Faced with a meaningless match on Sunday at the European Championship, Portugal coach Luiz Felipe Scolari compared his bench to money stashed away in a vault, an analogy that plays particularly well in Switzerland.

Portugal doesn't need to use Cristiano Ronaldo, Deco or other stars when it plays the already eliminated Swiss. The Portuguese won their first two matches and already have clinched first place in Group A.

"We should use this reserve we have in our bank account," he said on Saturday.

Half of the remaining eight group games have no meaning for teams that have already qualified atop their groups. Under the system used by the Union of European Football Associations, head-to-head meetings are the first measure to separate teams that are even on points, not overall goal difference.

Portugal, Croatia, the Netherlands and Spain have nothing to play for in their final first-round matches at Euro 2008, so their stars can worry less about what happens on the field and more about the video games they play to pass the time in their luxury hotels.

"Let's have a party now," Dutch star Wesley Sneijder said on Friday, after the 4-1 demolition of France, before adding: "Not too much, because we still need to play the quarterfinals."

Under the traditional system, where the first measure is overall goal difference and the second overall goals scored, all four nations would have clinched advancement, but the only nation assured of finishing atop its group would be the Dutch.

Turkey and the Czech Republic would have the chance to leapfrog Portugal for first place in Group A; Germany could overtake Croatia to finish first in Group B; and Sweden or Russia could edge out Spain for the Group D lead.

That would leave coaches with difficult decisions on whether to push hard and finish first, or not to worry because second place still assures advancement.

The UEFA system eliminates that dilemma. "First, we'll see our injury lists," Croatia coach Slaven Bilic said. "We will not be stupid. We'll be egoists who are looking after our own interests."

Revelry begins

UEFA makes no pretense about what is going on.

"It's obvious that when a team has already qualified and guaranteed first place in the group, we see it in many tournaments and competitions, that they will field substitutes from the reserve team," UEFA spokesperson William Gaillard said. "You don't risk yellow cards, you rest your best players, you give a chance to the other players to prove themselves. It's not against the rules to do that."

FIFA switched to the UEFA system in qualifying for the 2006 World Cup, enabling the United States to finish first ahead of Mexico in the final round of the North and Central American and Caribbean region.

The Americans lost 2-1 in Mexico and beat the Mexicans 2-0 at home, finishing atop the standings even though Mexico had a plus-13 goal difference compared with plus-10 for the United States.

FIFA has gone back to the traditional system in qualifying for 2010.

No matter what the system, Italy is facing elimination. The Azzurri are all worked up that the Netherlands will let Romania win, a result that would eliminate the Italians and the French.

"It's a natural and understandable worry," Italian football federation president Giancarlo Abete said. "The credibility of the tournament and European football at large is at stake. If you look at the way Holland beat both Italy and France, the match with Romania should end similarly. If not, we're going to have to take a deeper look."