The Jamaica Star :: Sport :: France's walking wounded arrive at Euro 2008

France's football players (from left) Franck Ribery, Willy Sagnol, Thierry Henry, Claude Makelele and William Gallas are seen as the French national anthem plays, prior to their friendly match against Colombia at the Stade de France in Saint Denis, Paris, on Tuesday. Ribery, Sagnol and Gallas have injury concerns. - AP

GENEVA, Switzerland (AP)

France arrived in Switzerland for the European Championship yesterday with a squad of walking wounded.

The French touched down in Geneva, Switzerland, after their original plans to land in Sion were altered by bad weather.

Team spokesman Yann Le Guillard said by telephone that there were no further hiccups en route to Switzerland and that "everything was fine."

However, bad luck seems to be following coach Raymond Domenech's team everywhere at the moment.

Patrick Vieira's thigh tear has ruled the midfielder out of the team's opener against Romania on Tuesday, winger Franck Ribery hurt his ankle in Tuesday's 1-0 friendly win over Colombia, defender William Gallas says he's only 70 per cent fit, and fullback Willy Sagnol also looks to be out of condition.

Warm-up matches

"You saw the players were not really at their top level, but there are (several) days left to get there," striker Thierry Henry said after playing Colombia in the last of three warm-up matches.

Vieira, who limped out of a training session last week, played no part in Tuesday's win, the 0-0 draw with Paraguay three days earlier, or the 2-0 win over Ecuador on May 27.

Domenech has until June 8 to decide whether to drop Vieira from the tournament squad and replace him with Mathieu Flamini, who is a backup.

"We would like him (Vieira) to stay, obviously," Henry said of the France captain, who has 105 caps and six consecutive major tournaments behind him.

Enough strength

Despite these fitness concerns, Henry remains confident Les Bleus have enough strength to win the June 7-29 tournament in Austria and Switzerland. After the Romania match, France plays Netherlands on June 13 and Italy on June 17.

"We are prepared for it, otherwise you should stay at home," Henry said.

Gallas and Sagnol played the whole match against Colombia at Stade de France, and neither looked comfortable.

"Their objective was to go right to the end and to play a full match," Domenech said. "We know everyone can do better, but they already played 90 minutes without problem. They stood up to a very intense match, that's good."

Domenech hopes he has done enough to get his team in shape for Romania.

"We gave playing time to a maximum amount of players," he said. "But we know what a major tournament is like. You think you've done all you can, have the best team in the world, but there's only one winner and the rest are crying."