Finalists meet for friendly

Switzerland meet the Czech Republic today in a warm-up for next month's UEFA European Under-21 Championship while fellow finalists Belgium are also in action.

Important trio return
The Swiss, who are hosting the May finals, will have Servette FC striker Alex Frei, Grasshopper-Club's Ricardo Cabanas and SV Werder Bremen's Ludovic Magnin back after they sat on the bench for the A team's match against Sweden last month.

'A big test'
It will be a match that gives both coaches an insight into how their rivals are preparing for the eight-team tournament, although they have been drawn in separate groups. "The match against the Czech Republic is a big test and a possibility to gain some more experience ahead of the finals," said Swiss coach Bernard Challandes.

Friedli unlikely to recover
FC Zürich's Daniel  Gygax has recovered from a foot injury and BSC Young Boys' Johan Berisha is also available to play. However, Challandes will have a tough task to find a replacement for Roman Friedli. The FC Aarau player has a torn ankle ligament and is unlikely to recover for the beginning of the finals.

Difficult task
The Czechs will field a strong side led by AC Sparta Praha's 19-year-old goalkeeper Petr Cech, who performed heroics in this season's UEFA Champions League, and 1.FC Nürnberg striker David Jarolim.

No Chatelle
Meanwhile, Belgium are to rest key striker Thomas Chatelle as they prepare for next month's finals with a friendly against Slovakia. Chatelle, who scored the winner for Jupiler League leaders KRC Genk against K. Sint-Truidense last Saturday, was injured in training on Monday and will not start against the Slovakians in Vise.

Eager to make amends
Belgian coach Jean-François de Sart is wary of risking a player who could be central to his side's chances at the May finals in Switzerland. He will be hoping his side can improve on last month's 3-2 defeat by Greece.