There may be little love lost between France and Italy but their two coaches were in agreement over one matter ahead of the eagerly anticipated Group C showdown in Zurich: for both Les Bleus and their transalpine rivals the final has come early at UEFA EURO 2008.

Dramatic evening
"This is the kind of game every player dreams of being involved in," France coach Raymond Domenech enthused, while his Italian counterpart Roberto Donadoni said: "We know what’s at stake and we’re ready to put our hearts and souls into it. For us, this is already a final." Few could have predicted that the two 2006 FIFA World Cup finalists, would be locking horns on Tuesday knowing that even a victory may not prove enough to reach the quarter-finals. With one point each after two matches, Romania could render their efforts fruitless by beating the Netherlands in Berne to hold on to second spot. It promises to be a dramatic evening, although Domenech is urging his men to focus only on events at the Letzigrund Stadion. "We have to forget the other game completely," he stressed. "We still have a tiny chance but it will only happen if we win our game."

‘Find a balance’
Like the world champions, who lost 3-0 to the Dutch in their opening game, France suffered their heaviest defeat in UEFA European Championship history in losing 4-1 against the Netherlands – and Domenech admits improvements are needed. "We’ve been trying to get the Dutch game out our heads for the last three days," the 56-year-old said. "Despite the result, there were positives to take from the performance, notably concerning the number of chances we created. But we need to find a balance. Against Romania we made a lot of effort to defend, whereas against the Netherlands we made a lot of effort to attack. Against Italy we’ll need to do a lot of defending and attacking."

Vieira absent
Domenech will again be without Patrick Vieira due to a thigh injury and, though he remained coy on the subject of team selection, Eric Abidal, Lassana Diarra and Karim Benzema are being tipped to feature after missing out last time. Italy coach Roberto Donadoni was also keeping his cards close to his chest, saying: "I already have a good idea of my lineup, but this time I won’t reveal anything beforehand." The former AC Milan midfielder is not expected to repeat the five changes he made for the 1-1 draw with Romania, although Antonio Cassano may start in place of Alessandro Del Piero, while Massimo Ambrosini and Gennaro Gattuso are pressing for recalls.

Keen rivalry
Ever since David Trezeguet’s extra-time winner in the UEFA EURO 2000 final, France-Italy games have been keenly contested. The Azzurri gained revenge for the Rotterdam defeat by triumphing in Berlin two years ago, yet Domenech’s side reclaimed the upper hand with a victory in Paris in qualifying. Donadoni suggested the rivalry was not a significant factor, however, saying: "It’s just like any other game. It’s an important game, but playing France is no different to playing the Netherlands or Romania. Both sides will be extremely motivated and will try to win. It should be exciting. I can’t wait for the game to start."

Head for football … an Italian fan is completely wrapped up in the game as the European championships are held in Austria and Switzerland this year / Reuters

Header … a French fan gets into the spirit of things with her team playing out a scoreless draw against Romania / Reuters

Neutral territory … Italian fans cheer for their team before they faced the Netherlands in Bern, Switzerland / AFP

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Thousands of football fans have flooded Austria in readiness for the second day of the 2008 European Championship.

Austria is set to play Croatia in the city on Sunday and Germany will contest Poland Klagenfurt in all group B games.

Football fans - including a team of conspicuous supporters from Britain dressed in Austrian lederhosen - flooded Vienna a day earlier, strolling along the city’s fan mile under surprisingly sunny skies.

At the opposite end of the spectrum in Klagenfurt, the smallest of the eight Swiss and Austrian venues hosting the finals, soaked fans cowered in doorways to avoid the rain.

High temperatures

“We can get the weather right, you can’t, you can’t,” sang a group of German supporters, whose country saw weeks of sunshine and high temperatures during their hosting of the 2006 World Cup, taunting nearby Austrian football fans.

In Zurich, Switzerland’s largest city, more than 10,000 feverishly followed the championship via public viewing.

But Andy Richardson, Al Jazeera’s correspondent in Switzerland, said the match was “not the awe-inspiring opening the Swiss supporters would have been hoping for”.

Saturday’s results saw the Czech Republic score a 1-0 victory over Switzerland, while Portugal won a 2-0 victory over Turkey.

A brief scuffle between Swiss and Czech fans ended without incident but police later pulled two people out of the crowd and detained them.

About 40,000 people visited the Geneva fan zone to watch the big screen broadcasts of Switzerland playing the Czech Republic in Basel, while Portugal took on Turkey just a few hundred metres away at Stade de Geneve.

Captain in tears

In some rather lacklustre football in Basel’s Saint Jakob-Park, Switzerland lost Alexander Frei, its captain and leading scorer, to a knee injury.

The 28-year-old striker was taken off the field in tears shortly before halftime and returned to the bench on crutches.

The Czech Republic’s offence stagnated in midfield and the European Championship opener looked headed to a dreary draw until Vaclav Sverkos came off the bench to score his first international goal and give the Czech team a 1-0 victory.

“It was the best moment of my football career,” said Sverkos, who was making only his third appearance for the national team.

“I was trying to shoot as soon as possible because the defender was coming.”

But Czech midfielder Tomas Galasek admitted after the match that his 20-metre headed pass to Sverkos was not necessarily intended for the striker. Sverkos then mis-hit his shot.

Switzerland controlled the match for long stretches, but missed a chance to equalize in the 80th minute.

Tranquillo Barnetta’s low shot was stopped by Czech goalkeeper Petr Cech after defender Tomas Ujfalusi appeared to handle the ball in the area.

Switzerland’s Johan Vonlanthen got the loose ball but his shot hit the crossbar, and the chance was over.

Until then, there had been few clear-cut scoring chances, with the youthful Swiss team lacking a cutting edge in front of goal and the experienced Czechs happy to soak up pressure and look for chances on the counterattack.

Portugal v Turkey

Over in the Stade de Geneve, Pepe and Raul Meireles scored second-half goals to give Portugal a 2-0 win over Turkey.

Brazil-born central defender Pepe, playing in his first major competition for Portugal, scored from inside the area after a one-two with striker Nuno Gomes. He beat defender Emre Asik to the ball and sent a right-footed shot into the net.

Meireles added another in injury time after Cristiano Ronaldo began a late break, then passed to Joao Moutinho, who got the ball back to Meireles for the goal.

“I can hardly describe the emotion I’m feeling,” Pepe said.

“We played as a real team and that’s important. We knew sooner or later we would score a goal.

Today, I must stress that it was the team spirit that prevailed. We deserve to be congratulated for our great display.”

The victory comes as a boost for Portugal, which is hoping to repeat its successful campaigns at Euro 2004 and the 2006 World Cup.

Turkey, in its first major competition since reaching the semifinals of the 2002 World Cup, will have to recover to keep alive this year.