Football - England 2 France 0 report
England's midfielder Dele Alli (R) celebrates scoring his team's first goal
Dele Alli and Wayne Rooney were on target as England beat France 2-0 in an emotionally-charged friendly at Wembley Stadium on Tuesday night.
England boss Hodgson had made seven changes to the team that started Friday night's 2-0 loss in Spain, with the Tottenham duo of Alli and Eric Dier starting together in midfield.
Deschamps brought in Crystal Palace's Yohan Cabaye, Manchester United's Morgan Schneiderlin and former Newcastle winger Hatem Ben Arfa as the visitors made five alterations to the side that began the game with Germany on the night of the terror attacks.
However, the France coach opted to bench both Lassana Diarra - whose cousin was killed in the French capital on Friday - and Antoine Griezmann, whose sister escaped the Bataclan concert hall that same evening. Following the pre-match tributes there was an early warning sign to England when Cabaye was afforded too much time and space in the middle of the park, only for the Palace midfielder to fire narrowly over Joe Hart's bar.
Minutes later and Anthony Martial embarked on a dribble that saw him breeze past Nathaniel Clyne, before testing Hart with low shot down to his left. England huffed and puffed, but the closest they actually came to breaking the deadlock in the opening quarter of the match was Wayne Rooney's curling free-kick from the edge of the area that failed to trouble Hugo Lloris in France's goal.
That was until Harry Kane picked out strike partner Wayne Rooney with a delicious defence-splitting through-ball just past the half-hour mark, however, the England captain was desperately unlucky not to open the scoring with a scorching drive that flew inches past Lloris' far post.
That narrow miss was soon forgotten though when Alli gave England the lead with a memorable strike, the Spurs youngster's first for his country on his first start, and good enough to even draw applause from the French fans. Alli, 19, firstly won a crunching 50-50 challenge near the halfway line, before striding forward and unleashing an unstoppable 25-yard shot that curled past club-mate Lloris' outstretched hand, with the aid of a slight deflection off Laurent Koscielny.
England very nearly doubled their advantage right from the restart, only for Lloris to react smartly at his near post to beat away Kane's snap shot, before the lively Raheem Sterling was sent clear down the left flank, but after cutting inside his shot was deflected just past the far post. However, the home side did increase their lead three minutes into the second period, with that man Alli again involved after winning back possession midway inside the France half, before then releasing Sterling down the left wing.
The Manchester City forward, with space to exploit, drove at the visitors' back line before picking out an unmarked Rooney at the far post, and England's all-time record goalscorer made no mistake by beating Lloris with a well-struck shot from six yards out. Kane could have added a third goal moments later, only for the Spurs striker's speculative long-ranger to beat Lloris, but not the far post, as England continued their domination after half-time.
The whole of Wembley applauded the introduction of former Chelsea, Arsenal and Portsmouth midfielder Diarra just before the hour-mark, while another second-half substitute, Paul Pogba, then saw an effort curl inches over the crossbar. France were starting to ask the home side's defence more questions though and very nearly halved the deficit after 65 minutes following a neat one-two in the box between Pogba and Martial, only for Jack Butland - who replaced Hart at the break - to foil the forward with a close-range block.
Thereafter, the game petered out as both managers rung the changes, although on a night when the scoreline played second fiddle to the occasion, football was the real winner.