PARIS, June 12: France coach Roger Lemerre is facing an anxious 48-hour wait to see if he will avoid the axe after the reigning champions’ humiliating first-round exit from the World Cup.

The under-fire coach has been called to appear at a crisis meeting of the French Football Federation on Friday knowing that no manager of a French national team has ever survived the fallout of a disastrous international campaign.

Stefan Kovacs, Henri Michel, Michel Platini and Gerard Houllier have all been forced to leave their posts after failure to either qualify or make an impact at the World Cup or the European Championships.

And just two days after France touch base back in Paris it seems certain Lemerre will face the same fate.

The 60-year-old Lemerre could resign or be pushed gently out the door - a possibility which has been widely predicted by much of France’s sports press.

France’s early exit from the competition is a major embarrassment for the country following their World Cup win in 1998 and their European Championship victory in 2000.

And while Lemerre has two years left on his contract, potential replacements have already been put forward by France’s success-hungry media.

Former national stars such as Didier Deschamps and Jean Tigana, and Arsenal coach Arsene Wenger, are names which have been thrown into the hat.—AFP