The Slower Giants

Unlike Spain and Italy, in Gdansk, France and England played at a much slower tempo their derby encounter in Donetsk.
Surely, the intense heat in far-Eastern Ukraine contributed to the players' conserving their energy.

France was the better team, but not by much.

In the 30th minute, Lescott opened the scoring with a great header, which reminded fans of the Premier League of his goal against Manchester United that gave Man. City the lead in the title chase, this past April.

But another City player, Samir Nasri, took advantage of a bad decision in an otherwise very well-disciplined English defense, to beat Joe Hart with a shot from just outside the box. 1-1, in the 39th minute, equalizing for France. And the French kept coming.

However, that was to be the final score, because neither the French nor the English risked too much in the second half.
There's no doubt that both teams accepted a draw in supposedly their toughest encounter, waiting to fight for the full three points against the weaker opponents, Ukraine and Sweden.

The man of the match, at least for me, must have been Joleon Lescott. Not only did he score England's goal, but he also deflected into a corner kick the best shot by the French that wasn't a goal. Cabaye, in the 80th minute, may have had Hart beaten with a very powerful shot, but the ball was directed outside of the goal frame by the English defender.

Overall, the result was not unexpected at all, but I'm sure everybody expects better performances than this, at least in the future, from both England and France.

Highlights:

France v England by shmooot