France spoil Becks' party

Beckham picked up a yellow card and played for 63 minutes before leaving the pitch to a standing ovation from both sets of fans.

Ribery struck from the spot in the 32nd minute after goalkeeper David James had brought down Nicolas Anelka to condemn Fabio Capello to his first setback as England boss. But, in truth, there was little else to get excited about.

England began brightly enough and might have taken the lead after 14 minutes when Ashley Cole flashed in a dangerous cross which France goalkeeper Gregory Coupet could only palm away and Beckham, racing in, failed by a smidgen to nudge home what would have been a fairytale goal.

But while England were not without a modicum of threat the quality belonged to the men in blue. Ribery, in particular, was a controlling influence in midfield and the slickness of the French triangles he engineered was pleasing on the eye.

Things began to go seriously awry for Capello's men after 30 minutes when Francois Clerc's through ball ripped open England's defence, leaving Anelka in a huge swathe of space and bearing down on James.

The much-travelled Chelsea striker has never been short of pace and he reached the ball first, toe-ending it away from James before being sent cartwheeling spectacularly across the turf by the unfortunate goalkeeper.

German referee Florian Meyer took the easiest decision of the night, pointed to the spot and Ribery dispatched the penalty with some comfort before ripping off his shirt to reveal a tribute to French TV sports presenter Thierry Gilardi, who was due to commentate on the match but died suddenly this week at the age of 49.

Half-time saw Capello ring the changes with John Terry replaced by Joleon Lescott, with Stewart Downing coming on for Joe Cole, Peter Crouch for Steven Gerrard and Michael Owen for Wayne Rooney.

It was Owen's first action under Capello but he had little opportunity to convince the Italian of his sharpness. Indeed, if Capello was looking for a more vibrant England, a team who passed accurately and played with a mixture of patience and high tempo, then little of that was on show at the Stade de France.