A three-minute scoring burst gave France a 2-0 victory over Euro 2012 co-hosts Ukraine on Friday in a group D showdown that was suspended for nearly an hour due to heavy rain and lightning, dpa reported.
Jeremy Menez gave France the lead in the 53rd minute and Yohan Cabaye pushed the advantage to 2-0 at the 56-minute mark in front of 49,000 spectators at Donetsk's Donbass Arena.
The victory, which extended France's unbeaten run to 23 matches, gives Les Bleus four points in group D while Ukraine remained on three. England had one point ahead of their match later Friday against Sweden, who have zero points.
The co-hosts Ukraine missed their chance to become the first team to book a spot in the quarter-finals had they won their second match.
The heavens over Ukraine opened up shortly before the 1600 GMT kick-off, and Dutch referee Bjoern Kuipers sent the teams into the catacombs of Donbass Arena after 4:19 minutes.
Workers came out with pitch forks to try and drain the pitch of puddles that had amassed and Kuipers re-started play at 17 GMT - after a delay of nearly an hour.
France, who have never lost to Ukraine in seven matches with four victories and three draws, put the ball into the net in the 16th minute but it was disallowed as Menez was ruled offside.
The match proved to be very offensive-minded as Ukraine were close to scoring in the 25th minute but Andriy Yarmolenko's left-footer went just wide right and Ukraine keeper Andriy Pyatov made a superb save on Menez's blast on a counter-attack four minutes later.
The hosts were dangerous in the 34th minute again with Andriy Shevchenko getting behind the defence only to have his one-on-one attempt fended away by France keeper Hugo Lloris. And Shevchenko was just off target with a superb shot in the 49th minute.
But Menez gave France the lead in the 53rd minute after twice being stopped by Pyatov in the previous 15 minutes. The Paris St Germain midfielder collected a pass from Karim Benzema on the right side, turned left and blasted a left footer just inside the right post to make it 1-0.
Benzema set up France's second goal just three minutes later, feeding a classy through ball to Cabaye, who tucked his left foot shot just inside the right post.
Cabaye nearly made the scorer's sheet again in the 65th minute but the Newcastle United star's blast hammered off the right post.
Ukraine had a free kick in a dangerous spot with eight minutes left but Olexandr Aliyev sent his shot over the crossbar.