A torrential storm threatened to wash away co-host Ukraine’s match against France, and caused a rain delay of nearly an hour at the European Championship yesterday.

Pounding rain and lightning around the Donbass Arena in Donetsk forced referee Bjoern Kuipers to suspend the match in the fifth minute.

Play eventually resumed and France doused home fans’ hopes with a comfortable 2-0 victory.

Jeremy Menez and Yohan Cabaye scored early in the second half for the French, who last won a major match in the semifinals of the 2006 World Cup. In the final of that tournament, Zidane was given a red card for his head-butt in the last match of his career.

“We scored twice and could have had more,” France coach Laurent Blanc said. “We have a lot of potential.”

“I congratulated my players and the Ukrainian players,” Blanc said. “It was a good match with both teams trying to attack.”

Both France goals were the product of the one-touch passing and movement that was once the team’s hallmark.

For the first, Franck Ribery gathered the ball on the left, sprinted forward and then set up Karim Benzema near the penalty area. The Real Madrid forward stroked the ball to Menez, who then cut inside and drilled a low shot inside the near post with his left foot.

The goal justified Blanc’s decision to replace veteran midfielder Florent Malouda with Menez, although the Paris Saint-Germain winger had two earlier chances denied by the legs of Ukraine goalkeeper Andriy Pyatov.

France’s second goal was another example of exquisite teamwork, with Ribery and Samir Nasri combining to find Benzema. He cushioned the ball and then split the Ukraine center halves with a superbly weighted pass that allowed Cabaye to run on and finish with an angled shot.

The goals were also France’s first from open play since Zidane’s late strike in the 3-1 win over Spain in the second round of the 2006 World Cup.

With France’s confidence peaking in Donetsk, Cabaye almost added a third midway through the second half with a half-volley that hit the middle of the right post.

The exasperated whistles from the frustrated home fans at the Donbass Arena grew in intensity, and by the time Nasri forced a late save from Pyatov with a curling free kick, the home fans were already leaving.

“It wasn’t easy because they had a whole stadium behind them,” Blanc said.

But for the French fans, it was finally something to sing about after going out of the 2010 World Cup and Euro 2008 at the group stage.

Ukraine’s only clear chance of the match fell to Andriy Shevchenko in the 35th. He found space behind right back Mathieu Debuchy and hit a firm strike from about 10 meters that was blocked by goalkeeper Hugo Lloris.