Vieira accuses England players
Patrick Vieira has branded England players 'dirty' and 'cheats' in the aftermath of Sunday's Group B opener. It was a closely contested clash punctuated by niggling fouls on both sides, but by no means a dirty affair. But Vieira, who plies his trade in England with Arsenal, saw it differently. The Gunners midfielder, who had a running battle with Chelsea's Frank Lampard, was not impressed by England's tactics. The Arsenal skipper is quoted as saying: "It was really tough. We couldn't break down their defensive shield. They fouled a lot and cheated. "But we stayed calm and showed the strength of character we needed to win." He added: "We were gutted physically, but didn't feel anything because we were so excited." A Zinedine Zidane injury-time double broke English hearts as the French completed a remarkable comeback to win the tie 2-1 in Lisbon. Lampard's headed goal after 38 minutes had given England the lead, but individual errors cost Sven-Goran Eriksson's men a famous victory against the defending champions. David Beckham spurned the chance to double England's lead when he had his spot-kick saved by former Manchester United teammate Fabien Barthez. And when substitute Emile Heskey conceded a freekick on the edge of the box right on the cusp, Zidane brought the tie to an even keel with a sublime strike. Thierry Henry, who hitherto had been kept relatively quiet, then induced a foul from David James when he beat the England goalkeeper to Steven Gerrard's back pass, and Zidane made no mistake from the resultant spot-kick. Winger Robert Pires claims the French never lost their belief even when they were staring defeat in the face with time running out. "It was getting late but we just couldn't swallow the idea of losing. We never gave up."