But precisely which one will remain a closely guarded secret within the confines of Raymond Domenech's squad until after their World Cup campaign reaches its conclusion.

"We've got a phrase not a song this time," reveals Lilian Thuram.

"It's a phrase which holds the team together. You'll find out what it is at the end of the competition, perhaps one of the players will divulge it," the Juventus defender told a press conference here Monday 48 hours before France's semifinal against Portugal.

"It sums up the mood of the group," added Thuram who believed humility was the key characteristic of France's buzzing 2006 World Cup side which has charged into the last four with two giant performances over Brazil and Spain.

"There's a humility in the side, each player is ready to forget himself for the others.

"We play in a block - once you have that success comes with it.

"The players respect each other, in some teams you find players aren't prepared to make an effort for others.

"Take Greece at Euro 2004, they didn't have any big stars but they showed a united front and look what happened."

Another ingredient Thuram maintains is behind France's presence in the last four is discipline.

"If you look back at our Euro 2004 performance we didn't have a disciplined side, sometimes we played any old how. A coach can talk for hours about discipline but he has to have players who are receptive to what he's telling them."

Thuram echoed Domenech's feeling that France's lacklustre opening skirmishes with Switzerland and South Korea were due to a collective fear of repeating the dreadful showing in the 2002 World Cup.

"I think there was a trauma, a fear that we didn't want this World Cup to end up like that (when the defending champions crashed out in the first round without scoring a goal).

"Then when we qualified from our group there was a liberation which meant we could start playing at our true level.

"Little by little we're continuing our journey, we're improving. Now we've got to overcome our next test. We haven't come here to lose in the semifinals."