GROUP B : BELGIUM, ITALY, SWEDEN, TURKEY

First-round opponents: Sweden (June 10), Italy (June 14) and Turkey (June 19). 

Best finish: Second place (1980). 

Last time around: Failed to qualify. 

The quotable coach: "Can we win?" asks Robert Waseige. "No, I don't think so. It's not realistic." 

Boy, there's nothing like an honest assessment to lift the spirits of the tournament co-host. What was 60-year-old Waseige thinking? To his credit, though, he does say the Red Devils have a chance of at least reaching the quarterfinals. 

Player perspective: At his German club, Schalke 04, they call him "Mr. 1,000 Volts." In Belgium, he is better known as "The Wild Boar." It's Marc Wilmots' unbounded energy that earns him such colorful nicknames. The man never seems to stop running. As Belgium's playmaker, he is counted on to deliver a high-voltage performance every time out, but as he says, that's simply not possible. 

"I want to play like I played tonight every time, but I'm not a machine," he said after Belgium's 2-2 tie with the Netherlands in March in Brussels. Fans might have to settle for fewer sparks in Euro 2000, and must also hope that Wilmots keeps his oft-volatile temper in check. Wilmots turns 31 three days after Belgium's final first-round match. By then, "Mr. 1000 Volts" will have reason to either light up the town or blow a fuse. 

The bottom line: Waseige is a coach who prefers teamwork to flair. He took over the national side following the France '98 World Cup and, after an indifferent start, has begun to see some positive results. A wild 5-5 tie with the Netherlands, a more restrained but equally impressive 2-2 draw with the Dutch, a tie with Portugal and victories over Morocco, Italy and Norway in the past eight months have raised eyebrows in Brussels. Could the team actually be any good? Even a one-goal loss to England hasn't dented spirits. 

The backbone will be goalkeeper Filip De Wilde, sweeper Lorenzo Staelens and midfielder Yves Vanderhaeghe, all from Anderlecht; Wilmots in the center and naturalized Croatian Branko Strupar of Derby County at striker. The inclusion of veteran forward Luc Nilis of PSV Eindhoven came at the perhaps questionable exclusion of Toni Brogno, the Belgian league's joint top scorer with 30 goals in 32 games for Westerloo this season. The defense, despite Staelens' presence, remains vulnerable.  

Prediction: The home crowd will help, the quarterfinals are the stated goal, but even getting out of the first round is not guaranteed. 

First-round opponents: Turkey (June 11), Belgium (June 14) and Sweden (June 19). 

Best finish: Winner (1968). 

Last time around: Ousted in the first round. 

The quotable coach: "Our objective is to reach the semifinals," says Dino Zoff. "If we don't overestimate ourselves but also don't underestimate ourselves, then we can reach that target." 

Strange man. Wonder what Zoff would have thought if coach Enzo Bearzot had suggested Italy's target was the semifinals of the World Cup in 1982, the year Zoff carried off the trophy at age 40. 

Player perspective: For several years, at least until Brazil's Roberto Carlos burst onto the scene, Paolo Maldini was regarded as the finest left back in the world. Even now, approaching 32, he still has few rivals for the position. With three World Cup tournaments already under his belt, this will be his third European Championship. Arguably the most valuable and influential player on the team, Maldini is both tactically astute and a leader on the field. Fluid going forward and a determined tackler, the AC Milan veteran has 104 international appearances and is certain to overtake Zoff's Italian record of 112 caps. A toe injury that still has him limping might prove his undoing in this tournament, however. 

The bottom line: A hamstring injury to first-choice striker Christian Vieri complicates matters for Zoff, who had to leave the Inter Milan star off the roster and now will likely go with the Juventus strike pair of Filippo Inzaghi and Alessandro del Piero. Italy started brightly under Zoff's leadership, winning five of its first 10 matches and tying the other five, but it has lost three of its last five games and critics are becoming more harsh. 

After a 3-2 loss at home in Naples to Denmark last September, Zoff was lambasted by the media, but fired back. "The lesson," he said, "is that although everyone thought it would be easy, in sport it is never like that. I said that, but no one listened to me." 

Zoff has tinkered with various lineups as he seeks the right combination for Euro 2000. There have been failures along the way, as in the woeful 2-0 loss to Spain in Barcelona in March. "We now have to learn from our mistakes and carry on working," said the unflappable Zoff. 

Prediction: The Italians have the pedigree to survive the first round, but unless a hero emerges to inspire everyone else, the team might not have the depth to go all the way. 

First-round opponents: Belgium (June 10), Turkey (June 15) and Italy (June 19). 

Best finish: Semifinalist (1992). 

