Two years after their World Cup failure, coach Jacques Santini has laid down the law on France to get them ready for the defence of their European title next month in Portugal.

Santini, who helped Olympique Lyon clinch their first French league title in 2002, took over from Roger Lemerre in July 2002, a few weeks after Les Bleus made a shock World Cup first-round exit without scoring a goal in South Korea.

It did not take him too long to build a disciplined squad, where no special favour was granted.

In 2002, Lemerre obviously had little authority, with captain Marcel Desailly wasting his time and energy on advertising.

Two years earlier, Lemerre had led France to victory at Euro 2000 in the same manner, but it was not much of a secret that captain Didier Deschamps, who ended his international career after the final against Italy, was the one picking the team.

Santini restored discipline, firmly settling the case of players such as Vincent Candela, Emmanuel Petit and Nicolas Anelka.

Candela, who is a regular starter with AS Roma, said he wanted a place in the starting line-up as a condition of carrying on playing for France. Santini never called him back.

Petit applied for the same favour, only for Santini to tell the Chelsea player the competition was probably too strong for him in midfield.

Anelka, who snubbed a late call-up for a friendly against Yugoslavia in November 2002, has been dubbed France's most ineligible player and public apologies did not change Santini's mind.

Even Desailly has been told he has to be fit, not just a 1998 World champion, to play.

LOOKING AHEAD

The Chelsea defender was not picked for France's Euro qualifiers against Malta and Israel in March 2003.

However, Santini showed he was not heartless, keeping faith with number one goalkeeper Fabien Barthez, who was sidelined by Alex Ferguson at Manchester United, and including Arsenal winger Sylvain Wiltord in his 23-man squad despite an obvious lack of match play.

The gamble paid off when Wiltord hit a double in France's 4-0 win over Andorra last Friday in a Euro 2004 warm-up friendly in Montpellier.

Santini also opened the squad's door to young prospects such as midfielder Benoit Pedretti, defenders William Gallas and Jean-Alain Boumsong and striker Louis Saha.

This tactic had a very positive effect, forcing the usual starters to raise their game to retain their places.

The call-up of Olympique Lyon forward Sidney Govou and Saha also widened his attacking options, with Santini changing Lemerre's usual 4-2-3-1 into a 4-4-2 that allowed Thierry Henry and David Trezeguet to pair up in attack.

Between them they have scored 13 goals during the 563 minutes -- one goal every 43 minutes -- they have spent together on the pitch under Santini.

Santini also learned from the World Cup debacle, trying to settle a team capable of playing without inspirational playmaker Zinedine Zidane.

France were brilliant in retaining their Confederations Cup crown in June 2003 without the Real Madrid player.

However, Santini has a broader view.

Calling up Monaco's Patrice Evra and Paris St Germain's Bernard Mendy for the FIFA centennial match he showed he was already looking towards the 2006 World Cup in Germany even though his contract would need renewing after Euro 2004.