YESTERDAY THE ENGLAND TEAM MOSTLY MADE UP OF PROFESSIONAL PLAYERS BEAT THE FRENCH FOOTBALLERS BY 4 GOALS TO 1
— Gabriel Hanot | 11/05/1923 —

It was an honorable defeat that the England representative team inflicted on our nationals yesterday afternoon at Pershing Stadium. Everyone is unanimous in recognizing that the visitors would not have scored more than 4 goals; but it is also certain that the presence of Nicolas would have earned the French team more than one goal and a better coordinated game in its forward line.

The English, and especially the eight professionals among their eleven team-mates, played less to crush us and even to win than to provide a fine demonstration of football. They, who know how to use an innate, violent, possibly brutal and dangerous method, showed the utmost correctness, going so far as to step aside to evade the French charges. They did not play the man, as we say in sports parlance, but only the ball; and the examples of their virtuosity, of art for art's sake, did not fail to arouse the keenest admiration of the spectators.

As for the French, they defended themselves, if not always successfully, at least with tireless courage. And the last minutes of the match allowed them to take the offensive in turn, with brilliance. which immediately resulted in two goals, one of which was rightly disallowed for offside.

Both teams included the following players:

England: Alderson; Cresswell, Jones; S. Plum, Seddon, Barton; Osborne, Buchan, Creek, F. Hartley, Hegan.

France: Chayriguès; Mony, Gamblin; Mistral, Hugues, Bonnardel; Devaquez, Darques, Dangles, Bard, Dubly.

From the kick-off, the English reached the French goal; ours broke free, and, after three minutes of play, Dangles, thanks to a cross from Devaquez, had a fleeting opportunity to endanger the English goalkeeper. Then the match took the turn that it maintained until the end despite the slippery pitch and the ball being really difficult to control, despite the showers, the English, who included a large majority of professionals, were very comfortable. Their dribbling, their passing is wonderfully precise. They seem to be playing all four corners with our representatives who exert themselves with as much energy as their opponents spare their efforts. The English seem to walk or at most run at a gymnastic pace; the French are always at full speed, chasing the often elusive object that is the ball.

At half-time, the English only led by 2 goals to 0. The first was scored by left winger Hegan. Chayriguès could have blocked the shot; unfortunately Mony touched the ball with his foot and deflected it. The second goal was to the credit of the tremendous Buchan who took all his time, moved the ball from his left foot to his right and shot straight, without Chayriguès having time to make a stopping movement. The ball hitting the net from the back of the goal caused all the water to fall, so great was the force of the shot.

THE SECOND HALF

During the second half, the English increased their advantage to four goals. The third was the work of Creek, who completed an offensive led by Buchan. The fourth goal was also due to Creek, who took advantage of an insufficient save from Chayriguès to enter the goal with one or two Frenchmen running up, in vain, to the rescue.

It then seemed that the French defeat was complete and consummated when Devaquez, until then not very aggressive, entered into full action. Suddenly the English went from active play to passive role; they had to retreat in all haste and their goalkeeper, until then very peaceful, went through a few trances. Devaquez, on an opening from Darques, scored a first goal which the Belgian referee, Mr. Barette, rightly refused for a slight offside. Then, the same Devaquez, helped this time again by Darques, scored a new goal, this time indisputable. Two minutes later, it's the end of the match.

HOW THEY PLAYED.

The English won by 4 goals to 1. Their best players were the inside right Buchan, who pushed the art of dribbling, feinting and passing to the highest level; left winger Hegan, who played against Mistral and Mony; right back Cresswell, who was impeccable in his security and skill.

Among the French, the most remarkable was Darques, who always showed equal courage and who, towards the end, accomplished a truly splendid job. Bonnardel was also very satisfactory. With them, Gamblin, Dubly, Bard and, at the end of the match, Devaquez stood out.