But the England boss insisted his side’s performances in the United States proved that our women’s side can now compete with the big guns.
England were looking for a first win of the tournament having already fallen to a 1-0 defeat at the hands of World Cup winners USA and a 2-1 loss against European champions Germany.
The draw against France ensured the Lionesses finished third in the round-robin tournament featuring four of the world’s top five sides.
USA and Germany will now battle it out later tonight to decide the winner.
But Sampson insisted: “This England team are growing and getting better. We’re going to crack this lot - we’ll crack France, we’ll crack the States, we’ll crack the Germans.
“We want to win. People connect with this team - they’re honest, they work incredibly hard and play for the jersey. You can see the passion and how much it means to them.”
England were looking for revenge against a French side that subjected them to an opening 1-0 defeat at last summer’s World Cup in Canada.
But it was France who had the best of the first half, with the Lionesses fortunate that Les Bleues failed to put away their chances.
Elodie Thomis twice went one-on-one with Karen Bardsley, first failing to hit the target, before then being denied by the England keeper.
Bardsley was called on again on 21 minutes, saving at her near post to keep out Marie-Laure Delie.
Lyon midfielder Claire Lavogez produced an acrobatic bicycle kick eight minutes later, with only the crossbar keeping the spectacular effort out.
England’s best chance of the half came just before the break, with Demi Stokes played in by Jill Scott. But, after cutting in from the left flank, Stokes’ angled strike was saved by Meline Gerard.
England came out on the front foot after half-time and in the 54th minute Katie Chapman unleashed a long-range strike after dispossessing Kheira Hamraoui - but her effort flew just wide.
As Sampson continued to rotate his squad, who are currently in their Women’s Super League pre-season, Eniola Aluko came on for Toni Duggan to earn her 100th England cap.
On 69 minutes Eugenie Le Sommer - who did the damage in Canada - was left all alone in the box, but England had a let-off as she swiped her shot well wide.
Sub Karen Carney tried another long-range effort for England in the 80th minute, but again the strike was wide of Gerard’s post.
And Arsenal midfielder Jordan Nobbs’ 20-yarder curled just wide three minutes later.
Sampson added: “We got caught out a few times in the first half. But in the second half we were outstanding.
“This tournament has been a really good experience and the team is in a really good place at the end of it. We know we could have won all three games. We’re just a bit short physically at the moment. We’re in pre-season but kept running.”
Link : http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/sport/football/6989659/France-0-England-0-Mark-Sampsons-Lionesses-ensure-third-place-in-SheBelieves-Cup.html
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