Prague, Sept 12: France, Czech Republic, Sweden and Bulgaria are through to the European Soccer Championships in 2004. Reigning champions France, Sweden, and the Czech Republic all booked their places in next year's European championship finals after a night of 20 qualifying matches on Wednesday (September 10). The penultimate round of games finally produced the first qualifiers but also left a mass of teams hoping the last round of fixtures on October 11 will open the door to Portugal. The night's stand-out game came in Prague where the Czech Republic and The Netherlands, both on 16 points from six games, went head-to-head for the Group Three honours. The Czech Republic finally won 3-1. Things turned towards the hosts after 14 minutes when Dutch midfielder Edgar Davids was sent off and Jan Koller converted the subsequent penalty. Karel Poborsky made it 2-0 and after Rafael van der Vaart had pulled one back on the hour, Milan Baros sent the Czechs through and the Dutch into the playoffs with an injury time third.


France booked their place in the European championship finals with a 2-0 away win over nearest Group One rivals Slovenia on Wednesday. The defending champions, who had Claude Makelele sent off, moved eight points clear of Slovenia, who secured a playoff place thanks to Israel's 2-2 draw with Malta.


David Trezeguet curled France in front after 10 minutes with a shot just inside goalkeeper Marko Simeunovic's far post. Makelele was shown the red card in the 66th minute for a second bookable offence, five minutes before substitute Olivier Dacourt doubled the tally.


"It was hard but we can be proud of our match and of the qualification," said France playmaker Zinedine Zidane who missed the 5-0 demolition of Cyprus on Saturday and played with his thigh strapped.


Slovenia appealed for a penalty three minutes into the second half when Desailly appeared to bring down Nastja Ceh but Italian referee Domenico Messina was unmoved.


Barthez, out of favour with his club Manchester United, made some fine saves in the closing stages.


Two first half goals powered in-form Sweden past Poland 2-0 on Wednesday and into the Euro 2004 finals on top of qualifying Group Four.


Sweden have an unassailable 17 points from seven matches, followed by Latvia with 13, Hungary at 11 and Poland on 10, with next month's final qualifiers to decide the runner-up.


Sweden had a dream start when midfielder Mikael Nilsson tapped in from seven metres in the second minute after confusion deep within Poland's penalty box.


Aston Villa's Olof Mellberg made it 2-0 with a sharp header in the 36th minute and the Swedes could have easily added to the tally had it not been for some inspired play by keeper Jerzy Dudek.


GROUP THREE standings: P W D L F A Pts 1. Czech Republic 7 6 1 0 20 3 19 2. Netherlands 7 5 1 1 15 6 16 3. Austria 7 3 0 4 10 11 9 4. Moldova 7 2 0 5 5 14 6 5. Belarus 8 1 0 7 4 20 3


Czech Republic qualify for finals. Remaining matches: October 11 Austria v Czech Republic Netherlands v Moldova


GROUP ONE standings: P W D L F A Pts 1. France 7 7 0 0 26 2 21 2. Slovenia 7 4 1 2 13 10 13 3. Israel 7 2 3 2 9 8 9 4. Cyprus 7 2 1 4 7 16 7 5. Malta 8 0 1 7 5 24 1


France qualify for finals. Remaining matches: October 11 Cyprus v Slovenia France v Israel


GROUP FOUR standings: P W D L F A Pts 1. Sweden 7 5 2 0 19 2 17 2. Latvia 7 4 1 2 9 6 13 3. Hungary 7 3 2 2 14 7 11 4. Poland 7 3 1 3 9 6 10 5. San Marino 8 0 0 8 0 30 0


Sweden qualify for finals. Remaining matches: October 11 Sweden v Latvia Hungary v Poland


Bureau Report