June 10, 2008

FRANCE did their chances of advancing from a tough Group C no favours when they drew 0-0 with Romania in a tight, tactical affair in their opening match at Euro 2008.

The 2006 World Cup runners-up, who will also face the Netherlands and world champions Italy in what is widely seen as the toughest group of the tournament, looked nervous and failed to breach a tight Romania defence.

France started the match at the Letzigrund stadium without striker Thierry Henry, who received a knock in a warm-up game, and midfielder and captain Patrick Vieira, sidelined by a thigh injury.

Neither side made any headway against some very tight defending, with only one shot on target in the entire match – steered straight at Romania keeper Bogdan Lobont by France striker Karim Benzema.

France coach Raymond Domenech said: "We know it is a complicated group and Romania are not there to do anybody any favours. We were nervous, we could not express ourselves fully, it's often like that in the first match.

"The situation we're in now is that every match will be a knock-out round.

"If we play with too much caution, something will be missing at the end. There are two matches left and six points to take. I'm neither pessimistic nor optimistic."

Though his strikers fired blanks, Domenech was pleased with the untroubled time had by his goalkeeper Gregory Coupet.

"The positive thing is that Greg did not have one save to make," he said. "We managed to control the match, but we were not dangerous enough."

Romania coach Victor Piturca said: "Personally I would have wanted the three points since France may no longer be at the level they used to be. You could see that today.

"Our goal was three points but in the end it was a fair result."

The first 45 minutes featured few highlights with Romania concentrating on defending and France dominating play but creating few clear chances.

Nicolas Anelka, playing in place of Henry, shot just wide on nine minutes and headed the ball over the bar after the half-hour mark in two of France's few threatening moves.

France had another chance on 17 minutes, Lobont rushing out to deny Florent Malouda before Anelka fired wide with an angled shot from the edge of the box.

Romania also showed signs of nerves, collecting three yellow cards in the first half, but stood firm at the back to keep alive their chances of making the quarter-finals.

The second half started in more promising fashion for France with Malouda twisting his way past two defenders and racing into the box to shoot just wide with an angled shot.

The pressure was back on Romania when Benzema fired at Lobont after collecting a Franck Ribery cross shortly before the hour.

Romania kept their cool, though, demonstrating how they had topped their qualifying group ahead of the Netherlands and showing their determination to give their group rivals a hard time.

France, looking for the right balance between ageing stalwarts and exciting newcomers, need to step up a gear in their next outings if they are to survive the group stage.