England v France: Genuine friendly fixture a truly special occasion

With one end bearing red, white and blue placards by way of a moving tribute, the Band of the Coldstream Guards and supporters from both sides of the Channel belted out La Marseillaise, then the stadium stood for an impeccably observed minute’s silence.

At least two other worldwide friendly matches between European countries scheduled for Tuesday were canceled due to security concerns, but England and France played on.

England won the match 2-0, but it was about more than soccer on Tuesday night, as the 70,000 fans at Wembley started things off with a moment of silence to honor the victims.

The Duke of Cambridge joined coaches Didier Deschamps and Roy Hodgson to lay a wreath before the anthems.

With a police helicopter whirring overhead and armed officers on patrol, England and France soccer fans had mingled outside Wembley in a calm atmosphere on a wet and windy evening in London.

French worldwide Lassana Diarra, who lost a cousin during the attacks, came on as a substitute during the second half, receiving warm applause from both sets of fans as he ran on to the pitch. The result of the game will not register – his strength and the strength of the French team will be the victory.

With armed police standing just a few feet away in the tunnel, their captain Hugo Lloris did not even try on the eve of this match to pretend that there had been universal enthusiasm to play, much less spending another four long days and nights away from their families following the atrocities in Paris. “Globally there is blame for the Muslims but it is a tiny minority who are doing this and we do not approve of violence – it is against our religion”.

“It was always going to be a hard night for everyone, especially the French players and staff. For ourselves to be involved in this occasion was tough, the young players were excited but it was a hard game for them”, said Rooney, who scored England’s second goal. Indeed, over in Hanover, the Germany-Netherlands friendly was called off at the last moment by local police, who were concerned about safety and turned the team busses around and evacuated the stadium.

France played on against Germany last week despite the terrorist attacks across the city.

Tottenham Hotspur’s 19-year-old midfielder Alli, making his full debut, put England ahead with a 25-yard drive in the 39th minute and Rooney volleyed in his 51st worldwide goal after the break.

“I thought both teams handled it really well”.

The Belgian FA said it regretted the move, but added: “In view of these exceptional circumstances, we can not, however, take any risk in security matters for our players and supporters”.

“We’re very touched by all the messages of support from across the world as well but more precisely in England and here in London”, he said.

“In the Spain game, I saw for 70 minutes the players defended extremely well and looked quite unsafe on the counterattack”.