THE COMFORTABLE 3-0 victory against the Faroe Islands in Lens on Saturday night may have helped put the smile back on the face of French football but at the local club’s training centre in nearby Avion yesterday, manager Raymond Domenech was counting the physical cost of a game which saw France draw level with Ireland and Switzerland atop what is literally the group of four.

IT'S WHAT they call charisma. Zinedine Zidane strolls into the press room in the Stade Bollaert in Lens and, immediately, a mundane atmosphere is charged.