Bouba Diop - chased by the French midfield (Allsport)

France's beaten world champions trailed disconsolately out of Seoul's World Cup Stadium with their midfielder Patrick Vieira summing up the mood: "We had a bad day."

It was not merely bad, it was awful, as World Cup debutants Senegal humbled Les Bleus 1-0 with a brilliant performance which means France must now beat Uruguay and Denmark to be certain of making the second round.

Arsenal star Vieira, himself born in Senegal, said: "It's a big disappointment for us because we were expecting we would have done well.

"We know winning the first match is important and now we have to win our next two games to qualify.

"Senegal were a good team, they were well-organised, and it was very difficult for us to find the solution. That little bit of luck was on their side this time.

"The whole team was disappointed and we know we didn't perform like we should and like we can.

"The next game is really important and we have to be focused on playing like a team.

"This was a bad day for us but it's not over, because there are two more games left."

Senegal's goal was scored by their giant midfielder Papa Bouba Diop, all 6ft 5in and 14 stone of him, while striker El Hadji Diouf, linked this week with a move to Liverpool, tormented France's ageing defence continuously.

Diop said: "I'm delighted, really delighted to score the first goal of the World Cup. I had been dreaming of it, and against the world champions too!"

Diouf, a team-mate of Diop's at Lens, added: "I think all of Africa and Senegal will be happy with this. Nobody had confidence in us but I did."

Their jubilant coach Bruno Metsu said: "I am not the best coach in the world but after this perhaps I am not too bad. I am truly happy with this, it was a great victory and an important result.

"But it's no use beating France unless you do well afterwards. The players have to believe now they can go through to the next round."

France coach Roger Lemerre must be praying his side can survive against Uruguay and then welcome back Zinedine Zidane, who was missed terribly.

Despite the defeat, Lemerre appeared buoyant. "Nothing is ruined," he said.

"There are two more games to play. If by chance we won those two matches, we'd be in the round of 16.

"They were well-organised with a five-man midfield. When a team are well-grouped together, you need speed and spontaneity.

"We were not able to cut through their defensive net. They had one counter-attack and they scored. That's football but we would have liked a

happier start.

"In this kind of match, when a team know what they have to do, it's hard.

They did not miss the target."

Chelsea's Emmanuel Petit admitted France had struggled to break their

opponents down.

"We could not find the final ball," he said. "They played in their own half for 85 percent of the time and played on the counter-attack."