Soccer: Sven-Goran Eriksson admitted yesterday he will be a frustrated bystander for much of the time between now and the end of the domestic season - able only to pray that the leading lights of his England side will avoid both injury and fatigue.
Eriksson proclaimed himself pleased with England's draw for the finals of Euro 2004, which placed them in Group B with France, Switzerland and Croatia, but insisted that the draw was insignificant to him compared to the physical wellbeing of his players.
Both Eriksson and his France counterpart, Jacques Santini, fear the demands of the Premiership could lead to burn-out - especially as the England head coach believes that if the players remain fresh they could have a very successful tournament.
Eriksson said: "If we have players who are fit we will do very, very well - their fitness is more important for me than the draw."
England will play against France on June 13th at Benfica's new 65,000-capacity Stadium of Light in Lisbon, travel to Coimbra - a couple of hours' drive north - to face Switzerland on June 17th then return to the Portuguese capital for the final group match against Croatia on June 21st.
It will be familiar territory for Eriksson, who had a successful spell as coach of Benfica, and he said: "I will be very happy to go back and play two of our three games in Lisbon. I know the place well and it is also the biggest stadium, which is good." As far as the draw itself was concerned, Eriksson was relieved to avoid Group D, where Holland, Germany, the Czech Republic and Latvia will battle it out.
He added: "I am pleased - though I was even more pleased before France was drawn with us, that's for sure, but you can't expect any easy games.
"France are the big favourites to win it - but at least it means if we both qualify we cannot meet them again until the final, and I would be happy with that of course, but we would have to meet probably Portugal or Spain in the knock-out round."
England beat Croatia convincingly in a friendly in August but Eriksson insisted neither they nor Switzerland could be taken for granted.
"Even though we won 3-1 the Croatians showed that they are a good team. 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.
"Swiss football is progressing very quickly - at youth level they are very strong. The Yakin brothers have been excellent for FC Basel, and Stephane Chapuisat is still a dangerous striker."
In Group A, there will be a tantalising Iberian derby with neighbours Portugal and Spain drawn together with Russia and Greece, while Group C with Italy, Sweden, Denmark and Bulgaria looks very well-balanced.
The runners-up in Group A will play the winners of Group B and vice-versa in the quarter-finals, and the same will happen with the winners and runners-up in groups C and D.
The final takes place on July 4th in Lisbon.
