Although France controlled a great deal of the ball against Argentina, les Bleus came up against an impressive defensive unit that appeared tactically aware of what they were trying to achieve in the match. Springing on the counter-attack, the South Americans found the net twice, leaving the French reeling and consigned to a 2-0 defeat.

Those French players who chose to speak to the press after the game -  for les Bleus are not obliged by their federation to talk to the media post-match - stressed their feelings of helplessness as Diego Maradonas well-drilled unit marched to a rather comfortable victory.

There is little we could do in the last five minutes because we felt we had no solution, bemoaned midfielder Jeremy Toulalan to LEquipe. Its a shame to lose 2-0 but, given the way the match went, it is not so ridiculous.

It was a bad second half, Ribery aside, but the first was very good. They were unable to play and we had opportunities. The goal hurt us badly.

Thierry Henry also felt that an opportunity had been lost in the first half. If we had scored, we would have seen another game, the Barcelona forward asserted.

Meanwhile, Ribery preferred to praise les Bleus opponents. We played against one of the best teams in the world, the highly-rated Bayern Munich midfielder stated before analysing les Bleus attacking performance.

There are positives and negatives because now we can see what we lack. We need more movement, which is easy to work on. We are still waiting for an individual exploit from one player. Its hard for everyone but we must remain united.

Frances next challenge is a double-header against Lithuania. Les Bleus go to the former Soviet bloc county on March 28 before hosting them in France on April 1. These fixtures will go a long way to determining the ability of Raymond Domenechs side to qualify for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.