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France's assistant coach Alain Boghossian admitted on Thursday that there were heated exchanges between members of the squad in the aftermath of their 2-0 defeat to Sweden.

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SOUNDBITE (French), Alain Boghossian, assistant coach, France
"We completely failed against Sweden, so after the match, there were arguments, discussions, between players. I think it was completely normal and expected, the opposite would have been strange. It is like a couple in a relationship, if you don't express yourself, if you hide your feelings, then at some point things blow up. Players expressed themselves. We still qualified, so we can bounce back. The main goal was to qualify and we did, we are getting ready for the next match, and I hope that what happened in the locker room will actually be helpful."

SOUNDBITE (French), Alain Boghossian, assistant coach, France
"Today, Spain are the favourites, they are the World champions and European champions. This team has lost very few games, as a matter of fact they have won both tournaments. Spain have not always performed well in friendly games, but they are a formidable team. I have seen this team evolve, watching hours of video footage of the Spanish team. Spain plays very smoothly, it will be up to us prevent this well-oiled machine from working, just like Sweden did against us."