Vicente del Bosque said his Spain side had chances to win a "quite balanced" opening game against Italy but, like Cesare Prandelli, sounded satisfied with the 1-1 draw. Having witnessed their respective sides put in immense performances in a captivating Group C opening encounter at the Arena Gdansk, Italy coach Cesare Prandelli and his Spain counterpart Vicente del Bosque each declared himself satisfied with a point.

Vicente del Bosque, Spain coach
Of course we wanted to win here but I am not leaving feeling frustrated as I thought we put in a good performance; we will leave happy knowing that. We finished the game full of eagerness, determination and with chances to win. I thought the second half was in our favour. We know how this type of game is, though, and this one was quite balanced. "We were solid in possession against a team who looked to press us and who started the game determined to stand up to us. Italy had some good chances, that's true, but we were on top of our game." We have achieved a point while putting on a good display.

Cesc Fàbregas is a player who is great at arriving in the area and we tried to use him from the start in a way we thought best for this occasion. Fernando Torres came on later and had chances to score which he didn't take but I am happy with a draw.

Cesare Prandelli, Italy coach
It was a very intense game. We really tried hard to press the Spanish players from the moment they started their moves. We tried to avoid them getting one-on-one situations while when we had the ball we looked to build from the back. Yesterday I didn't know what we would be coming up against in this game but I was smiling because this is a fantastic sport which I think we sometimes need to approach with less tension.

I brought Antonio Di Natale on for Mario Balotelli not because Mario missed a chance but because I felt we needed more depth in our attacks. "What disappointed me about this evening was that we allowed them to equalise so quickly. We were playing the world champions but we should have made it more difficult for them after we scored." We need to improve on certain things. We were a little surprised with Spain's lineup but we agreed that we needed to focus on our own game. We will analyse this game and work on some things. We expended a lot of energy which we will need to recover for our next match.

France coach Laurent Blanc expects a real test from an England side that "always wants to win and even more so against us" in the Group D opener against their injury-hit rivals. Laurent Blanc is not buying it for a second. As if he did not have enough on his plate already, the France coach found himself in the unusual position of trying to raise English morale on Sunday, reassuring England's more sceptical followers that their team will pose Les Bleus real problems in their Group D opener.

It is rare that an England squad travels to a major tournament with expectation levels low back at home, but a growing mood of fatalism has clearly taken hold. Without a manager for nearly three months until Roy Hodgson's appointment on 1 May, England have lost Frank Lampard, Gareth Barry, Gary Cahill and John Ruddy to injury since announcing their squad – and all that after learning star striker Wayne Rooney would miss their first two matches through suspension.

If the plan has been to lull France into a false sense of security, though, it has not worked. "We've had our own problems too," Blanc explained. ""Don't worry, the English will show up ready for us. They always want to win and even more so against the French." We have to forget everything that's happened before."

The list of past events in that particular category includes the last meeting between the two teams at this level, when a pair of Zinédine Zidane goals in added time gave France a remarkable 2-1 victory in their first outing at UEFA EURO 2004. England have not got the better of their old rivals since 1997 and their last competitive success dates back 30 years, but Blanc expects Hodgson's side to be doughty opponents.

"England are very strong in the tackle and very committed," he said. "I saw their two warm-up games [against Norway and Belgium] and if they play the same way, they'll play very deep, with two banks of four and looking to counter. We'll have to make sure not to leave too much space and get caught out, because Steven Gerrard is a very good passer."

Having hinted that injury doubts Yann M'Vila (ankle) and Blaise Matuidi (thigh) will start on the bench, the former defender – whose last experience of a UEFA European Championship was lifting the trophy 12 years ago – also denied that his team were favourites in a group featuring Sweden and co-hosts Ukraine too. What is certain, though, is that England are wary of the threat they pose going forward. "It's obvious that in attacking areas they have a lot of quality players who can win matches off their own back," said Hodgson.

The 64-year-old nonetheless has plenty of faith in his own charges, whom he credited with "[making] it easy for me to get my feet under the table" since taking charge. ""We have a team of players that are major stars in the Premier League, which is widely regarded as a top league and I see them play to the best of their ability every week. I hope they can replicate that form when we get on the field for France" and the matches that follow," he said. Despite his words of encouragement, Blanc probably does not hope likewise.

2006 world champion draw against 2010 world champion

good result for both team

couldn't find any real entertaining games so far compared with that Brazil-Argentina friendly

ask you guy this....

what if:

Portugal beat Denmark 1 - 0
Holland beat Germany 1 - 0

so 4 teams tied at 3 points with goal difference 0

so down to last game....what if

Portugal draw Holland 0 - 0
Denmark draw Germany 0 - 0

Final standing is 4 teams 4 points each with goal difference 0

who going to qualify?

Drawing of lots maybe.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2010/ju...10-drawing-lots

First game:

Denmark 1 - 0 Holland
Germany 1 - 0 Portugal

Second game:

Portugal 1 - 0 Denmark
Holland 1 - 0 Germany

Third Game:

Portugal 0 - 0 Holland
Denmark 0 - 0 Germany

Final Standing (not in sequence)

Denmark W1 D1 L1 G1 A1 GD0 Pts3
Portugal W1 D1 L1 G1 A1 GD0 Pts3
Germany W1 D1 L1 G1 A1 GD0 Pts3
Holland W1 D1 L1 G1 A1 GD0 Pts3

Now tell me how to decide cuz all tied!

w1 + d1 = 4 points la woi.

ok my fault....4 pts

who qualify?

ok my fault....4 pts

who qualify?