Fortune favours Briand's France

France striker Jimmy Briand admitted his side's winner against Portugal at the Estádio Municipal de Braga on Tuesday had been "fortunate", but insisted Les Bleuets deserved their 1-0 victory against the hosts.

Own goal
Briand's looping header bounced back off the crossbar then in off goalkeeper Bruno Vale, who was credited with an own goal, four minutes before half-time to decide a match France controlled for large parts. Florent Sinama-Pongolle crashed a shot off the post and Julien Faubert had a powerful strike cleared off the line before Briand's decisive intervention.

'Deserved'
"There was a free-kick, I thought the defender was going to clear but it bounced back off my head," Briand told uefa.com. "We deserved a bit of luck, we had hit the post. It was a bit of a bizarre goal but it counts, that's what matters. We had some clear chances then we scored a bit of a fortunate goal. I think we deserved it overall. It was a real return for our hard work, for me and for the team. It's great to start the competition like that."

'No problem'
Briand, named Carlsberg Man of the Match, and Sinama-Pongolle were paired in attack after regular frontman Anthony Le Tallec had been ruled out through injury. Together they posed a real threat throughout the first half in particular, and were key to silencing the passionate home support. "We were waiting for them to come at us at the beginning of the match, because they were playing at home and had their fans behind them, but the important thing was not to concede a goal," the Stade Rennais FC attacker said. "After that they began to doubt a bit and then we controlled the game. They were obliged to play the long ball forward and we had no problem with that."

'Together'
France coach René Girard is hopeful Le Tallec, Les Bleuets' leading scorer in qualifying, will be fit to face Germany on Thursday, but Briand believes his side have proved they are a match for anyone regardless of who is selected. "We're really together as a group," he said. "There are 22 of us and if one person is injured there's always someone else ready to come in. We have confidence in every player so there's really no problem who plays."

'Confidence'
Group A rivals Germany kicked off the tournament earlier in the day with a 1-0 success against Serbia and Montenegro. On Thursday they will come up against a France team brimming with confidence. "We haven't really studied them yet, but I think we'll attack them like we attacked Portugal," he said. "It will be a tough match and because we have both won, there's a semi-final place at stake. We were full of confidence before the game, and this victory gives us even more."