World champions Italy begin quest for crown

Italy begin their bid today to add the European Championship trophy to the World Cup they won in Germany, with the Netherlands their first opponents in a tough group that also includes France and Romania.

The opening four matches at the tournament have all been won by the favoured team with Czech Republic beating Switzerland and Portugal overcoming Turkey on Saturday while Croatia downed Austria and Germany overcame Poland yesterday.

The Italians have lost World Cup-winning captain Fabio Cannavaro through injury and goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon is expected to lead the side for the match.

The tie pits Italy coach Roberto Donadoni against Netherlands boss Marco Van Basten, who played together at Milan in the late 1980s and early 1990s.

"Roberto always has been a real fighter and winner and he still is," said Van Basten, who is still friends with Donadoni. "When his team plays like he is they will be hard to beat."

In today's earlier match, France will also have to do without their captain since Patrick Vieira has been ruled out of the Romania match with a thigh injury.

Striker Thierry Henry, the country's all-time top scorer, has not trained since Friday after picking up a knock in the warm-up win against Colombia last week and is doubtful.

Romania are widely viewed as the weakest team in the group but coach Victor Piturca said yesterday it would be no surprise if they beat the French, runners-up at the World Cup.

In yesterday's matches, Austria followed co-hosts Switzerland by also losing their opening match, going down to Croatia despite a stirring fightback in the final minutes.

Tournament favourites Germany beat Poland in the other match in the section thanks to a goal in each half from Polish-born forward Lukas Podolski.