Trezeguet injured but in line for his England date

The France striker David Trezeguet will miss the European champions' friendly international against Ukraine today after spraining his ankle in training - but the bad news is that he should be fit to face England next Sunday.

The France striker David Trezeguet will miss the European champions' friendly international against Ukraine today after spraining his ankle in training - but the bad news is that he should be fit to face England next Sunday.

"Despite the pain he feels, his ankle is not swollen," the France coach, Jacques Santini, said. "In principle, this is not worrying for the England game." Trezeguet is likely to be replaced by Manchester United's Louis Saha.

In midfield, the steel should be provided byPatrick Vieira and Claude Makelele, while it remains uncertain who will play alongside Zinedine Zidane. Robert Pires, in a class of his own in the 4-0 win over Andorra last week, has the edge over his club team-mate Sylvain Wiltord.

In defence, Chelsea's Marcel Desailly is expected to be paired up with Lilian Thuram. The Juventus full-back has played in central defence with his captain in France's last three big games, against Germany, Belgium and Holland.

When Santini takes over at Tottenham, one player whose future he will be considering is South Africa's Mbulelo Mabizela. In Bloemfontein, the defender scored both goals in his side's 2-1 win over the Cape Verde Islands at the start of their World Cup qualifying campaign.

As well as France, England will be facing Croatia in Group B. In their final warm-up match, the Croatians beat Denmark - who are in Group C with Bulgaria, Sweden and Italy - 2-1 in Copenhagen.

Tomislav Sokota lobbed the Denmark keeper, Thomas Sorensen, after 27 minutes to put the stronger Croatians ahead against their lacklustre hosts, and they went two up just before half-time when Ivica Olic headed in from Nenad Bjelica's corner.

Denmark put out a different team in the second half, and Ebbe Sand put the 1992 European champions back in the game when he scored in the 56th minute. Croatia, who might easily have scored again, however, looked in fine form ahead of Euro 2004.

In Stockholm, the Celtic striker Henrik Larsson celebrated his return to the Sweden side with a goal as they beat Poland 3-1 in another Group C warm-up. Andreas Jakobsson and Aston Villa's Marcus Allback also found the net, while Poland got a consolation goal in the 89th minute through Damian Gorawski.