Thierry Henry's double goals helped France win Switzerland 3-1 in their Euro 2004 Group B match on Monday in Coimbra, sending the defending champions into the quarter-finals of the tounament.

In the third minute, Zinedine Zidane, France playmaker got the first chance to score and ended up in nothing but a mess at all.

Five minutes later, after Robert Pires beat two swiss defenders on the left, and his pass slipped through to Zizou who teed up a shot with his right foot, but barely made contact with the ball, which skipped harmlessly wide of Jorg Stiel's goal.

In the tenth minute, Hakan Yakin got the first chance of the game for Switzerland. A ball from the right by Daniel Gygax found a poorly marked Yakin at the near post, but the Stuttgart player directed his shot wide of the goal.

Ten minutes later, France got a free kick just outside the area. Henry's effort was deflected behind for a corner. Zinedine Zidane, headed to the net and made france's 1-0 lead.

But the lead was short-lived for France as Swiss youngster Johann Vonlanthen, who beat france off-side trap and put his team on level terms in the 26th minute.

From that moment on, the game became a battle of possession with the Swiss enjoying the better of the spells until the end of the half.

Champions France, needing a draw to make sure of a quarter-final place, started to attack more ferociously on Swiss's defence line, which led to the second goal for France in the 76th minute when Henry scored his first goal for this tournament.

And less then 10 minutes to go, Henry, the Arsenal striker made his second goal as he ran down the left side all the way into the area, danced past a defender and slotted home near post for the net.

Topped nunmber one in Gruop B, France will face Greece in their quarter-finals on June 24th in Lisbon.

Source: Xinhua