France might have kicked off their pre-World Cup preparations in rip-roaring style, but the manager Didier Deschamps still feels there is plenty of work to do if the Les Blues are to compete with the best in the sport's most important tournament.
Arsenal striker Olivier Giroud and Mathieu Valbuena were the star men for France as they thumped Norway 4-0 at the Stade de France, with the home side showing they mean business heading into the FIFA World Cup 2014 in Brazil.
Paul Pogba opened the scoring for the French, before Giroud's brace was sandwiched by a nice strike from Loic Remy, as Valbuena orchestrated pretty much every good France attacking move.
"It was nice, the stadium was full, we had been working very well all week," Deschamps told reporters.
"We were determined and we put intensity into the game but it was not so simple. After a good start, we had less possession after 20 minutes. After the break, we resumed our domination."
France were without Real Madrid duo Karim Benzema and Raphael Varane, while Bayern Munich winger Franck Ribery was rested, and yet the 1998 champions eased to victory, giving Deschamps plenty to smile about.
However, Deschamps, who was a part of the World Cup winning team of 1998, when Zinedine Zidane with a couple of nods of his head created history, believes France are far from ready to go for another title tilt.
"We are not ready yet but there is a collective desire," he added. "We cannot be at 100 percent now. The most important thing is to give everything the day of the match.
"We still have two weeks to prepare. Let's not forget that our goal is 15 June."
That date is when France open up their World Cup campaign against Honduras, with the other two teams of Group E being Ecuador and Switzerland. On paper, France look favourites to go through as group winners, but then a World Cup never really plays out like you expect.
Samir Nasri, and the fact that the Manchester City playmaker was not selected, has been the main talking point concerning France until now, and Deschamps and his squad will want to put those worries to rest quickly, with two more friendlies to be played – against Paraguay and Jamaica.
