February 19, 1992-England 2-France 0

February 19, 1992

England 2-France 0

Friendly

Venue: London - The Empire Stadium Wembley

Attendance: 58,723

Referee: Aron Schmidhuber (Germany)

Goalscorers: (England): Alan Shearer 43, Gary Lineker 73

                    (France): None

Lineups:

England:

1- Christopher Charles Eric Woods  (Sheffield Wednesday Football Club) [28 / 0]
2-Robert Marc Jones (Liverpool Football Club) [1 / 0]
3- Stuart Pearce (Nottingham Forest Football Club) [44 / 2]
4- Martin Raymond Keown (Everton Football Club-Liverpool)  [1 / 0]
5- Desmond Sinclair Walker (Nottingham Forest Football Club) [39 / 0]
6- Mark Wright (Liverpool Football Club) [41 / 1]
7- Neil John Webb (Manchester United Football Club) [21 / 3]
8- Geoffroy Robert Thomas (Crystal  Palace Football Club-London)  [9 / 0]
9- Nigel Howard Clough (Nottingham Forest Football Club) [5 / 0]
10-Alan Shearer (Southampton Football Club) [1 / 1]
11- David Eric Hirst  (Sheffield Wednesday Football Club) [3 / 1] (12-Gary Winston Lineker  (Tottenham Hotspur Football Club-London)  [72 / 47] 46th)

Coach: Graham Taylor

Team Captain: Stuart Pearce

Official Kit Supplier/Designer: Umbro

Uniform Colors: White Shirts, Navy Blue Shorts, White Socks

France:

1-Gilles Rousset (Olympique Lyonnais) [2 / 0]

3-Jocelyn Angloma (Olympique de Marseille) [7 / 0]

4-Basile Boli (Olympique de Marseille) [32 / 1]

5-Laurent Blanc (Societa Sportiva Calcio Napoli / Italy) [20 / 4]

2-Manuel Amoros (Olympique de Marseille) [77 / 1]

6-Bernard Casoni (Olympique de Marseille) [26 / 0]

7-Didier Deschamps (Olympique de Marseille) [18 / 3]

8-Luis Fernandez (Association Sportive de Cannes Football) [54 / 6] (13-Jean-Philippe Durand (Olympique de Marseille) [21 / 0] 71st)

10-Christian Perez (Paris Saint-Germain Football Club) [16 / 2] (15-Amara Simba (Paris Saint-Germain Football Club) [3 / 2] 71st)

9-Jean-Pierre Papin (Olympique de Marseille) [33 / 17]

11-Eric Cantona (Leeds United Association Football Club / England) [21 / 12]

Coach: Michel Platini

Booked: Basile Boli 47^th, Bernard Casoni 75th

Other Subs:

Pascal Olmeta (Olympique de Marseille)

Frank Silvestre (Football Club de Sochaux-Montbéliard)

Christophe Cocard (Association de la Jeunesse Auxerroise)

Team Captain: Manuel Amoros

Official Kit Supplier/Designer: Adidas

Uniform Colors: Blue Shirts, White Shorts , Red Socks

Photo From: Soccer International, May 1992

(France squad, Top, left to right: Gilles Rousset, Manuel Amoros, Bernard Casoni, Jocelyn Angloma, Basile Boli, Luis Fernandez, Bottom, left to right: Christian Perez, Didier Deschamps, Jean-Pierre Papin, Laurent Blanc, Eric Cantona)

Notes:

-Match number 677 for England and number 498 for France

-This was the 21st meeting between the nations. This does not include France’s matches vs. England (Amateurs) that France consider as Official.

-The previous match between the nations, as well as the previous match on French soil, was a Friendly at Paris’ Parc des Princes Stadium on February 29, 1984 that France won 2 to 0. France’s Manager Michel Platini scored both goals.

French players: Manuel Amoros, Luis Fernandez and Michel Platini were present that day (on the field and/or the substitutes bench).

-The previous match between the nations, in the same stadium, was a friendly on March 12, 1969 that England won 5 to 0.

- England’s previous win, as well as the previous match on neutral soil, was a World Cup Finals match in Bilbao, Spain, on June 16, 1982, that England won 3 to 1.

