French Wizard Dispatches England with Moments of Magic

Two goals in injury time from French magician Zinedine Zidane denied England an historic victory over the European Champions in Lisbon on Sunday, winning the Group B match 2-1. The first of this tournament's "clash of the titans" saw defending champions France face the challenge of possibly the strongest England team to begin a championship tournament for nearly 15 years. The number of world stars making an appearance was dazzling from the off with some of the game's most coveted players taking the field in Lisbon in a show of talent worth hundreds of millions of euros. The two teams, captained by Real Madrid stars David Beckham and Zinedine Zidane, set off at a cracking pace with the French whizzing the ball from flank to flank. The speed of the French attack seemed to take the English by surprise and were entrenched around their own penalty area for the first five minutes. Robert Pires and Patrick Vieira continued to probe the England defenders but keeper David James was equal to the first few efforts that floated near his goal.