BRUGES, Belgium, June 11 (Reuters) - Denmark head coach Bo Johansson rued some missed chances early in the game as France went on to an easy 3-0 win in their Euro 2000 opener on Sunday.

'I think we tried very hard and we had some good chances early on,' he said. 'That was our best period in the match. Then we tried again (to up the tempo) early in the second half when we were 1-0 down.'

Johansson added: 'My impression was that we believed that we could win on counter-attacks but in fact it turned out that it was France who won on their counter-attacks.'

The Danes face a tough task in their next two games if they are to procced. 'It is just as it was throughout (the qualifiers),' the coach reflected. 'We have to beat our next opponents - and we know how difficult it is to beat the Dutch.'

But he added: 'We can also see that it can be done, at least if one is optimistic.'