France’s Michel Platini was present that day (on the field and/or the substitutes bench).

Photo From: Onze-Mondial, March 1992

(Laurent Blanc, Manuel Amoros is in the background)

-The next match between the nations as well as the next macth on neutral venue, would be on ly a few months later during the UEFA European Championship Finals at Malmö, Sweden on June 14, 1992 that ended in a scoreless tie.

England players: Woods, Pearce, Keown, Walker, Shearer, Lineker, Clough and Webb and France Players: Boli, Blanc, Casoni, Amoros, Deschamps, Angloma, Fernandez, Perez, Durand, Cantona, Papin, Rousset, Silvestre, and Cocard were present that day (on the field and/or the substitutes bench).

Luis Fernandez was booked in that match.

Photo From: World Soccer, June 1992

(Jean-Pierre Papin and Des Walker)

-The next match between the nations on French soil, as well as England’s next victory,  would be during the  Tournoi de France at Montpellier on June 7, 1997,  that England won 1 to 0.

England players: Shearer, Pearce and Keown and France Players: Blanc and  Deschamps were present that day (on the field and/or the substitutes bench).

Alan Shearer scored England’s goal.

-The next match between the nations in the same stadium, as well as France’s next victory, would be a friendly on February 10, 1999 that France won 2 to 0.

England players: Keown and Shearer and France Players: Blanc and  Deschamps were present that day (on the field and/or the substitutes bench).

-This Friendly was specially significant since both teams were due to play one another in the upcoming UEFA European Championships.

Photo From: Onze-Mondial, March 1992

(Eric Cantona between Martin Keown and Neil Webb)

-This was Alan Shearer’s debut for the English National team and he also scored his first goal.

Martin Keown and Rob Jones also made their National team debuts.

Rob Jones was a Fourth Division player just five months earlier, he was discovered by Liverpool playing for Crewe Alexandra.

-France were missing starting goalkeeper Bruno Martini. Gilles Rousset started in his place. The day before the match Franck Sauzee also withdrew due to injury.

Winger Pascal Vahirua was also unavailable.

-The day before the match at London’s Loftus Road, the respective ‘B’ squads played and England won 3 to 0 from goals by Paul Merson , an own goal by France’s Franck Dumas and Paul Stewart.

France’s unused substitutes Pascal Olmeta,  Franck Silvestre and Christophe Cocard played in that match.

- On July 2, 1992, Michel Platini resigned as national team manager.

He was appointed to the organizing committee for the 1998 World Cup to be held in France.

Among reasons cited for his leaving was the fact that the clubs were not helpful in preparations by still insisting upon a 20 team first division as opposed to a smaller number.

-This loss ended France’s unbeaten streak at 19 matches. The unbeaten run stretched back to April 1989 with the World Cup Qualifying match vs. Yugoslavia.

Their last loss was a World Cup Qualifier vs. Scotland on March 8, 1989 (0 to 2 loss).

-France did not win a single match during this calendar year until October 14, 1992, when they defeated Austria (2 to 0) ina World Cup Qualfier.

-England were misisng David Platt, David Batty, John Barnes and Tony Adams.

Paul Gascoigne was out the entire season recovering from his serious injury suffered during the 1991 FA Cup Final.

-Stuart Pearce captained England as Gary Lineker did not start.

-Just before the half-time, Nigel Clough took a corner from the right side that was headed across by Mark Wright to an unmarked Alan Shearer, who spun around, and scored England’s first goal.

-At halftime, Gary Lineker replaced David Hirst.

-Basile Boli was booked after a dangerous tackle on Lineker.

-The match would be remembered for England midfielder Geoff Thomas’ miss. He received a pass from Lineker with a clear path to goal, he tried to chip the goalkeeper, however , he miscued his shot and the ball went completely wide.

This was his ninth and final cap.

Photo From: Goal, December 1995

(Geoff Thomas and his miss)

 -France dominated the early going and England scored their first goal against the general run of the play.

England Manager admitted Graham Taylor that he was affraid for the first 44 minutes.

Taylor praised France’s Christian Perez.

