France will be back to best at Euro 2004 says Eriksson

Sven-Goran Eriksson predicted that his England side would face a France team which had put its disastrous 2002 World Cup campaign behind it when the two nations meet in next year's Euro 2004 finals.

And despite being paired with France, the holders, and Switzerland and Croatia in Group B, Eriksson said England had avoided the hardest group.

Group D, comprising Holland, Germany, the Czech Republic and Latvia, is set to become the championships 'Group of Death'.

"D is the most difficult group," said Eriksson. "We will have the first match against France, in Lisbon. It will be a big, big, game and very nice.

"Difficult, but beautiful. France are one of the favourites to win the tournament and you hope to have them in the final, but we are playing in the biggest stadium in Portugal (the Stadium of Light).

"France are a difficult one but I think we can beat them if we play our game."

France went into last year's World Cup finals in Asia as holders, but crashed out in the first round without winning a game. England meanwhile bowed out against eventual champions Brazil in the quarter-finals.

"The France that you saw in Japan was not the real France and I should think that at Euro 2004 you will see them back at their best," he said.

"They have a good chance and I think that if you take their squad as a whole they have the best football players of any side in the competition.

"With France they don't just have one or two good individuals but many, many players who play in all the best leagues across Europe.

"Technically, tactically and physically they are in top form, as they showed against Germany recently," he said, referring to France's 3-0 win in Gelsenkirchen that set a new French record of 13 consecutive victories.

Eriksson said he would not under-estimate the other two teams in the group.

"We played Croatia recently and even though we won 3-1 the Croatians showed that they are a good team," he added.

"Teams from Eastern Europe do tend to be technically very solid, physically strong and are very, very good at keeping hold of the ball. Their passing game is often frustrating because they can keep the ball for so long.

"I think that they are good - they beat Slovenia away to qualify and that is not easy so maybe they can do well in Portugal.

"Switzerland are a good side. They won their group and finished above Russia and the Irish, so we should look at them.

"They play a very mixed style of football, maybe because of their geography. In many ways they are quite German in their style but also they are more Italian at times."