Raymond Domenech's team lost its first away qualifying game in 14 years, 1-0, at Hampden Park on Saturday to slip three points behind the Scots in qualifying for the 2008 European Championship.

Now Thierry Henry and his teammates have a home game Wednesday against a Faeroes team which hasn't scored a goal in three Group B losses. The French fans will demand a high scoring victory for Les Bleus at the Stade de France.

``We had the opportunity to win (against Scotland) but it doesn't matter,'' Henry said. ``What I want to say is that you have to be there at the end and we will see who is going to go through.''

By the end of Wednesday's games, some teams could be in far healthier positions than they were before Saturday's matches.

World Cup winner Italy was in disarray before its 2-0 victory over Ukraine, having lost two of three games since its July 9 triumph in Berlin. If Roberto Donadoni's team collects three more points at Georgia on Wednesday, despite the absence of the suspended Gennaro Gattuso, it will be back in contention to capture one of the top two group spots and a place at the 2008 championship in Austria and Switzerland.

Italy hopes that group leader Scotland drops points at Ukraine, although it can't realistically expect France to slip up at home to the Faeroes.

``There are things we need to improve on but I liked the spirit and approach we had (against Ukraine),'' Donadoni said. ``There was a bit of the spirit from the World Cup.''

By contrast, England's mood has swung from buoyant to gloomy.

Before Saturday's tame 0-0 draw with Macedonia at Old Trafford, England was riding high after three shutout victories under Steve McClaren, including a 4-0 friendly victory over European champion Greece.

But a failure to score at home against modest Macedonia has renewed all the gloom that surrounded England after the World Cup. Wayne Rooney has lost form and there are suggestions that McClaren was wrong to dump David Beckham.

Having crushed Andorra 7-0 on Saturday, Croatia is rejoicing that England's form has dipped and that Steven Gerrard will miss the game in Zagreb through suspension.

``They cannot replace him,'' said Croatia coach Slaven Bilic, who played in England for West Ham and Everton. ``There is no such player in the world.''

Bilic said his team ``gathered self-confidence, faith and energy'' from the high scoring victory over Andorra in which striker Mladen Petric scored four goals.

``But we are now facing the team from the top of world soccer, with five or six players that are the most successful on the globe,'' he said.

Three-time European champion Germany has maintained the standout form it showed at the World Cup and, with Saturday's 2-0 friendly victory over Georgia, Joachim Loew became the first coach in German history to win his first four matches.

Its last Euro 2008 qualifying game was a record 13-0 victory over San Marino but now the Germans have a far more difficult visit to Slovakia, which won 5-1 at Wales on Saturday.

While Slovakia has six points from three games and Germany six from two, the Czech Republic leads the standings with a maximum nine after hammering San Marino 7-0. Now Karel Bruckner's team goes to Dublin to face Steve Staunton's Ireland, which is smarting from a 5-2 loss at Cyprus.

Dutch coach Marco van Basten is trying to get Ruud van Nistelrooy to change his mind and make himself available for Wednesday's game against Albania in Amsterdam. The Netherlands drew 1-1 with Bulgaria on Saturday.

Dutch forwards Dirk Kuyt, Klaas-Jan Huntelaar and Jan Vennegor of Hesselink are all sidelined with ankle injuries. Van Nistelrooy has refused to play after being dropped by the national team coach a month ago.

Van Basten's team is level on points with Group G leader Romania.

Group A is developing into a close race, with Serbia two points clear of Finland with Portugal, Belgium and Poland one point further behind.

Cristiano Ronaldo, who is in standout form for both Manchester United and Portugal, scored twice and set up another in Saturday's 3-0 victory over Azerbaijan and hopes to follow that up at Poland.

Serbia should beat Armenia to stay top, while Finland expects to win at Kazakhstan, and Belgium will be confident of three points at home to Azerbaijan.

Greece has started its title defence with two victories and is tied with Turkey and Norway.

On Wednesday, Otto Rehhagel's team goes to fourth-place Bosnia-Herezegovina, which is only two points behind, while the Turks host Moldova. Norway, which lost 1-0 at Greece on Saturday, is idle.

Group F leader Sweden already has a five-point lead after beating Spain 2-0 on Saturday and should strengthen its advantage by winning at Iceland.

Spain is stuck at fifth and is six points behind the Swedes. Luis Aragones' team has to wait until March 24 for its next game to try and catch up.