Germany may field just one man up front to concentrate on neutralising the dangerous Dutch strikers, including the prolific Ruud van Nistelrooy.
Arsenal plan to sign Theo Walcott, the Southampton teenager rated as the finest English prospect since Wayne Rooney.
Factbox on the 20 Premier League clubs after the transfer window closed.
Fans are already contemplating their team's prospects after the draw for the opening round of the 32-team tournament.
Racing Strasbourg, bottom of Ligue 1 and without a league win this season, secured their place in the last 32 of the UEFA Cup on Thursday with a 1-1 draw at AS Roma.
Chelsea's Damien Duff says there is an 80 percent chance he could suffer a recurrence of the dislocated shoulder.
Europe's top clubs are braced for two days of frantic Champions League football this week with the final places in the knockout stages up for grabs
Bayern Munich struggled to a 1-0 win over TSV 1860 Munich four days before their Champions League showdown with Celtic.
McLaren hope the MP4-18, will help them challenge the supremacy of world champion Michael Schumacher's Ferrari team next season.
Real, bidding for a 10th European Cup, have the easiest task on paper away to a Partizan Belgrade side.\n\n
Defending champion David Nalbandian beat top seed Andy Roddick 7-5 7-5 in the Swiss Indoors semi-finals.
The Namibian was regarded as one of the great African sprinters but he never won an Olympic title in his career.
Ron Dennis is ready to buy the 27-year-old out of his BMW-Williams contract for an immediate switch in 2004.
Manchester United's lead in England was cut to three points when they could only play out a 2-2 draw against Middlesbrough while Chelsea won 2-0 at Manchester City. A round-up of weekend action in the main European leagues.
The Dutch striker gave Manchester United a 4-1 premier league win at Leicester City.
The shock and anger that had consumed Bear Stearns' 14,000 employees on Sunday afternoon had, by mid-week, yielded to a sense that the door of opportunity may have just opened.
Rahn inspired Germany to their 1954 World Cup triumph, scoring two goals in the 3-2 final win against Hungary.
AS Roma and Juventus lost on their domestic returns from midweek UEFA Champions League action as their miserable starts to the season continued. In England, frontrunners Liverpool and Chelsea fared better with wins while Valencia top the table on goal difference in Spain and Lazio, Udinese and champions Inter Milan share the lead in Italy.
Inter Milan went 10 points clear in Serie A, while French champions Olympique Lyon were knocked off the top of the Ligue 1 table by Olympique Marseille.
The English champions-elect, 4-2 up from the first leg, went through 6-5 on aggregate in the Champions League.
Real Madrid beat Barcelona 4-2 to cut their arch-rivals' lead at the top of the Spanish League to six points with seven matches to play.
First-choice strikers Roy Makaay and Claudio Pizarro are in line to return from injury as Bayern attempt to overturn their 4-2 defeat from the first leg.
The ace midfielder has been in Germany's squad for the Euro 2004 qualifier against Scotland.
A round-up of action in Europe's main leagues over the weekend.
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