Zidane bends it, breaks England
In a period of just five years, David Beckham has been involved in two of soccer's most dramatic endings. In 1999, he played a vital role in a stunning victory. Yesterday, he took the blame after a potentially devastating defeat.
Beckham set up England's lone goal but missed a penalty kick in the 72d minute, and defending champion France surged back with two goals by Zinedine Zidane during second-half stoppage time to beat England, 2-1, at the European Championship before a sellout crowd of 65,000 at Lisbon's Stadium of Light.
"We didn't deserve that," Beckham said. "We definitely deserved to win because for 89 or 90 minutes we played really well."
In Barcelona five years ago, Beckham's corner kicks led to two stoppage-time goals as Manchester United roared back to stun Bayern Munich, 2-1, in the European Champions League final.
Frank Lampard scored on a 38th-minute header off Beckham's free kick to give England a 1-0 lead. Lampard drove home the near-post header to the left of French goalkeeper Fabien Barthez. It was the first goal given up by France in 1,078 minutes -- 12 games.
England missed a chance to make it 2-0 after Wayne Rooney -- capping a 40-yard run -- was pulled down in the box by Mikael Silvestre. But Barthez, Beckham's former United teammate, guessed correctly and dived right to stop Beckham's penalty kick.
"His penalty save was one of the turning points of the match," said French coach Jacques Santini. "A save like that at such a time can only help psychologically."
Zidane curled in a 23-yard free kick and then scored on a penalty kick to deny England in the first high-profile game of the three-week tournament.
The French are in first place in Group B after Croatia and Switzerland played to a 0-0 tie earlier.
Zidane's swerving free kick in the first minute of stoppage time jolted a stadium filled mostly with English fans. In the third minute of stoppage time, Thierry Henry was tripped in the box as David James came out to stop his run. Zidane put the ball into the net as James dived to his left and the ball went into the other corner.
There were few secrets between the teams. Seven of the French starters played last season in the Premier League, and 10 of England's starters also played there.
The game presented a security challenge because of England's notoriously unruly fans. Before the game, English and French fans took over the streets and squares of central Lisbon, kicking soccer balls, singing, and chanting. The French were vastly outnumbered by the English, who draped flags on statues, bus shelters, and cafe windows. The only outburst occurred at Rossio Square, where a group of England fans tried to burn a French flag.
Croatia 0, Switzerland 0 -- In Leiria, Portugal, Croatia missed three easy chances and squandered a man advantage for almost half the game. The Swiss played the last 40 minutes with 10 men after defender Johann Vogel received his second yellow card and was ejected. But the Croatians failed to create any more dangerous changes.
