France lead England at half time with Tchouameni goal

Aurelien Tchouameni scored from distance in the 17th minute, and France lead England 1-0 at half time in a matchup that has been as thrilling as advertised. 

The first booking of the match was given to Antoine Griezmann of France in the 42nd minute, for a poor challenge from behind at midfield. 

A French set piece in the 38th minute opened the first real chance for French superstar Kylian Mbappe, who got under the ball and sailed it over the crossbar. 

Harry Kane took a rocketing shot from the edge of the crease at the 28th minute, which was maybe England's best chance at an equalizer in a 10-minute spell of pressure. Huge Lloris deflected the ball to safety, and the resulting corner kick opened even more chaos as it landed at the feet of the keeper and rolled for a moment before being cleared. 

VAR was called upon in the 25th minute, when Kane was tackled on the edge of the French penalty box, which may have warranted a penalty kick (though no foul was whistled on the play). No penalty was awarded after a short delay. 

A quick attempt at an equalizer for England presented itself at the 20th minute, when they earned a free kick just outside the penalty zone. Luke Shaw curled his shot around the French wall, but Lloris controlled the save easily for France. 

Another great try for Kane a minute later appeared off a turnover, and Lloris came out of the net to save Kane's try in a hectic sequence. 

The defending World Champions took control in the 17th minute when they finally solved the English defence: a series of passes found Tchouameni a good eight yards outside the English crease, but his strike found the bottom corner of the net for an early 1-0 lead. 

France again put together a scare in the 14th minute, when an English turnover opened Adrien Rabiot charging, who dropped off to Mbappe just outside the crease. Mbappe tried a cross-field pass, but it was just a bit too strong and bounced out of bounds. 

Olivier Giroud's header on goal was the first big opportunity for France at the 11th minute, but the cross-field pass was a touch behind and didn't allow him to get a lot of speed on the ball. 

Each side tried a piece from the corner in the first 10 minutes, but both times they were unable to offer a good ball on the try. 

The competition opened with both pretty passing and careless possession by the French side, as they generated some strong scoring chances sandwiched by bad turnovers that also allowed England to threaten.