France's farcical tournament ended in disgrace

Yohan Gourcuff sent off
France's farcical tournament ended in disgrace as they dropped skipper Patrice Evra, had Yohan Gourcuff sent off - with Djibril Cisse initially shown the red card - and lost 2-1 to South Africa, who became the first hosts to go out in the group stage.

MATCH SUMMARY

Man of the Match: Katlego Mphela - The forward was energetic throughout the game and finally showed the form that he had produced in the warm-up games. He put himself in a great position to net the second and was a livewire throughout.

France verdict: Dismal, farcical, embarrassing, chaotic. You could never run out of words to describe France's display at this tournament. France were woeful even before they went down to ten men and didn't get any better. You have to pity Laurent Blanc.

South Africa verdict: After such a poor display in defeat to Uruguay, South Africa can exit the World Cup with pride with victory over the mighty France. They may be the first host country to fail to emerge from their group, but they were never expected to go far. They only go out on goal difference and that, in a way, is a triumph.

Could do better: Franck Ribery - He may have got the assist for Florent Malouda's consolation, but yet again he offered very little for a player of such quality. You would barely think the Bayern Munich player has been in South Africa.

Stat attack: Thierry Henry has tied Fabien Barthez for the most World Cup appearances in French history (17).