Italy star Luca Toni has vowed to be fit for Saturday's crunch Euro 2008 qualifier against France in Milan.
"I'll do everything I can in the last few days to be on the field," Toni said at the Azzurri training camp outside Florence.
The Bayern Munich striker suffered a hamstring injury in scoring against Hannover on August 25.
He said Wednesday he still has "a muscular problem, but a small one".
Italy doctors gave Toni a less-than-50% chance of recovering at the start of the week but they have been encouraged by his progress since.
If Toni doesn't make it, AC Milan veteran Filippo Inzaghi is likely to start alongside Udinese winger Antonio Di Natale, with Juve captain Alessandro Del Piero in reserve.
Juve's Mauro Camoranesi has hit his best form and is likely to be a threat for the French on the other wing.
World champs Italy have problems in defence and Donadoni is set to move Roma full-back Christian Panucci into the middle in place of Inter's injured Marco Materazzi, pundits think.
Panucci, recalled to the squad after years in the cold, and Palermo's Andrea Barzagli will have their hands full against a France attack formed by Barcelona's Thierry Henry, Chelsea's Laurent Malouda and Toni's Bayern clubmate Franck Ribery.
The showdown between the World Cup finalists has been given an extra edge by comments from France coach Raymond Domenech and midfielder Lassana Diarra of Arsenal.
Domenech will have to watch the match from the San Siro stands after UEFA on Tuesday upheld his touchline ban for match-rigging allegations.
Domenech accused Italy of bribing the referee of a 1999 Under-21 Olympic qualifying match between the two countries.
Just as the Domenech row faded, Lassana slammed Italian players as "cheats and provokers".
Asked to comment on Lassana's claims, Toni said "we'll answer these slurs on the field".
WORLD CUP WIN A 'VICTORY FOR CLEAN FOOTBALL'.
Del Piero, who scored the fourth penalty in Italy's World Cup Final shoot-out win in Berlin, said: "The World Cup showed Italian soccer doesn't trick or cheat".
"It was a victory for clean football," he said.
"I feel like I'm reliving the eve of the semi-final against Germany, with all the criticisms in the German papers.
"It went differently on the field, a perfect match.
Del Piero said he hoped the France match would see a repetition of Germany's "own goal".
"One thing is sure: these polemics have boosted our will to win and they'll make victory sweeter".
AS Roma midfielder Alberto Aquilani, who has been in tremendous form in helping his club top Serie A alongside Juve after two matches, said: "Perhaps Berlin still rankles".
Italy are two points behind France, which beat them 3-1 a year ago to make the Azzurri campaign an uphill climb.
Saturday's match and next Wednesday's away game in Ukraine are seen as crucial to Italy's qualifying hopes.
Italy are a point ahead of Scotland, which it plays on November 17 in Edinburgh, and five points ahead of Ukraine.
France plays Scotland in Paris on Wednesday.
