France are often slow starters in tournaments, although as Zinédine Zidane knows to his cost, it is how you finish them that matters. If not quite in disarray, the World Cup finalists were in a confused state when they trained at the Letzigrund Stadion in Zurich last night, with injury doubts over several of their key players and uncertainty over whether Mathieu Flamini will replace Patrick Vieira in the squad.

Vieira has been ruled out of this evening’s opening Group C match against Romania with a thigh injury, but Raymond Domenech, the coach, is ready to gamble that he will recover to face Italy and Holland by retaining him in his 23-man squad. Domenech is as old school as they come, showing little sympathy for Flamini. Arsenal fans unhappy at his departure are hardly likely to care, but the AC Milan midfield player faces the indignity of being effectively dropped from the squad twice in little more than a week.

“The deadline is a couple of hours before the game,” Domenech said. “We must wait until then. It’s very simple. There’s one player who was on the list of 30 players, but not on the final list. He’s here to help us if we need him. After that it’s very simple and all written down. It’s one player or the other.”

Domenech insisted that his team are “impatient” to start a tournament for which they are among the favourites, although in reality they could do with a few days’ grace. In addition to the absent Vieira, Willy Sagnol, William Gallas and Lilian Thuram have been struggling with injuries, while Thierry Henry has not trained for the past four days because of a bruised foot suffered in last week’s friendly against Colombia.

The Barcelona striker was booed on the occasion of his 100th cap at the Stade de France – a remarkable occurrence, given the standing ovation that David Beckham received there when he reached the same milestone in March – and has been brooding ever since. As at the 2006 World Cup finals in Germany, where they drew their first two matches, the opening game of the group stage could be a good time to play France, which goes some way to explaining Domenech’s downbeat tone.

“I really don’t know what favourite means,” he said. “We have a good team, so there’s no reason why we shouldn’t go as far as possible. But that doesn’t necessarily mean we’ll be champions of Europe. All the teams are equal. No one knows who has the best chance as we haven’t started the games yet.

“The Romanians qualified ahead of the Netherlands, so I don’t see why they would be weaker all of a sudden. The whole Romanian team is good, with good players. The Italians have good players, but so do the Dutch and the French.

“We are impatient to start, like all the teams. If you believe in destiny, it’s the explanation for everything. I’m sure Romania will be ready as well. They are a very strong team and it will not be a walk in the park. Romania are very similar to Italy. They are very strong and disciplined.”

Victor Piturca, the Romania coach, was more upbeat and appeared to revel in his side’s status as underdogs in their first appearance at a leading tournament since 2000. Such optimism stems from their achievement in qualifying as winners of their group, ahead of Holland, and the resurgent form of Adrian Mutu. The Fiorentina striker scored 17 goals last season and claims to be unperturbed at last week’s Fifa ruling that he must pay £9 million to Chelsea in compensation after being sacked for a breach of contract three years ago.

“Mutu does not seem to be affected at all,” Piturca said. “As far as I know he doesn’t owe Chelsea anything. That’s what he thinks and it’s not affected him. It’s not a bad thing for us to be underdogs. We can change that in one game tomorrow.”

Mutu said: “We’d like to be the surprise of the tournament and the time has come for us to show our value. I know what is expected of me by the country and I hope not to disappoint.”

Romania (possible; 4-3-3): B Lobont – C Contra, G Tamas, D Goian, R Rat – P Codrea, M Radoi, C Chivu – B Nicolita, D Niculae, A Mutu. France (possible; 4-4-2): G Coupet – W Sagnol, L Thuram, W Gallas, E Abidal – F Ribéry, C Makelele, J Toulalan, F Malouda – T Henry, K Benzema. Referee: M E Mejuto González (Spain). Television: Live on BBC One from 4.45pm (kick-off 5pm).