PARIS: Defending champions France can become the first team to reach the Finals of Euro 2004 today if they defeat Cyprus here – but they will have to do it without playmaker Zinedine Zidane in a worrying reminder of the disaster which befell them at the last World Cup.
The Real Madrid midfielder is suffering from an injured thigh and will sit out the match in which a victory, coupled with a Slovenian failure to beat Israel, will put France in the finals next summer.
