France needed a late goal from Thierry Henry to snatch a 3-2 win over Costa Roca in a lively friendly international in Martinique, on Wednesday.
France recovered from two goals down and had to wait for a goal from the Arsenal striker two minutes from time to win their first outing in this French-administered Caribbean island.
The first defeat since Raymond Domenech took over after a quarter-final exit from Euro 2004 was looming for France when Liverpool striker Djibril Cisse hit the equaliser with 10 minutes remaining.
Costa Rica opened the scoring against the run of play courtesy of striker Alvaro Saborio, who beat an offside trap to enter the box unchallenged and hit the back of the net on 14 minutes.
Midfielder Danny Fonseca gave Costa Rica, who have qualified for the 2006 World Cup in Germany, a 2-0 lead with a header four minutes from the interval.
Striker Nicolas Anelka, back for France after a three-year absence, reduced the arrears from close range four minutes into the second half.
France, who have gone 16 matches without defeat but struggled to qualify for the World Cup, go on to play Germany at the Stade de France on Saturday.
