Senegal coach Guy Stephan sifted through the wreckage of his team's African Nations Cup campaign on Sunday and faced the daunting task of having to restore the flagging career of golden boy El Hadji Diouf.
The Liverpool ace, twice African Footballer of the Year, endured a miserable tournament and he found himself at the centre of controversy in Saturday's 1-0 quarter-final defeat to Tunisia.
In the 65th minute of a tempestuous affair, Diouf claimed he had been fouled by Mehdi Nafti but referee Ali Bujsaim waved play on and Nafti found Ziad Jaziri whose overhead cross fell for Jawhar Mnari to head home the only goal.
Diouf spent the rest of the match bickering with opponents and the linesman and, at one stage, Tunisia coach Roger Lemerre had to intervene to prevent the player from remonstrating with the home bench.
The last sighting of Diouf at the Rades Stadium was of him being guided by two of his own backroom staff from the pitch to the dressing room.
Stephan had spent the week defending Diouf from attacks from both outside and inside the World Cup quarter-finalists' camp.
Salif Diao had accused Diouf of putting in a greater effort for Liverpool than he did for the national team.
"El Hadji Diouf is a great player," said Stephan on the eve of the Tunisia clash.
"But he needs the big stage to show off his talents and he is the only player who is a regular feature with a big European club.
"In the match against Kenya, he created two goals for Mamadou Niang which helped us win. I think we should focus on his performances rather than on his behaviour."
Diouf was also accused of enjoying a late night out on the eve of the drab 0-0 draw with Burkina Faso - an allegation he strenuously denied.
"It is not the first time that there have been stories about me," said Diouf.
"They do not bother me. On the pitch, it is almost impossible to beat us so they have to try with poison off the pitch."
Senegal, who were runners-up to Cameroon at the 2002 African Nations Cup, now have four months to regroup before their World Cup qualifiers against Mali, Liberia, Congo, Zambia and Togo get underway.
"The task of the Senegal team is to bounce back in the days to come," said Stephan.
Diouf's Liverpool teammate Diao insisted that Senegal did all they could to win the quarter-final.
"We have nothing to blame ourselves for, we gave all we could," insisted Diao.
"I think the right team was in place and we played the type of game we neded to. But it didn't happen for us. There are always days like these."