Vieira had been hoping to take part in at least one of Les Bleus' pool matches at Euro 2008 despite tearing his left thigh in training on May 30.

But he missed France's opening two games - the goalless draw to Romania and the 4-1 defeat to Holland - and will now be absent when his team take on the Italians in a match they probably need to win to stand a chance of qualifying for the quarter-finals.

The 31-year-old is frustrated at not being able to help his team-mates in their quest for a second-placed finish in the group, and admitted he was in the dark as to when he would return to action.

"Unfortunately there is not a lot of improvement," he said, when asked about the state of his thigh.

"I can practise but I still feel pain and I can't accelerate or shoot through the ball.

"I am slightly irritated because I don't see any improvement. I knew I was not going to play in the first or second match but I was confident about the third.

"But the pain is still there and I can't tell you when I will play again.

"I am frustrated because I don't have the answers. I honestly don't know where I stand right now."

Although Vieira's presence and experience will be missed by the French in Zurich, whether he played or not may not matter a great deal.

If Romania beat group winners Holland in Bern in the other pool match being played on Tuesday, France and Italy - the finalists in the 2006 World Cup - will both be eliminated.

Conspiracy theorists claim the Dutch, in order to secure themselves a supposedly easier route to the final, will gift victory to the Romanians.

With Holland coach Marco van Basten set to play his reserves, Romania, who have shown little attacking endeavour in their draws against France and Italy, will be favourites to clinch second spot and a last-eight tie with Spain.

Vieira is sure that game will be played in a fair spirit.

"Our sport is healthy and I will always hope football remains a healthy sport, so I won't even start asking questions ahead of this match," he added.

"Both teams will go onto the pitch looking to win the game, like France and Italy have done in the past."

Domenech was pessimistic as he faced the media ahead of what could prove to be his last match as France coach.

"We have one match to play, with a very small chance of going through depending on the other match," he said.

"We need to perform well, otherwise it is not even worth thinking about the other match."

As usual, the France coach was giving little away about his team selection.

"There is one more night and one more day to go - we will talk together and I will make a final decision tomorrow (Tuesday)," he said.

But he maintains whatever side he puts out will have to find a balance that has been lacking in their first two games.

"We were criticised after the Romania match (for being defensive), now we are getting criticised the other side," Domenech said.

"So I hope we can strike a balance. Obviously the result (against Holland) was disastrous, but the content was not.

"We have to work on that against Italy. It will be difficult but we are capable."

With Domenech likely to make some changes following the heavy defeat to the Dutch, the likes of Francois Clerc, Lassana Diarra and Karim Benzema will be pushing for starts after failing to appear off the bench on Friday.