Euro 2008 - France captain Vieira out of Italy clash

Eurosport - Tue, 17 Jun 09:53:00 2008

France captain Patrick Vieira has revealed he would miss their final Group C game against world champions Italy at Euro 2008 because of a thigh injury.

FOOTBALL Vieira - 0

"I was hoping to play that last group match but, unfortunately, the pain is still there and I don't know when I will be able to resume playing," Vieira sad on the eve of the game in Zurich.

Midfielder Vieira, who hurt a left thigh muscle in training for a warm-up game, has been kept in the squad but has not played.

France coach Raymond Domenech had brought Mathieu Flamini as a potential late replacement if Vieira were ruled out before their first game.

The 31-year-old Vieira, who had resumed training a few days before France's opening match against Romania, stayed and Flamini went home.

"I stayed because I thought I would be able to play that last (group) match and my experience could be useful," a frustrated Vieira said.

"It's true that at some stage, I'm going to need explanations," he added, suggesting the injury had not been properly diagnosed.

"My future doesn't bother me," he added. "What does bother me is this tournament, the matches I missed and the one we still have to play."

France will qualify for the quarter-finals only if they beat Italy and Romania do not beat Netherlands at the same time on Tuesday.

Vieira was replaced by Jeremy Toulalan in France's first two games, a 0-0 draw with Romania followed by a 4-1 thrashing by the Dutch.

Reuters

Comment 7 - 26 of 26

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  1. italy will win 2-0 romania will tie with netherlands 1-1 !!! believe me I could tell the future !! get back to me when this happens !

    From dntnmchl, on Tue 17 Jun 6:04PM

  2. I just want to say something..... watch tonigth match between Italy and France, does't matter if they will pass or not.... tonigth you will see the best match of all the tournement.... and you all will compleately forgot who will win this tournement but you will always remember Italy vs France of euro 2008. Not Italy not France they need to demostrate anything to anybody anymore......
    holland, romania, croatia, portugal, spain and all the one that will be left over after tonigth they have too.
    Forza Italia ...... viv la France

    From caienna72, on Tue 17 Jun 9:01AM

  3. Do you really think that Holland will risk to let Italy or France to go through? I don't think so. Maybe they lost their matches against the Dutch side but if they meet again in the semi-finals for sure they will not play again as they did and it will be much harder for the dutch to beat them. Hai Romania !

    From cristi_man25, on Tue 17 Jun 7:53AM

  4. come on france !

    From hewlhak, on Tue 17 Jun 4:54AM

  5. these2 teams are wasting our time we're not here to watch oldies dieing because of the pressure on the pitch let Italy and France go home be4 they get broken of old age

    From abbey_kat, on Tue 17 Jun 4:52AM

  6. the 2 world cup finalists have teams which cant compete in modern football there players are really old why should they waist our time, this is not an oldies show let them go home. Abbey (uganda)

    From abbey_kat, on Tue 17 Jun 4:25AM

  7. Just like Portugal, Holland will rest its starting players and then lose 0-2 to Romania. Doesn't that make perfect "football" sense? Wouldn't you do it if you were the Dutch coach? I know I would. Remember, the prize is the Cup.

    From t1ali, on Tue 17 Jun 4:02AM

  8. i hope italy will beat the french side, and the romanian will lose to the dutch! italia...forza italia!

    From joy j, on Tue 17 Jun 2:29AM

  9. italy will beat france and romania will draw with holland. italy will go on to the final. forza italia.

    From giovannit1980, on Tue 17 Jun 1:51AM

  10. Believe it or not, Italy is the world champions but key players are not part of the current squad. No matter what they have the potential to beat anyone on their way. The last two games are so unfortunate and not typical Italian style but they will make it. Italians believe in challenge. I think the game with France is a challange but Italy will start their wining stake and make it to all the way to final.
    Farid Ahmed, California, USA

    From Farid A, on Mon 16 Jun 11:38PM

  11. Believe it or not, Italy is the world champions but key players are not part of the current squad. No matter what they have the potential to beat anyone on their way. The last two games are so unfortunate and not typical Italian style but they will make it. Italians believe in challenge. I think the game with France is a challange but Italy will start their wining stake and make it to all the way to final.
    Farid Ahmed, California, USA

    From Farid A, on Mon 16 Jun 11:37PM

  12. From John Doe, on Monday 16 June 2008
    It is nice tgo see how everyone its preoccupied with the 3rd and 4th in the group...
    Romania will win against Holland (like they did before) and will qualify second.
    So, lets talk again about 3rd and fourth...

    From concordcommercial, on Mon 16 Jun 10:48PM

  13. the french national team are gonna buy cristiano ronaldo; and when they do; they will be unstopable

    From mehdimeds, on Mon 16 Jun 10:46PM

  14. If france or Italy manage to go through to the last eight, atleast finalist is the LEAST !

    From marctish, on Mon 16 Jun 10:44PM

  15. lol, france and italy aren't just good enough. i can predict a tight match btn them resulting in a draw,and Romania will beat Holland to go through.don't expect Van bastern to field his starting II, many influential players will be rested ....

    i will be so happy to see france & italy out before 48hrs time

    From marctish, on Mon 16 Jun 10:40PM

  16. I thought France was old in the last world cup already yet many players are still here :-) So yes, France too old.. way too old to make any impact.

    From brainless, on Mon 16 Jun 10:27PM

  17. Csivas,

    You dont know what u are saying.Shut ur traps if u dont know football.
    Itly deserves to there in the last 8.France should go home because they will be beaten by the great Azzuris.
    Go Azzuris

    From n_david012, on Mon 16 Jun 10:17PM

  18. I restate my comment. They are too old. And jomeyeruk even if they did make it to the final what does it matter? Italy are world champions and in fact both look like they are worth nothing when compared to two teams that people said had no chance to exit the group. People stated Romania will finish dead last and that Holland will be a distant 3rd. Well clearly that was a load of @#$%. The teams that are based on OLD players (no a days people like to use nice words like EXPERIENCED when the players are in fact having trouble running 90 minutes) are eliminated the Cezchs had a generally old and SLOW team in the attacking positions, thus they did not produce. Same applies for French, and Italy its simply the fact when a player can act and pretend he got hurt italians have a tendency to lose. Do you all remember the agme against australia??????? see u tube look at how italy got to the finals.

    From seriousness_one, on Mon 16 Jun 9:50PM

  19. To be honest i believe that france still have a chance. I'm surprised that people still say the squad is too old... it is exactly what everyone said in the last world cup and they manage to get to the final. However, i do also think that Domenech has made huge mistakes in the picking of the team, leaving some of the main players out.

    From jomeyeruk, on Mon 16 Jun 9:42PM

  20. This a top French Squad - were very unlucky against the Dutch and had the referee given the blatant penalty for handball it would have been a differet result. They deserve to beat Italy and go through. It should be appreciated that they have the most muticultural team with players from all backgrounds. If they do go out, just hope they get to severely injur materazzi and end that pigs career!

    From colin s, on Mon 16 Jun 9:33PM
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