French manager Raymond Domenech is facing the prospect of being without 3 key players for Mondays opening Group C clash with Romania in Zurich.

Patrick Vieira is extremely doubtful to recover from his thigh strain but he has now been joined by worries over Thierry Henry and Franck Ribery’s fitness.  Henry is suffering from a sciaric nerve issue and is currently undergoing treatment to relieve the pain whilst Ribery suffered an ankle injury in the friendly win over Colombia last week. Ribery had to break from the teams training yesterday to work with the fitness team as they try to assess the extent of the injury.

The French were also concerned earlier in the week with potential doubts over Patrice Evra, William Gallas, Claude Makelele as well as Vieira, but they have all recovered and should be fit to start on Sunday. The French are desperate to get off with a good start in what has already been dubbed this tournaments Group of Death and they may feel they can afford to not have all three in the team against what they feel is the weakest side in the group, but they need to take note of how easily the Romanians beat Holland in qualifying. The Dutch will certainly not be taking them for granted and they also have an injury concern over Wesley Sneijder who tweaked his hamstring in training yesterday.