England Rebound Against Tournament Favorites

After falling behind just four minutes into the match, courtesy of a Remy volley, it appeared the English were going to follow up their embarrassing performance against the Germans with an equally disappointing result against the French.  England were able to level things just fifteen minutes later through a Darren Bent strike, but quickly conceded two more goals to Nasri and Benzema.  With five minutes remaining in the first half English manager, David Burns, switched his teams formation allowing for Ashley Young to move to play in behind Bent.  The move paid off immediately as Bent teed up Young just inside the 18 yard box to bring the score back to within one and give the English some well deserved momentum going into the second half.

England were a much different team during the second half.  Burns brought on Milner to strengthen the left side by providing support to Baines, who struggled early with keeping up with Ribery and Benzema.  England were much more defensively organized in the second half, never losing their shape and only allowing one shot (off target) to the French. The offense was hitting on all cylinders as Gerrard and Lampard took turns pulling the strings from the center of the park, creating several fantastic opportunities for Bent and his eventual replacement Sturridge.  Lloris was able to keep the French on top until Gerrard finally broke through in the 72nd minute with a low strike that found its way into the back of the net. Despite England's second half dominance, it appeared they would only come out with a point, until Glen Johnson was fouled from behind as he was trying to shoot just 20 yards out from goal in the 91st minute.  With Baines, Gerrard and Young all hovering around the ball, it was Lampard who ultimately stepped up and beat Lloris for the winner. 

"I'm extremely pleased with the result today.  Tactically, we got everything right and first once its seems like football triumphed over FIFA.  We started slow but made the necessary adjustments needed to take control of the game. We'll celebrate tonight, but then we must turn our attention to the Irish.  Ashely (Young) proved today he can be dangerous from multiple positions so we have a lot of different options we can try to use against what I'm sure will be a very well prepared Irish team."