IN A tournament of many dark horses it is rather refreshing, almost reassuring, to discover there will still be deserved favourites and alsorans.

Traditionally, of course, Germany's early performances are adequate rather than convincing. Even so, they stumble but rarely fall.

In a game at Old Trafford that peaked early and then became ragged at the edges, they did enough to overcome the Czech Republic yet still departed Manchester awash with bitter regret.

This morning their captain. Borussia Dortmund's Jurgen Kohler, will fly home to Munich to undergo corrective surgery on a serious knee injury sustained 11 minutes into Group C's opening fixture.

It is a crushing blow, one that Germany manfully overcame yesterday but one that may yet prove to be one of the Championship's defining moments.

Bigger, more demanding, challenges lie ahead for the Germans but - Kohler's misfortune apart - a more than satisfactory opening chapter was penned without too much discomfort.

Astonishingly, a game of no great malice was to yield 10 cautions as the English referee, David Elleray, unsympathetically followed the word of the law even when the occasion cried out for discretion.

If the rumour of division and disaffection within the German ranks could hardly have been said to have been exaggerated these past few weeks, it must be said that no country is better equipped to take solace, to draw strength, from such circumstances.

In truth, once Jurgen Klinsmann had claimed victory in his long and totally unnecessary verbal spat with his Bayern Munich team mate, Lothar Matthaeus, harmony was all but restored.

The outbreak of peace came Just in time to restore dignity to Berti Vogts's squad. Whether it will prove enough to earn Germany a third European Championship remains to be seen.

The ready made excuse for any failure is already in place. Herr Matthaeus would be well advised to watch his back should his countrymen fall at anything other than the final hurdle.

Vogts had spent much of the previous month trying to persuade European football's governing body that to overturn Klinsmann's one game suspension would be sound common sense.

His failure to do so will at least have been welcomed by Stuttgart's Fredi Bobic, who was, perhaps surprisingly, preferred to Oliver Bierhoff in attack.

Predictably, the sort of chance upon which Klinsmann thrives was to fall Bobic's way very early. Predictably, he missed it.

Sod's Law, it should seem, also prevails in the Fatherland.

It was Sammer's persistence, rather than his instinct, which undid the Czech defence, his header providing Bobic with the time and space in which to strike in a firm volley.

It was well hit but neither high enough nor low enough to pass Kouba, who, not without some discomfort admittedly, pushed away to safety.

The game was 17 minutes old but already much had happened.

As Bobic's shot drifted goal wards Kohler was already locked away in an Old Trafford dressing room, receiving treatment on the injury he had sustained in an innocuous collision with Kuka.

Just before removing one of Germany's main defensive planks, Kuka could have provided his side with an improbable ad vantage but in his haste to capitalise on Christian Ziege's sluggishness he swept his shot across the face of the goal.

Ziege proved rather more fleet of food after 26 minutes when he lowered the curtain on a period of adventurous Czech football which at times almost verged on the audacious.

Cutting in from the left Ziege swept beyond two defenders before planting a shot just inside Kuba's right hand post.

A nice goal born out of opportunism and that was to be followed six minutes later by the arrival of a twin brother.

Clearly, closing down those seeking to profit from unselfish direct running is not the Czech defence's strong point.

Andreas Moller did no more than emulate Ziege in as much as he cut inside from the left before punching a sweet, low drive beyond Kouba's reach.