Pressure on France after their 1-0 defeat by Senegal in the tournament's opening game on Friday intensified over the weekend. Their coach Roger Lemerre came under intense criticism from the media and their inspirational midfielder Zinedine Zidane is still struggling with a thigh injury.
The French know that defeat in their next game, against Uruguay on Thursday, will almost certainly eliminate them from the competition they won in France four years ago. To escape the fractious atmosphere they decided to train today behind closed doors "to give the players a break".
The progress of Zidane has assumed increasing importance and yesterday the team doctor gave a cautiously optimistic update. "Zidane began running on Saturday," Jean-Michel Ferret said. "He is undergoing treatment, which will be intensified in the next few days." No mention was made of whether he would be fit to face Uruguay.
Zidane's injury came in a friendly against South Korea a week before the World Cup began, and the French medics continue to worry about the team's fitness. "Some of the guys are really tired," Ferret said. "They came here after a long and exhausting season. Some have played in more than 60 matches. The only solution is to maintain their current fitness and hope it improves with time and the excitement of the competition."
The Juventus defender Lilian Thuram agreed. "We expended a lot of energy against the Senegalese," he said. "We ran for miles and in the final minutes we were just exhausted."
But amid the soul-searching provoked by Friday's poor result, the Manchester United goalkeeper Fabien Barthez stands alone - and has called on his team-mates to join him in having some fun.
"We're here to have a good time," he said. "We have to enjoy ourselves as much as we can. We have to keep our joie de vivre. There are defeats, there are victories; it's part of life."
Meanwhile, France's Real Madrid midfielder Claude Makelele, linked with a move to United in the Spanish press, has demanded a pay rise from his current employers to keep him in Spain. "I'm happy in Madrid but it all depends on them," he said.
· Portugal's midfielder Daniel Kenedy, dropped from their squad after testing positive for the banned diuretic furosemide, has been provisionally suspended by the Portuguese football association. If found guilty he will be banned for at least three months.
