Prior to France and Uruguay's dull 0-0 draw in their opening Group A match, French captain Patrice Evra had warned that Les Bleus would have to find a way around the South Americans' "defensive wall".

France's misfiring attack failed comprehensively in this task.

After a promising opening period, during which time France looked lively, the match degenerated into a predictable pattern.

Uruguay let the French have the ball in the middle of the park, but as soon as they got into the final third of the pitch, a swarm of pale blue shirts choked the life out of the attackers.

Franck Ribery, of whom so much was expected, was nullified. The talented Yoann Gourcuff was reduced to hopeful shots from distance - although he nearly scored with a surprise free-kick from a ridiculously acute angle.

The introduction of supposed super sub Thierry Henry for Nicolas Anelka on 72 minutes changed nothing.

His only contributions came in the form of a header wide from an offside position, a shout for handball that the referee waved away and a weak free kick that hit the wall.

Uruguay coach Oscar Tabarez summed it up when he said his defence "dominated them in our box".

Despite the strong defensive display and a hard-earned point, however, Tabarez was disappointed his team could not utilise the attacking talents of Man of the Match Diego Forlan and young striker Luis Suarez more.

"We are happy with the result but not with our game," he said. "We had a completely different idea of how we wanted to play."

The one consolation for French coach Raymond Domenech and his insipid strike force is that the Uruguayan wall is likely to prove equally difficult for Mexico and South Africa to penetrate.

"I think they are a very solid team, very good in defence, that creates opportunities and will cause problems for the other teams in the group," he said.