France

Having learnt from their abysmal World Cup defence in Japan and South Korea two years ago, coach Jacques Santini knows that nothing but a win in their Euro 2004 opener will do if they want to go all the way.

France are unbeaten in their last 17 matches -- 15 wins and two draws -- and have not conceded a goal since their 3-2 victory over Turkey in the semi-finals of the Confederations Cup a year ago.

Marcel Desailly, 36, Bixente Lizarazu, 34, and Lilian Thuram, 32, as well as goalkeeper Fabien Barthez, who is 32, are all most probably in the last major international tournaments and would want to make it a special one. They also have the sublime talents of Zinedine Zidane and Thierry Henry to fall back on.

Best performance: Winners in 1984, 2000

Recent performances:
1980 Did not qualify
1984 Winners
1988 Did not qualify
1992 Round one
1996 Semi-finals
2000 Winners

SQUAD:

Goalkeepers: 16-Fabien Barthez (Olympique Marseille), 23-Gregory Coupet (Olympique Lyon), 1-Mickael Landreau (Nantes)

Defenders: 2-Jean-Alain Boumsong (Auxerre), 8-Marcel Desailly (Chelsea), 5-William Gallas (Chelsea), 3-Bixente Lizarazu (Bayern Munich), 19-Willy Sagnol (Bayern Munich), 13-Mikael Silvestre (Manchester United), 15-Lilian Thuram (Juventus),

Midfielders: 17-Olivier Dacourt (AS Roma), 6-Claude Makelele (Chelsea), 18-Benoit Pedretti (Sochaux), 7-Robert Pires (Arsenal), 14-Jerome Rothen (Monaco), 4-Patrick Vieira (Arsenal), 10-Zinedine Zidane (Real Madrid)