Switzerland - 1 France - 2: It's just over 400 years since the French tried to pinch a city away from the Swiss by sneaking into Geneva under cover of darkness and placing the locals under new management while they slept

In Coimbra last night the tactics employed against their neighbours were much less underhand with Jacques Santini simply gearing his side up for a full frontal attack in which the star strikers would be more effectively supported by Zinedine Zidane, now free in the centre to open up the opposition's defences however the fancy took him.

For more than 80 minutes, however, it seemed the Swiss were again prepared to repel their rivals, who they will face again, along with the Republic of Ireland, in Group Four of the next World Cup qualifying campaign. Then, in just a two-minute spell, the genius of Thierry Henry was finally unleashed and the striker's late brace ensured victory and top spot in Group B for the defending champions who now go on to meet Greece on Friday night in Lisbon. The performance, no doubt, impressed the on-looking Brian Kerr.

The early indications were that Santini's decision to make four changes, and reassess his tactics, might pay handsome dividends with the French starting brightly as Zidane floated menacingly behind the front two and Robert Pires settled nicely into his preferred role on the left-hand side of midfield.

Chances came and went, though, and it took an ineptly defended corner from Pires 21 minutes in before the French, courtesy of an unchallenged header from Zizou, finally found the net. It was the fourth of the team's five goals at this tournament to come from a set piece, something Santini had conceded had been causing concern prior to the game.

To their credit, though, the Swiss showed great fighting spirit. With Johann Vogel back in the centre of their midfield, their was a bit more bite to their game than had been evident against the English while Hakan Yakin was showing the sort of sparkle that had been largely absent in his game last Thursday. Their equaliser took just six minutes to arrive. Daniel Gygax started a neat bit of build-up play some 40 yards out and Yakin then contributed to the uncertainty amongst the French defenders by stepping over a short angled pass which ran to Ricardo Cananas. His low through ball between Lilian Thuram and Mikael Silvestre found Johan Vonlanthen in space and the PSV striker calmly caught Barthez out with a first time shot into the bottom left corner. It was a fine finish from the PSV striker who, at just short of 18 years and five months is 100 days younger than England's Wayne Rooney and so the record for the youngest ever scorer at a finals tournament, broken after 20 years by the Everton player on Thursday, fell again after less than a week.

The ease with which the French defence was opened must have added to the concerns of their coach over his team's inability to dominate around its own area in the way the championship winning sides of 1998 and 2000 did. A more immediate problem, however, was that even if the Swiss didn't go on to win the game, top spot in this group was still slipping away with the upshot that the quarter-finals might hold in store another potentially hazardous knockout stages meeting with Portugal on Thursday rather than an extra day's rest before that Greek encounter.

Urged on by the bench, the French pressed forward and on three separate occasions Henry found himself in the sort of positions which he so regularly scores for Arsenal. Once again, however, the premiership's top player was struggling to reproduce his club form for his country. All of that, though, was to change in a flash as the game, finely balanced, moved into its closing stages. Behind him his team-mates steadily came to exert a greater deal of control as Zidane and Vieira dominated midfield. Vogel tired and Yakin's influence first waned and then disappeared completely with his withdrawal.

Now, with the Swiss defence looking increasingly vulnerable Henry finally pounced. Again the source of France's breakthrough came from a set piece with Zidane floating in an angled free from the left which Louis Saha, with his first touch of the game, flicked on for his team-mate to control at full stretch with one touch and then push into the bottom left corner with his second.

It was the 26-year-old's first goal since last November for les Bleus, the end of a five-game barren spell and two minutes later he doubled the tally, picking the ball up on the left and skipping past Murat Yakin beat Jorg Stiel at his near post. "We have been criticised, sometimes with justification," said the match-winning striker afterwards, "but the most important thing is to finish first in the group and we have done that. I have the greatest of respect for Greece, but it's better to have avoided Portugal."