Trezeguet winning fitness race

Wednesday target
Santini, whose squad depart for their base in northern Portugal tomorrow, said the Juventus FC striker would be back in training on Wednesday after missing yesterday's friendly victory over Ukraine.

'Only a few days'
"I am happy, David is only out for a few days," Santini said. "I keep repeating injuries can affect anybody. Look at [France's Group B rivals] Switzerland, for instance. We will see on Tuesday how he feels. He may be back in training on Wednesday." Trezeguet injured his right ankle in training on Friday and was replaced by Louis Saha against Ukraine.

Desailly absence
Santini played down the absence of his captain, Marcel Desailly, from what would have been the 35-year-old's farewell match at the Stade de France. Instead Mikaël Silvestre partnered Lilian Thuram in central defence. "We decided he would not play to preserve him," said the coach. "He participated this morning against the police and everything is OK."

Police match
Those players not involved against Ukraine played this morning in a game against the French national police team at Clairefontaine. Sidney Govou, Sylvain Wiltord and Steve Marlet were the scorers in a 3-0 win.

'Not 100 per cent'
Reflecting on yesterday's 1-0 success against Ukraine, Santini admitted that France were "not 100 per cent" but praised the perseverance of his players, who had to wait until the 88th minute for Zinedine Zidane's winning goal.

Perseverance praised
"Do not think that because of our potential things are just going to happen," he said. "I told the players during the break they should not be too impatient and nervous. The more we played, the better we were. I praised the perseverance and the spirit among the group."