France could clinch a European Championship finals spot Saturday with a win over minnow Cyprus -- and continue the rebuilding after its embarrassing first round exit from last year's World Cup.

France is the only team with a perfect record in Euro 2004 qualifying -- 15 points from 5 games.

With three rounds of qualifying left, the fight for automatic qualification in most groups will go down to the wire. England, Germany, Sweden, Italy, Netherlands, Ireland and Spain all face crunch matches this week. The runners up of the 10 groups will make the playoffs.

Twenty matches are played Saturday and further 20 on Wednesday. The final qualifying round is on is Oct. 11. Portugal automatically qualifies as host.

With a win Saturday at the Stade de France, site of its 1998 World Cup triumph, France would clinch Group 1 regardless of the result of its final two matches.

"We are not thinking about qualification yet, only about what we need to do on the pitch," French coach Jacques Santini said. "For the moment nothing is achieved and the players are conscious of that."

France could be without influential midfielder Zinedine Zidane who injured his ankle in Real Madrid's 1-1 draw with Villarreal Tuesday.

England plays Macedonia in Skopje hoping to avenge its 2-2 draw last October but with a midfield weakened by injuries to Paul Scholes, Trevor Sinclair and Steven Gerrard. Defender Rio Ferdinand is out with a kidney complaint and captain David Beckham hopes to recover from a groin injury.

"Almost for sure, it will be a midfield that has never played together before," England coach Sven-Goran Eriksson said.

With Group 7 rival Turkey expected to win at Liechtenstein Saturday, the showdown for automatic qualification will likely be decided when England visits Turkey in October. England hosts Liechtenstein next Wednesday.

Turkey has 15 points from six games and England 13 from five.

In a bid to avoid hooligan violence that could see it thrown out of the tournament, England has rejected its ticket allocations for the matches in Macedonia and Turkey and mounted a strong security operation.

"It's better not to have fans at the next two away games," Eriksson said. "If you have to make a choice, security is always more important that football."

World Cup runner up and Euro 1996 winner Germany has a crunch match in Iceland. The Germans trail Iceland by a point in Group 5, but have a game in hand.

Wales' winning streak was ended last month by Serbia-Montenegro, but it still has a two point buffer over Italy in Group 9.

"They didn't deserve to lose in Serbia and they will make us suffer," Italy coach Giovanni Trapattoni said. "Against British clubs we've won several times without deserving it and that would be fine with me also."

The Czech Republic and Netherlands are battling to top Group 3. Both have 13 points from five games.

The Dutch host Austria in Rotterdam while the Czechs travel to Belarus. Wednesday, the two play each other in Prague.

The Czechs are on course for back-to-back Euro qualifying campaigns without a single defeat.

"It would be a mistake to think about the Netherlands now because we have to beat Belarus first," said skipper Pavel Nedved of Juventus. "1-0 would be enough for us. Then we can switch our minds to the group decider against Holland."

Dutch coach Dick Advocaat hasn't been impressed with some his stars -- and left out experienced Clarence Seedorf of AC Milan and Ronald de Boer of Rangers, instead choosing young forwards Arjen Robben of PSV Eindhoven and Andy van der Meyden of Inter Milan.

Dutch captain Frank de Boer called players for a team meeting, telling the star-studded but underachieving squad "it's clear it can't go on this way."

Sweden, in a three-way fight to win Group 4, hosts tiny San Marino. The Swedes are level with Hungary on 11 points but have a game in hand. Latvia is also a threat having 10 points from five games.

Saturday, Latvia hosts Poland. Hungary travels to Latvia Wednesday.

Greece leads Group 5 with 12 points, one more than Spain, with both having played six games. Greece travels to Armenia Saturday while Spain plays at Ukraine on Wednesday.

After a bad start to Euro qualifying, Ireland is back in contention for a playoff spot. Switzerland leads Group 10 with 12 points, followed by Ireland with 10 and Russia with seven.

Russia, which has a game in hand, plays at Ireland Saturday, then hosts Switzerland on Wednesday.

"The upcoming game is a key one for us," said Russia captain Alexei Smertin, who was loaned to Portsmouth after joining Chelsea. "It will be a real fight."

Russia will start with new coach Georgy Yartsez after Valery Gazzayev quit last month. Russia hasn't won a match since beating Romania in a February friendly.

Belgium is in danger of missing out on the finals. The Belgians have 10 points from six games and have played one more than Bulgaria (11 points) and Croatia (10) in Group 8.

Saturday, Bulgaria host Estonia and Croatia plays at Andorra (0 points). Wednesday, Belgium hosts Croatia and Bulgaria is at Andorra.