Vieira is wary of home dangers

Patrick Vieira warned of the threat posed by England as he and the rest of the French squad gathered at their base near Paris to complete preparations for Euro 2004.

The sides meet head-on in 12 days time and Arsenal captain Vieira said: "England are the most dangerous opponents. They are especially dangerous when they don't have the ball. You have it, you are passing it around and you think you are on top. Then England get possession, there is one long ball from Steven Gerrard and Michael Owen has scored.

"Defensively, they are a very strong unit. They are organised, very clever and so hard to break down. We know a lot of two of the players, in particular Sol Campbell and Ashley Cole. When we were in training at Arsenal, there was hardly any talk about this game. But now we will be phoning each other a lot in the next week or so."

Vieira's Arsenal team-mate Robert Pires believes he is fitter than at any time since the serious knee injury in March 2002 ruled him out of the World Cup.

Pires, who made more starts for club and country than any other player in the French squad with 58, said: "I feel in really good shape. I must thank Arsene Wenger who took me off sometimes with 15 or 10 minutes to go and that has helped me. I do not feel in the least bit tired."

Pires was at the Roland Garros stadium on Sunday to see the Tim Henman's win over Frenchman Michael Llodra.