18 June,2010 08:37 AM IST | | Agencies
France skipper Patrice Evra gave a damning verdict on his team after its 2-0 World Cup defeat to Mexico, saying he feels like France has become "a small football nation," Canadian Press Association reported.
"I am deeply upset, even if it won't change anything," Evra said. "Tonight I feel a bit like (we are) a small football nation, and it hurts."
France was eliminated from the European Championship two years ago at the group stage without winning a match, and Evra fears the team is still just as bad now.
"When you go out of the Euro in the first round, and then you are about to go out again, you really don't want to think about football anymore," Evra said.
Evra had previously talked defiantly about team spirit and how the team was ready to make an impression at the World Cup, despite many observers tipping France to do poorly because of Raymond Domenech's coaching and only scraping through qualifying.
"There is nothing to say except that it is a huge catastrophe tonight. I honestly didn't see it coming," Evra said. "What hurts is that we didn't know how to react, or how to equalise, and then they killed us with that second goal."