Distin also suggested that France lacked a leader to step in and help prevent the situation spiral out of control.

He said: “I think if they had a player, like Patrick Vieira for example, he might be a player who said ‘think about this first, it’s not going to change anything’ - and it didn’t.

“But I can’t judge because I wasn’t there. Maybe there is also stuff that we don’t know about that caused them to take the decision.”

Meanwhile, Mikel Arteta is determined not to let his personal World Cup disappointment hinder his international ambitions.

The Spanish midfielder has been consistently overlooked by his country and again missed out on Vicente Del Bosque’s squad that has made it to an historical semi-final where they face Germany in Durban tonight.

Nonetheless, the Everton playmaker has not given up hope of one day being capped and has set his sights on the 2012 European Championships in Poland and Ukraine.

“It’s been hard for me watching the World Cup,” said Arteta, who is on Everton’s pre-season tour of Australia.

“I was so close to getting into the national team before it and I didn’t. Even though I respect the terrific players we’ve got it was tough.

“I am not ruling myself out for the European Championships.”