France under pressure after opening defeat

LONDON — France needs a victory against Bosnia-Herzegovina on Tuesday to kickstart its European Championship qualifying campaign after the beleaguered team's World Cup hangover continued with a surprise home defeat to Belarus in its Group D opener.

The French slipped to a demoralizing 1-0 loss at the Stade de France in Laurent Blanc's first competitive match in charge, further denting confidence in a squad that was already at a low ebb following its dismal showing in South Africa this summer.

A chronic lack of confidence in front of goal is not helping the cause of a team that has won just one of its last nine games — and that was a scrappy 2-1 win over Costa Rica in a World Cup warmup.

"We're not scoring many at the moment," said Blanc, who is yet to taste success as France coach since taking over from Raymond Domenech. "You can't invent scoring goals in the French team and it only underlines the difficulties we are having."

Real Madrid striker Karim Benzema should return from an ankle injury that forced him out of the Belarus match but Blanc is still short up front. Lorient's Kevin Gameiro and new Lyon signing Jimmy Briand — who have five caps between them — are the only fully fit forwards at the manager's disposal. Guillaume Hoarau, Loic Remy and Louis Saha have all been ruled out through injury.

The French are desperate to get back to winning ways to help banish the memory of a World Cup debacle. The team went out at the group stage after failing to win a match and the squad went on strike during a training session.

With talismanic striker Thierry Henry retired and key players Patrice Evra, Franck Ribery and Nicolas Anelka all suspended for their part in the strike, Blanc's squad is short of experience.

"I want to put an end to this negative spiral of defeats and rebuild on a solid foundation," said Florent Malouda, who captained France against Belarus. "There is a lot of expectation at international level and we need to do more."

Bosnia-Herzegovina beat Luxembourg 3-0 on Friday to take early command of the group.

While France's post-World Cup misery continued, two other countries who failed in South Africa — England and Italy — began the rebuilding process with wins in their first Euro 2012 qualifiers.

England took a giant step forward by beating Bulgaria 4-0 at Wembley on Friday and will look to back that result up when it visits Switzerland, which has yet to start its qualifying campaign.