IT didn't take the doom-mongers long to rattle their chains, start wailing and gnashing their teeth.

The news that England had drawn European champions France in the group stages of the Euro 2004 championships in Portugal next summer initiated an outburst of a-moaning and a-groaning not heard since Sven-Goran Eriksson's exponents threatened strike action over that poor, unfortunate drugs test absentee Rio Ferdinand.

Sacre blue. Not France. Not those all-conquering Les Bleus, who boast a French legion of World Cup winners in their ranks. Oh no, not them.

But rather than shriek eek alors, it would be better to rub one's hands and, as Del boy himself might chortle, declare a resounding 'mais oui'.

For the sake of trotting out the old clich, if you're going to have pretensions of winning a major tournament then you've got to meet and beat the best teams at one point or another. So why not at the outset.

But even more pertinent is that encountering France in the group opener - England have also been pitted against perennial opponents Switzerland and the dangerous Croatia in group 'B' - represents the best chance of putting the thoroughbred French to the sword.

Remember Japan the summer before last and how France started the defence of their world crown? Going into that tournament they were rated even more of a certainty than when they put their own maison in order to triumph on home territory and lift the World Cup four years before. This time around France even boasted some forward strength, exclaimed the experts.

But for all the vaunted new-found firepower France drew an almighty blank. In that opening game they were usurped by upstarts Senegal and the rot set in. Despite two more group games, France did not even score a solitary goal and out they crashed trailing their tails between their Gallic legs (I will not demean myself by saying frogs) all the way back to Europe.

Now they will be ever more resolute not to repeat such a feeble feat. But that resolve ratchets the pressure up further on favourites expected to restore their reign over Europe with the finesse and flint that characterised Euro 2000.

Opening the group against the French will therefore be the maximum time for England to emulate Senegal and apply a restrictive tourniquet to the tournament's supernovas.

Perhaps with one eye trained on the burgeoning challenge of in-a-rush Chelsea, Eriksson has already produced an excuse for failure. He has stressed how England's chances might be severely disrupted by the demands of the domestic season, which could deprive him of some of his prized performers.

But that is the case no matter what tournament England plays in, and in this example, it is yet more of a facile argument when you take into account that a considerable corps of the French squad ply their trade in the Premiership.

So Sven, the fatigue factor will kick in on Les Bleus as much as it will England, who could not have a more timely opportunity to further dent the entente cordiale.

Of all the three Euro fixtures awaiting England in Portugal next summer, I suspect the major menace will be posed by Croatia. Here is a nation whose newness is matched by an insolent tendency to stall and stun the game's so-called super-powers.

NOW an apology. Last week I hailed England's World Cup rugby union conquest as the first world team title triumph since 1966.

But Bob Hutchinson, general secretary of the York and District Amalgamation of Anglers, has eloquently pointed out that in that time, England's angling team has won no fewer than eight world championships. Sorry Bob, I consider myself well and truly caught out.

Updated: 11:34 Tuesday, December 02, 2003