-England’s second goal was scored after across from the right by Shearer was volleyed by Clough. Rousset parried the shot, but Lineker was there to head in the rebound, first to the bar and then into the goal.

Photo From: World Soccer, August 1992

(Gary Lineker heading England’s second goal)

-Eric Cantona was selected despite having only played two matches for his new club Leeds United.

In December 1991, he had ‘retired’ following his suspension that was increased after he insulted the disciplinary panel. He had a trial with Sheffield Wednesday before joining Leeds United.

He won the English League Title at the end of that season.

He joined Manchester United the following season.

-France played in a 5-3-2 formation.

Photo From: Soccer International, May 1992

(Rob Jones and Luis Fernandez)

-France’s Manuel Amoros became Franc’s National team’s appearance record holder by playing in his 77^th match. He broke Maxime Bossis’ record of 76 matches. This record would stand until 1999, when Deschamps would become the record holder.

-Michel Platini declared that this defeat was good for his players on a psychological level, as it brought them down to earth after a long unbeaten run and made them realize there is work to be done.

In addition his players learned that the English are not superior to them.

Despite these comments, many observers felt that this defeat forced Platini to be field a more defensive set up vs. England during the Euros in June.

Photo From: France Football, Issue 2757, February 9, 1999

(Eric Cantona)

-England scored through their only two shots on goal during the match.

-Gary Lineker had already announced his retirement from the English National team at the end of the season after the Euros.

This was a reason cited by Taylor to not to start him. Taylor wanted to try out new strikers.

The English Press were mostly critical of his exclusion from the starting lineup.

Photo From: France Football, February 25, 1992, Issue 2394

(Rob Jones and Manuel Amoros)

-France’s Amara Simba was injured before the Euros and did not make the Finals squad.

-England’s Rob Jones, Mark Wright, Geoff Thomas and David Hirst also missed the Finals cut. In Jones and Wright’s cases it was due to injury.

-Olympique Marseille’s English midfielders Trevor Steven and Chris Waddle were not called up for this match. In Waddle’s case, his omission was controversial due to his fine form in France.

-France’s squad contained 7 Olympique Marseille players. Six on the pitch, one on the substitutes bench.

-France’s Jocelyn Angloma, Basile Boli, Manuel Amoros, Bernard Casoni, Didier Deschamps ,Jean-Philippe Durand , Jean-Pierre Papin and Pascal Olmeta won the French League title that season.

Photo From: France Football, February 25, 1992, Issue 2394

(Diagrams of England’s goals)

-Napoli based Laurent Blanc was the only other foreign based player (in addition to Cantona) in France squad.

-France’s Laurent Blanc managed the France National team (2010-2012), Didier Deschamps is the current France National team coach.

-France’s substitute Frank Silvestre’s cousin Mikael, played in the English Premier League for Manchester United (1999-2008) and Arsenal (2008-2010).

-Laurent Blanc also played in the English Premier League for Manchester United (2001-2003).

Didier Deschamps played for Chelsea (1999/2000).

-France’s Jean-Pierre Papin had won France Football’s Ballon d’Or award in December.

He transferred to AC Milan at the end of the season.

-Alan Shearer transferred to Blackburn Rovers at the end of the season.

-England’s Stuart Pearce managed the English National team for just one match in February 2012 vs. Netherlands.

-France’s Blanc and Deschamps won the World Cup with France in 1998.

-This was Rousset’s second and final cap. This was also Amara Simba’s third and final cap for France.

-This was David Hirst’s third and final cap for England.

-Des Walker was charged with the task of marking Jean-Pierre Papin.

-Before the match, Papin had praised Stuart Pearce as the toughest defender in Europe if not the world.

-England played in a 3-5-2 formation with Mark Wright as sweeper.

-This was Neil Webb’s first cap since 1990.

Match Reports:

Onze-Mondial, March 1992 / Soccer International, May 1992 / England, The Complete Post-War Record, Author Mike Payne/ L’Integrale de L’Equipe de France de Football, Authors J.M. Cazal, Pierre Cazal, Michel Oreggia/ France Football, Issue 2394, February 25, 1992

Match Video / Highlights: