France's Deschamps leaves Bejbl behind (SBotterill/Allsport)

Youri Djorkaeff came off the bench to strike the winning goal for the world champions, who didn't function as fluently as they did in their opening game but were still too potent for their opponents.

Once again, it was the electric pace of Thierry Henry which proved France's most dangerous weapon.

He struck his second goal of the finals in the seventh minute, cashing in on some bungling Czech defending, and made the winner with a cross for Djorkaeff.

In between, Karel Poborsky had levelled with a penalty, given by Graham Poll for a foul on Pavel Nedved.

Jan Koller headed against the cross-bar but Jozef Chovanec's team could not find another way past Manchester United-bound Fabien Barthez.

The Czechs, runners-up four years ago and the only team to qualify for the finals with a 100% record, received a standing ovation from both sets of fans in the Jan Breydal Stadium but their Euro 2000 dreams are in tatters.

They found themselves drawn in a tough group and on the wrong end of a disputed penalty decision in the their first game but their hopes have vanished after 180 minutes.

Nedved had already tested Barthez from 20 yards and Koller planted a powerful header wide when Henry opened the scoring thanks to a gift from Petr Gabriel.

The Sparta Prague defender made a complete hash of a back-pass he tried to turn blindly back to Pavel Srnicek and succeeded in playing Henry clean through.

The Arsenal striker strode into the box and poked the ball past Srnicek's dive for his second goal of Euro 2000 and his seventh for France.

He could have claimed number eight in the 18th minute when Zinedine Zidane opened the defence with a deft pass. Henry was on to it in a flash again and slid the ball past Srnicek. This time it rolled across goal and wide.

Nicolas Anelka glanced a header wide from Emmanuel Petit's corner and Patrick Vieira forced a fine reflex save from Srnicek with a fierce volley from an acute angle.

But France's domination took a severe jolt when Petit lost possession to Tomas Rosicky, deep inside his own half.

Rosicky quickly arrowed a pass to the feet of Nedved and the tricky Lazio midfielder, who usually needs little encouragement to hit the deck, went to ground under a challenge from Didier Deschamps.

The only question was whether the foul was inside the penalty area. Poll decided it was and Poborsky clipped the penalty over the diving Barthez.

The former Manchester United winger, now at Benfica, had looked lively throughout the first half and his 35th-minute strike briefly galvanised the Czechs.

Poborsky whistled a drive past the post, three minutes later, and was narrowly off target with a volley from similar distance before the break.

But Srnicek had to be at his best to keep out the ever-present threat of Henry. This time it was Deschamps who released the Arsenal flier. Henry shot low but the Sheffield Wednesday k