Paris  - The French national football side was savouring its 1-0 away victory over Ireland but remained wary ahead of Wednesday's decisive World Cup qualification rematch.

"The objective is still to go to South Africa (for the finals), not to win in Ireland," defender Eric Abidal was quoted as saying Sunday in the daily Le Parisien. "We see the light at the end of the tunnel. Or let's just say there's a little light that appears far ahead."

Striker Nicolas Anelka, who scored the winning goal on a deflection in the 72nd minute of Saturday's match at Dublin's Croke Park, said France's chances of making it to next year's finals have "of course risen," but he warned that it was too early to celebrate.

"Wednesday, we're going to have to be very concentrated and present, because Ireland play very physical football," he said. "We know it will be another difficult encounter."

"It's better to play (Wednesday's) match under these conditions (with a 1-0 lead), but we saw that on certain occasions... the Irish can be dangerous," cautioned Barcelona striker Thierry Henry. "The result is reassuring."

However, France's post-match euphoria was somewhat dampened by media reports that Henry and coach Raymond Domenech again quarreled over team strategy.

According to both Le Parisien and sports daily L'Equipe, who cited Irish media, the two men had a loud argument in the lobby of France's hotel over Domenech not calling up veteran midfielder Patrick Vieira to replace the injured Jeremy Toulalan.

Asked about the alleged incident, Domenech said he and Henry had had "a discussion, as we usually do, since he's the team captain."

Henry and Domenech reportedly also had a violent argument over the coach's management during a team meeting ahead of a group qualification match against Romania in September.