'Get it out of the way', Fabio Capello was urged in the build-up to his second game in charge of England, and last night in the Stade de France, the Italian did exactly that. With little riding on a friendly with France, he suffered his first defeat as England manager. Better, surely, to do it now than when it really matters.

Oh, and he also awarded a certain David Beckham his 100th England cap. Wearing golden boots, 'Goldenballs' was unable to celebrate his century in style before he was withdrawn in the 63rd minute of his side's 1-0 defeat.

There were early flashes of the brilliance of old, but Beckham had already become a peripheral presence when Franck Ribery scored France's winner in the 32nd minute.

Ribery converted from the penalty spot after David James had upended the impressive Nicolas Anelka, and England's limp second-half display confirmed just how big a task Capello has inherited from his predecessor, Steve McClaren.

France will head to Euro 2008 buoyed by a victory over their rivals from across the Channel, while Capello will spend the next five months pondering how to ensure England improve on last night's listless performance when they kick off their World Cup qualifying campaign in September.

His side were pedestrian in Paris, but for all that Capello will rue the end of his unbeaten record, yesterday's game was about just one man. Eleven-and-a-half years after he made his maiden international appearance against Moldova, Beckham became only the fifth player in history to claim a century of England caps. When he hangs up his boots for a final time, he will be remembered as one of his country's all-time greats.

Quite when that will be is difficult to gauge, as yesterday's return to the starting line-up made it two international comebacks in the space of six months.

Dropped and hastily recalled under Steve McClaren; overlooked and hastily recalled by Capello. Hillary Clinton has nothing on England's number seven when it comes to being a comeback kid.

Capello clearly continues to regard Beckham as an integral part of his plans - the Italian even talked of the former skipper being involved at the 2010 World Cup finals earlier this week - and last night's outing was an opportunity for the LA Galaxy midfielder to prove he remains a viable international force despite his semi-retirement in the States.

Like a majority of his team-mates, it was a case of nearly but not quite. There were fleeting glimpses of Beckham's quality - most notably when he flashed a fantastic fifth-minute cross across the face of the six-yard box and only narrowly failed to connect with Ashley Cole's first-half cross - but he only flickered into life sporadically, and his lack of pace meant he never threatened to get behind full-back Eric Abidal.

Beckham was not the only player celebrating a comeback, of course, as Rio Ferdinand took control of the captain's armband four years after he served an eight-month ban for missing a drugs test.

While Capello's refusal to tolerate John Terry's haranguing of referee Mike Riley at Tottenham earlier this month is commendable, his decision to entrust Ferdinand with the captaincy was perplexing given the defender's chequered past.

The England boss is clearly trying out a variety of options before he names a permanent captain in September, and while he was powerless to prevent Anelka winning a first-half penalty, Ferdinand appeared to relish his leadership role.

Terry is likely to get his audition in May's friendly against the United States, but the Chelsea centre-half's failure to reappear for the second half of last night's game hardly augured well for his prospects.

Steven Gerrard and Wayne Rooney were also second-half absentees as Capello treated a number of players from the Premier League's big four' sparingly, but the pair did enough before the break to prove the potential of a strike partnership involving the former playing off the latter's shoulder They linked up well in the 20th minute, only for Gerrard to balloon a long-range shot over the crossbar, and the Liverpool captain might also have done better with two headers, one from a Wes Brown cross and the other from a half-cleared corner, before the half-hour mark.

That he failed to find the target with any of the three opportunities was disappointing - that he was in a position to threaten Gregory Coupet's goal so regularly, though, was proof of his attacking capabilities in partnership with Rooney.

Gerrard remained at the fore as the visitors dominated the opening half-hour, but their superiority was swiftly curtailed once James took it upon himself to re-open England's intractable goalkeeping debate.

Anelka had already wasted two early half-chances when he galloped on to Francois Clerc's through ball in the 31st minute and, with both Terry and Ferdinand trailing in his wake, the Chelsea striker forged into the heart of the 18-yard box.

James could have bided his time, but the Portsmouth goalkeeper's rash attempt at a sliding challenge merely succeeded in chopping Anelka's legs from underneath him.

The incident bore stark similarities to James' reckless challenge on Thierry Henry during England's last meeting with France at Euro 2004 and, just as Zinedine Zidane had scored from the spot in Lisbon's Stadium of Light, so Ribery made no mistake from 12 yards.

James' fine recent form for Portsmouth might make him England's best available option at the moment, but Capello must be thinking that Ben Foster cannot establish himself in Manchester United's first team quickly enough.

James was almost beaten again when Florent Malouda flashed a low 20-yard drive past the right-hand post in the opening six minutes of the second half, but with Stewart Downing offering some genuine width on the left-hand side after his arrival in place of Joe Cole, England continued to enjoy plenty of possession after the break.

Peter Crouch shot over after some bright interplay with fellow substitute Michael Owen, but the visitors had run out of ideas long before Djibril Cisse spurned a great opportunity to double France's lead by firing into the side-netting with five minutes left.

Unlike Beckham's international career, there was to be no coming back.

2:02am Thursday 27th March 2008

Print   Email this