Saturday 23 August, 2003. This is the match that can take England into the bronze medal position and all the lads are up for the game.
The starting 5 are Ian Smith goalkeeper, James Taylor (captain), Sam Jackson, Andrew Sims & Matt Oaten.
England starts the match & has all the possession, but find it difficult to beat an excellent French keeper. 8 minutes in & Sims receives a yellow card. The game is tight, but England is the better team!
11minutes in and Taylor hits the post with a fierce slapshot. The breaks, which we had in Chile, are not going our way.
The French call a time out as coach Savreiux is clearly worried by England’s dominance in both attack & defense.
With 4 minutes to go and no score, Sims gets his 2nd yellow card and a 2-minute suspension for a reasonable tackle that would have resulted in no more than a free hit in England. Lucas Naifsey comes into the game for Sims.
With 34 seconds left England shouts for a goal as a result of a well worked free hit from Taylor, request denied from the Argentinean referee we had in our match against Uruguay. This referee gives us nothing!
Half time England 0 – 0 France. 6 chances to 5, & around 70% possession in the half. This is a very tight, tense game in which the referees blowing up for every touch of a player. The 2nd half will be the longest 20 minutes played, it’s also getting colder by the minute!
Andrew Sims restarts for Naifsey. Within seconds the French keeper makes a double save from shots by Oaten and Taylor.
4 minutes in, & Naifsey’s back on for a tiring Sam Jackson.
7 minutes on and still no score. 13 minutes on & the tensions building as the French are starting to pressure us, the match seems to be swinging their way.
6.38 to go now and Matt Oaten touches in a lovely pass to break the deadlock and it’s England 1 – 0 France.
5.20 to go, & the French no 2, goes in the book for knocking away, our free hit in frustration.
2.44 on the clock and we are hanging on as the French are desperate to score.
1.40 of the game remaining & the bronze medal, disaster strikes! The French no 2 squeezes the ball between Smith and the corner post from inside the keepers ‘D’ after a goal mouth scuffle in which we should have cleared the ball!
Full time England 1 – 1 France. 10 chances to 7, & around 69% possession.
2.44 of the 1st period of extra time & the French no 2 scores his 2nd of the match, another disaster, as the ball rebounded off the post and did not cross the line! The Argentinean referee was behind the play yet somehow saw what I didn’t standing directly in line with the goal. Smith our keeper after the shot hit fell backward displacing the goal & maybe after our protestations that is why the referee gave the goal.
1.02 remaining and Taylor pushes up from his usual defensive role, tries to dribble 2 players losses the ball to the French no 4, who breaks for goal from deep in his half & scores a one on one with the keeper. England 1 – 3 France!
Coach Kos Galtos in an earlier time out had warned Taylor that he would take him off unless he “passed & penetrated” rather than making the play from the back, unfortunately if you do that and no one covers for you there is no defense!
16 seconds of the half to go and Taylor beats 3 players to make amends for his earlier mistake with a flick shot in the top corner, great goal! England 2 – 3 France.
With 3.30 to go in the 2nd period Galtos instructs the lads to go full press, as we have to score!
Unfortunately the French were fitter and stayed the place to deny our deserved goal.
Final score England 2 – 3 France 3. Carlos Senna ex-president of the FPP Portugal congratulated coach Galtos for the 1st time on a fantastic match which held up the Final.
The substitutes that did not get on played their part with vital encouragement! This was a great TEAM performance, yes, the lads were better than the French, but this time it did not go our way and we must settle for 4th.
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Reporter: Kos Galtos
