England vs. France: Turning Points from Euro 2012 Clash

England vs. France was a tale of two halves. 

Both countries came out in the first half with the intent to score, and both created plenty of chances. It was lively and exciting.

However, after each squad scored in the first 45, England—playing without all-world forward Wayne Rooney—was content on parking about seven buses in its own half and playing for the one point. The pace slowed considerably, England hardly got any more touches on the attacking side and France failed to capitalize on 21 shots, nine corners and 65 percent possession.

The match, disappointingly from an unbiased viewer's prospective, ended in a 1-1 draw. Let's take a look at the turning points from the back-and-forth match. 

15th Minute: James Milner wishes he was somewhere else

After a lovely ball from Ashley Young put Milner through by himself in the box, he just had to beat goalkeeper Hugo Lloris. 

Well, the Manchester City midfielder managed to take a brilliant touch around Lloris, but there was still one more step involved.

Putting the ball in the back of the net.

With a golden opportunity to give England an early lead, Milner put the ball into the side netting in what turned out to be an atrocious effort. 

Yuck. Moving on.

30th Minute - Ugly hair scores beautiful goal 

Joleon Lescott doesn't have the greatest looking head of hair, but after his 30th-minute goal, no one really cared.

England was rewarded a free kick, and Steven Gerrard, from the touch-line, delivered a superb curling ball into the mixer, where Lescott found himself poorly marked by Alou Diarra. He finished with a perfect header.

Lloris probably should have made a play on the ball in the air, but as soon as he made the decision to stay on his line, there was nothing he could do against the pretty set piece.

36th Minue: Joe Hart does Joe Hart things

Just six minutes later, Diarra had a very good chance to tie things up as he found himself at the edge of the six-yard box with the ball coming his way.

Diarra got a clean head to it and set it towards goal with good power, but Joe Hart, who is arguably playing the best football of any goalkeeper right now, made a tremendous save.

Of course, Franck Ribery got to the deflection and put it right back to Diarra, who got another clean header but put it well off the mark. 

39th Minute: Samir Nasri makes Arsenal fans sad

England parked the bus a little too close to goal.

Nasri got the ball right outside the top of the box and had time to take a touch without any defender making things uncomfortable for him. The Frenchman made them pay as he smashed one from deep, sneaking it past Hart near post.

At first, the fact that Nasri was able to go near post made it look like a poor effort from Hart, but it appeared that the goalkeeper simply couldn't see past the giant bus in front of him.

Of course, it was also a brilliant strike by Nasri to draw France even. 

Second Half: Nothing happens

France had a few opportunities to score in the second half but never really put England in real danger. 

On the other side of the field, Lloris had plenty of time to do pull-ups on the crossbar, look for pretty ladies in the crowd or do whatever he felt like doing. England packed 10 men into their own half and, as a result, never had many attacking chances. 

The action completely slowed in the second half, and both countries walked away with a point.

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