25-yard shot just wide.
Beckham, industrious as ever on the right of midfield, was hauled off by Capello in the 63rd minute and was given a standing ovation.
Ribery, his opposite number, continued to steal the show and dragged a shot wide with 15 minutes left.
Domenech gave Sidney Govou and Djibril Cisse some game time in the final 30 minutes and the latter powered an effort just wide as the game drifted to a predictable conclusion.
Why England insist on playing with one forward? Should Rooney be that lone forward?