The world's most expensive player applied an ice pack to his left thigh as he sat on the bench after indicating to Lemerre that he wanted to leave the field in the 38th minute.

"He has a small tear, a little pain in his thigh muscle," said France coach Roger Lemerre.

"When it's muscular, you are always worried because you never know how long it is going to take to heal."

The Real Madrid player was replaced by Sylvain Wiltord as France wwnt on to win 3-2 against the World Cup co-hosts with a late goal from defender Frank Leboeuf.

Zidane attended the birth of his third son at the weekend and only arrived in Asia on Wednesday after a 17-hour flight from Paris. The rest of the squad had arrived in Japan on Monday.

He did not play in last week's 2-1 World cup warm-up defeat against Belgium at the Stade de France.

Lemerre had on Tuesday expressed his impatience to have his key player with the squad, saying the tournament would not really start for France until he arrived.

The world champions kick off the defence of their world crown against Senegal in the opening match of the finals in Seoul on May 31 and also face Uruguay and Denmark in group A.

The tournament, being co-hosted by South Korea and Japan, runs from May 31 to June 30.