France defeat Brazil while England slip past Denmark

France took advantage of 10 man Brazil winning 1-0 in Paris while England slipped past Denmark 2-1 behind an Ashley Cole winner.

France 1 Brazil 0
The Brazilians are going to stop playing in Paris.  They suffered their second straight defeat in Paris on Wednesday as they slipped to France 1-0.  Last fall they lost to arch rivals Argentina on a late Lionel Messi goal.

On Wednesday it looked like it was going to be business as usual for Brazil as they were on the front foot the opening 25 minutes of play.  France were sitting back unable to string much possession together at all when they were lucky enough to get ahold of the ball.  Robinho and Pato were active but unable to break down the French defense. 

Then the entire match was flipped as Hernanes karate kicked Benzima sqaurely in the chest after Benzima flicked the ball upwards.  It was very similar to De Jong's challenge in the World Cup final that only saw yellow.  The red card was definitely justified in both cases and Brazil were down to ten men.

The second half would be entirely different as France exploited Robinho's lack of defensive efforts down the right side.  Jeremy Menez ran wild and he would be the one to break open the match in the 54th minute.  Menez skipped down the right getting past a pair of Brazilian defenders before sliding a sqaure ball across the six.  The ball met the run of Benzima perfectly who poked the ball home to the delight of the French crowd.

Benzima could have had a hat trick if not for two wonderful saves from Brazilian keeper Julio Cesar.  Brazil tried to get back in late in the match, but were unable to find the tying goal.  Hulk had a glorious chance but his touch got away from him and the match ended France 1 Brazil 0.

England 2 Denmark 1
The first half belonged to the young Danish pairing of Nicklas Bendtner and Christian Eriksen as they gave the English backline fits.  After only 8 minutes Denmark were in front as Eriksen's cross found Daniel Agger to steer past Joe Hart in the England goal.

England answered almost immediately though when a Wayne Rooney pass sent Theo Walcott loose.  Walcott's low cross found Darren Bent on the backpost and the match was all even. The rest of the half belonged to Denmark, but the match went to the break 1-1.

The second half was much more benign as the England defense did a better job reigning in the Denmark attack.  Ashley Young would find the winner though for England on 68 minutes as he raced in and slotted home.