France storm past Ukraine in wet Donetsk

Sparkling attacking football and goals from Jeremy Menez and Yohan Cabaye earned France a 2-0 win over Ukraine in their Euro 2012 Group D match on Friday after the game was halted for 55 minutes due to a thunderstorm.

Dutch referee Bjorn Kuipers took the players off the field in the fifth minute after thunder, lightning and torrential rain descended on the stadium and it was almost an hour before play resumed, with the surface having dried out remarkably quickly.

The win put France on four points, one ahead of the co-hosts who failed to find the form that brought a 2-1 victory over Sweden. England, who drew 1-1 with France in their opener, have one point ahead of their game with the Swedes later on Friday.

"We scored two goals, we could have scored a few more," said France coach Laurent Blanc. "We're improving. Can France go far (in the tournament). I can't say. Every game is different."

Ukraine coach Oleg Blokhin said his team, who were whistled by frustrated home fans at the end, were sad about the result although he did not want to apportion any blame.

However, he told a news conference: "...in the box we didn't try to clear, we just created moments for the French team, so we can't make such mistakes in our defensive line.