Last time around: Failed to qualify. 

The quotable coach: "We won't leave anything to chance," is the best that co-coach Lars Lagerback can manage, and there's not much to add to that. 

Player perspective: The newspaper photographs were ghastly. They showed what were said to be Henrik Larsson's tibia and fibia bones sticking out through his sock at an altogether unnatural angle. Turns out it was his shinpad, but Larsson did suffer a double fracture of his left leg in a UEFA Cup match against Olympique Lyon last October. The Celtic striker didn't play again until late May. Now, he wants to start for Sweden in Euro 2000. 

"My leg is stronger and I have no problems tackling or sprinting," he said. "I don't know what will happen because I was away for such a long time. But I have nothing to lose." 

And Sweden has everything to gain if it can successfully re-integrate the man who was both Scottish player of the Year and Swedish player of the year in 1998 into its starting lineup. Larsson was Sweden's top scorer in qualifying, with three goals. But the 28-year-old former Feyenoord forward has scored 71 goals in his two seasons in Scotland. Quick and powerful, with trademark dread-locks, he lacks only game fitness, but Tommy Soderberg, the other co-coach, brushes that aside. "His lack of playing experience is not a concern for us," Soderberg said with his usual, "What, me worry?" attitude. 

The bottom line: Unique among Euro 2000 teams, Sweden has not one but two coaches at the helm. The odd arrangement was put in place after the Swedes had swept through qualifying play, winning seven of eight games, tying the other and allowing only one goal, with Soderberg alone in charge. The defense, anchored by the veteran trio of Patrik Andersson (Bayern Munich), Joachim Bjorklund (Valencia) and Roland Nilsson (Helsingborg), doesn't give away much, but with the country's most creative player, Par Zetterberg of Anderlecht, refusing to play for Soderberg, the midfield lacks flair. Arsenal's Fredrik Ljungberg could solve that problem and create scoring chances for the forward duo of Larsson and Bologna's Kennet Andersson, but only if the coaches allow him more freedom, which seems unlikely. Sweden is not an adventurous team, its 10 goals in eight qualifying matches attesting to that. 

Prediction: Whichever team wins the Belgium-Sweden match will go through to the next round with Italy. Beyond that it is difficult to imagine the unimaginative Swedes achieving anything spectacular. 

First-round opponents: Italy (June 11), Sweden (June 15) and Belgium (June 19). 

Best finish: Never beyond the first round. 

Last time around: Ousted in the first round. 

The quotable coach: "This time we won't be the underdogs," says Mustafa Denizli. It's an odd stance for the coach to take. Who else could possibly be the underdogs in a group that includes the co-host and former finalist, a former winner and a former semifinalist? 

Player perspective: "The Bull of the Bosphorus" is ready to take on Europe. Maybe. Turkish striker Hakan Sukur, 29, has long been his country's most talented goal scorer. In the past four seasons alone, he has netted 85 goals for Galatasaray, finishing as the Turkish league's leading scorer in three of those seasons. He also has 26 goals in 52 games for the national team, including four in qualifying play for Euro 2000. Midfielder Tayfur Havutcu, the team's penalty-taker, was Turkey's top scorer in qualifying with five goals. 

Despite Sukur's credentials, he has failed in attempts to take his talents abroad, most noticeably at Torino in Italy, where he lasted only five games. Still, that was in 1995, and Sukur does boast a tremendous right-foot shot and is very good in the air, traits that could cause, say, Belgium, some trouble. More than that, he has a point to prove after failing to score at Euro '96. 

The bottom line: Four years ago, Fatih Terim was Turkey's coach in its first-ever European Championship foray. The awed Turks were eliminated after three games in England without so much as scoring a goal. That didn't stop Terim from becoming Galatasaray's coach and from leading the Istanbul club to the UEFA Cup title this season. Terim parlayed that success, Turkey's first in Europe, into a lucrative job at Fiorentina. Denizli, his successor with the national team, meanwhile has built it into a strong unit whose qualifying performance surprised many. 

For one thing, Turkey defeated and tied Germany, the defending European champion. It qualified by beating Ireland in a playoff. Denizli selected no fewer than nine Galatasaray players for his squad of 22, including Sukur and Arif Erdem, who will be asked to provide the goals. The defense, however, is built around three Fenerbahce players, goalkeeper Rustu Recber and defenders Alpay Ozalan and Ogun Temizkanoglu. Tying it all together and providing the playmaking that will make or break the Turks is Galatasaray's Sergen Yalcin. 

Prediction: Turkey won't make it out of the first round this time, either. 

Grahame L. Jones 
The Sporting News