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France made sure they picked up three crucial Word Cup points with a pedestrian 3-0 victory over the Faroe Islands.
It's a sign of how far Les Bleus have fallen that no one dared say this match was settled before the television cameras started rolling, but realistically there was never any doubt about which language the victors would be speaking.
France boss Raymond Domenech ultimately preferred Liverpool striker Djibril Cissé to Lyon's Sylvain Wiltord, and his decision looked to be inspired when the blonde-bearded livewire volleyed narrowly wide from a Florent Malouda header after three minutes.
The former Auxerre star would turn out to be France's hero of the evening, and he was in the thick of the action again moments later when he just failed to convert a Willy Sagnol cross. It was another close shave for the Faroe Islands, but Cissé refused to be denied and opened the scoring when he headed a cross from Malouda past the helpless Jakup Mikkelson on 13 minutes.
The early goal fired the Stade Félix-Bollaert crowd, and they had another breakthrough to celebrate when Suni Olsen clumsily turned in Cissé's cross from the right five minutes later.
Two strikes in the first 20 minutes led everyone present to believe that Les Bleus would start breaking scoring records, but few could have predicted that the home side would struggle to kill off the game.
Willy Sagnol fired against a post after 34 minutes following a free-kick from Malouda, but the further the match went on the more uncomfortable star striker Thierry Henry seemed to be with the 4-3-3 formation.
Indeed, against all expectations it was Cissé once again who threatened to add to the scoreline with two thunderous efforts that fizzed past Mikkelson's post before the interval.
Henry's former Arsenal colleague Patrick Vieira then offered further proof he's no finisher when he powered the ball wide after he found himself clear on goal, but his London-based friend was no luckier when he attempted to turn a Zidane cross goalwards soon afterwards.
It took a deflection to deny the Arsenal man his first goal from a ZZ assist on that occasion, and Henry was barely more successful with a free-kick that skimmed over the bar on the hour mark.
Malouda then had a charge on goal stopped by the courageous Mikkelson as France pressed on, and Raymond Domenech promptly threw on Sylvain Wiltord in Henry's place to see how the experienced forward would cope with the hapless islanders.
Henry may have been unfortunate not to add to his impressive tally, but Wiltord created goal number three almost immediately when he crossed for Cissé to cannon in his second of the evening with a powerful volley on 76 minutes.
Cissé and substitute Vikash Dhorasoo fired off target as the clock ran down, while Mikkelson made a couple of high-profile saves, but in the end there was no argument that class had told in the end.
Whether so many missed opportunities will go unpunished against Ireland in Dublin on Wednesday is another question, however.
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