Soccer-Euro-France drop guard in knockout by Dutch

By Patrick Vignal

VEVEY, Switzerland, June 14 (Reuters) - France were let down against a buoyant Dutch side in Euro 2008's Group C by the one area of their game they thought they could rely on: their defence.

Friday's 4-1 defeat in Berne means the World Cup runners-up's hopes of surviving the group stage of Euro 2008 hang by a thread.

It also showed the French were wrong to believe they could intimidate any opponents with their cast-iron back four.

"That's was our main strength, we kept saying it, we thought we were solid at the back and we cracked," coach Raymond Domenech said, after a clash of styles between France's compact outfit and the attacking Dutchmen turned into a mis-match.

Watertight in a dismal 0-0 draw with Romania in their opening game, France's rearguard proved porous against a team much too fast and clever for them.

The 36-year-old Lilian Thuram, winning his 142nd cap on the Stade de Suisse pitch, looked his age and bore some responsibility for three of the four goals.

Fullback Willy Sagnol was equally sluggish, never managing to keep Wesley Sneijder and Arjen Robben under control.

The result was France's heaviest defeat at the finals of a major event since Brazil beat them 5-2 in the semi-finals of the 1958 World Cup.