France travel to Sarajevo on Tuesday desperate to escape the nightmare that is currently engulfing them.

A farcical World Cup campaign which saw the players boycott training after Nicolas Anelka was sent home finished with France at the bottom of their group and slinking home in disgrace.

Raymond Domenech was replaced by Laurent Blanc and the Euro 2012 campaign could not come soon enough as the team looked to put South Africa behind them.

However, Les Bleus' poor fortune continued against Belarus on Friday night as Sergei Kislyak's 86th-minute goal condemned them to a 1-0 defeat at the Stade de France.

Now they must travel to face Bosnia-Herzegovina while in a state of vulnerability and Blanc admits his side will not be favourites, saying: "I do not see us say we are going to Bosnia to win."

Asked when his team would be competitive, he said: "I don't know. It can take a year but it might also never happen. I'm just hoping we can solve our problem as quickly as possible."

Chelsea midfielder Florent Malouda echoed his manager's sentiments, telling www.uefa.com: "We have to get a result.

"This team needs a good performance and a result that can become a reference. We know it'll be very hard but maybe we should follow the example of Belarus, who came here looking for a point and then gradually started to play with more freedom."

The former Bordeaux boss' task became that little bit harder when Loic Remy, Guillaume Hoarau and Louis Saha were ruled out although Blanc had some rare good news when Karim Benzema declared himself fit following an ankle injury.

In contrast, the hosts started their qualification campaign with a 3-0 win over Luxembourg and they will be confident of facing France when their opponents are rock bottom.

However, striker Edin Dzeko insists France are still the favourites to finish top of the group, saying: "It is obvious France are the favourites. We are aiming for second place. We absolutely want to participate in the next European Championship."

The Wolfsburg striker also believes they can re-emerge as a great side, adding: "Absolutely. They now have a new coach who can create a new momentum. I am convinced that the French will soon again be conquerors."

Safet Susic was appointed as coach in December 2009 and he just failed to guide them to the World Cup finals with the team losing out to Portugal in a play-off.

Dzeko hailed his coach, saying: "He is a young coach who has many ambitions. He is someone who communicates a lot with his players. As a player, he had a great career. At the time, I was too young to watch his matches, but I watched a few DVDs and I must say he had an excellent reading of the game."