Euro 2004 Preview - Group D

CZECH REPUBLIC

Narkiness level : There's some hard looking men in there, perhaps to compensate for Pavel Nedved's haircut.

Player most likely to be big money Premiership flop : Ahoy, Poborsky and Smicer! A Nedved To Chelsea story is surely only weeks away but keeper Petr Cech has beaten him to it, which means no more Neil Sullivan at least.

Best player left at home : Jiri Jarosik, the Russian league's most expensive player ever. And the Russians should know about buying players expensively. Also striker Jiri Stajner, nicknamed Svejk after a supposed resemblance to the central character in Hasek's novel The Good Soldier Svejk. One for Drury there.

Likelihood of internal squabbling : Possibly internally in getting used to being fancied favourites rather than unfancied underdogs. That sort of thing can really put a side off.

Vaguely amusing anagram of coach's name : Cruel, Rank Berk

And? : You may scoff at seeing this lot in a popularly titled Group Of Death in which Latvia are also involved, but only France had a better qualifying record, and they weren't in a group with Holland or had gone 21 games unbeaten until recently, a run which included beating France away. Don't forget also they were the underdogs in 1996's Group Of Death, and look what happened there. Defensive and squad depth questions have latterly arisen, mind.

GERMANY

Narkiness level : With Jens Lehmann and Oliver Kahn battling for the keepers' position? What do you think?

Player most likely to be big money Premiership flop :

Best player left at home : World Cup regular starters Carsten Ramelow and Oliver Neuville, the latter dropped for Thomas Brdaric, who has played once for his country and never in a competitive game. Christian Ziege was a late call-up after Christian Rahn pulled out.

Likelihood of internal squabbling : You know the cliches about German solidarity in togetherness by now.

Vaguely amusing anagram of coach's name : Dull Rover, I

And? : Apparently you can never write them off. However, they've flattered to deceive lately and if Michael Ballack carries his poor club form in, they could be in trouble. Mind you, everyone wrote them off two years ago etc etc.

HOLLAND

Narkiness level : Iron constitutions at the back, Edgar Davids in the middle, Ruud Exploting The New Interpretation Of Offside up front.

Player most likely to be big money Premiership flop : Now that Fenerbahce are paying Pierre van Hooijdonk (yes, he's still there) enough to satisfy the homeless, Patrick Kluivert steps up. He's been linked with Premiership clubs for about the last seven summers now, and every season his sights get lower and lower. Still, had to get to Middlesbrough eventually.

Best player left at home : Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink, Mario Melchiot, Andre Ooijer... it wouldn't be Holland without a string of them. Mark van Bommel, a live candidate for the player most likely to cause dissention in the ranks having had a dressing room fight with Davids during the qualifiers, added himself to the list due to an Achilles tendon injury.

Likelihood of internal squabbling : It's Holland. It's mandatory. You may like to run a work sweepstake on which player will publicly take Dick Advocaat's tactics on first.

Vaguely amusing anagram of coach's name, although being called Dick Advocaat he barely needs one : T'AC/DC Diva? A-OK!

And? : The kind of team that can lose 1-0 to Scotland and beat them 6-0 in the second leg, or indeed completely dominate Yugoslavia and go on to bore Italy to death as they did four years ago, really. Youth and experience - remakably, six of the squad were at Euro 96, with two others only missing that through injury - will be required to blend well, a proper foil for van Nistelrooy will need to be found, and some sort of team building wizardry should be kept at hand at all times.

LATVIA

Narkiness level : How should we know?

Player most likely to be big money Premiership flop : Famously coached to initial success by Gary Johnson, now of Yeovil, quite a few squad members have given England a go, and Trevor Francis will be paying particular attention to games featuring Alex Kolinko in goal. Marian Pahars' likely strike partner Maris Verpakovskis was rejected after a trial with Wolves last summer, moved to Dynamo Kiev and promptly scored the goals that got Latvia here. Wolves spent a good deal of the season playing Steffen Iversen and Nathan Blake up front.

Best player left at home : Um... will experienced attacking midfielder Vladimirs Kolesnicenko do?

Likelihood of internal squabbling : All-round optimism against the odds rarely breeds that kind of thing.

Vaguely amusing anagram of coach's name : Rank, Starless Vodkas

And? : They beat Turkey over two legs, lest we forget, but in their next friendly lost to Kuwait. Kuwait! On the positive side, the domestic season starts in April so the players may well be fresher than most of their rivals and they have pace and, well, positive thinking on their side. But just look at that group!