GROUP D : CZECH, DENMARK, FRANCE, NETHERLANDS

First-round opponents: Netherlands (June 11), France (June 16), Denmark (June 21).  

Best finish: Champion (1976).  

Last time around: Runner-up.  

The quotable coach: "All kinds of surprises happen in tournaments," says Jozef Chovanec. It's a good thing he realizes that, because the surprise this time around might be a quick trip home for the Czechs.  

Player perspective: Who will score the goal of the Euro 2000 tournament is anyone's guess. In England in 1996, it was Karel Poborsky, who beat one of the world's top goalkeepers, Vitor Baia of Portugal, with an improbable chipped shot. The goal proved inspirational, as the Czech Republic advanced all the way to the final.  

It also capped a superb summer for the longhaired Poborsky, who won the Czech championship with Slavia Prague and was named Czech player of the year along with teammate Patrik Berger. Best of all, it netted him a job at Manchester United, which appreciated his dribbling skill and offensive style. Poborsky won a league title with Manchester, but later moved to Benfica, where the Portuguese still talk about that memorable goal he scored against them.  

The bottom line: Having won all 10 of their qualifying matches and having lost only four times in their last 25 games, the Czechs would seem to be well positioned to duplicate their success of four years ago. That might be true if they had been drawn into a less difficult group, but this one contains both the favorite and the world champion.  

FIFA ranks the Czech Republic second in the world behind only Brazil, but those rankings are misleading. The Czechs were beaten, 3-2, for instance, by Germany in their final warm-up game, the defense looking less than spectacular. The fact that Liverpool midfielder Patrick Berger is suspended for the first two Euro 2000 matches won't help, either.  

But the team is loaded with capable players, not least of all midfielders Pavel Nedved of Lazio and Benfica's Poborsky. The goals are supposed to come from Liverpool's Vladimir Smicer, but Anderlecht's Jan Koller, with 13 goals in 14 games, might be a better bet. At 6-foot-7, Koller will certainly catch the eye. As will 6-5 Sparta Prague striker Vratislav Lokvenc. Aerial game, anyone?  

"We are playing in a combined way," Chovanec said. "It's not exactly 3-5-2 or 4-4-2. It's a style tailored to our players, not to the opposition."  

Prediction: In a group that contains nothing but former champions, the Czechs might discover that the magic they had in 1996 has worn off a little bit. They failed to even qualify for the France '98 World Cup, remember? Chances are, they will be battling the Danes for third place in the group and will not advance.

First-round opponents: France (June 11), Netherlands (June 16), Czech Republic (June 21).  

Best finish: Champion (1992).  

Last time around: Ousted in first round.  

The quotable coach: "We are outsiders and underdogs," says coach Bo Johansson. "But we don't have any exaggerated respect for our opponents. . . . The biggest are not always the best." True, but when they fall on you its hurts more.  

Player perspective: With Peter Schmeichel in the nets, anything is possible, but the former Manchester United and now Sporting Lisbon giant can't carry all of Denmark on his broad shoulders. Schmeichel, 36, will be the key player, naturally, and if this is his farewell to arms -- not to mention legs, torso, head and everything else he uses to make spectacular saves -- he wants it to be a good one.  

As team captain, he is the inspirational leader. His specialty, however, means that he doesn't win matches, but rather saves them. A few days before the tournament, Schmeichel, playing is his 121st game for Denmark, scored his first goal for his country, on a penalty kick in a 2-2 tie with Euro 2000 co-host Belgium in Copenhagen. "We have improved steadily and we can look ahead with confidence," he said.  

The bottom line: The retirement of such standouts as the Laudrup brothers, Brian and Michael, leaves the Danish team considerably less creative. Its defense, too, is a little long in the tooth and likely to crumble under an all-out assault by the Dutch and French.  

Johansson, who will retire after Denmark's final Euro 2000 game, took the Danes to the quarterfinals of the France '98 World Cup, where they played a magnificent game against Brazil. He dismisses the idea that the team is out of its depth in this group. "They [Denmark's opponents] think, definitely, that they are better than we are," he said. "We don't necessarily think so. We have always thought that we can win any match and we will go on believing that in this tournament as well."  

Other than Schmeichel, the team's key player is Udinese attacking midfielder Martin Jorgensen. Ajax Amsterdam winger Jesper Gronkjaer is another creative force, while the goals are supposed to come from Feyenoord's Jon Dahl Tomasson and Schalke 04's Ebbe Sand.  

Prediction: Backed by the most-supportive and least-troublesome fans in Europe and always willing to play attacking soccer, Denmark has a wide following beyond its own borders. Schmeichel aside, this squad is not as blessed with talent as the 1996 and 1992 teams, however, and popularity alone will not see it through the first round.  

First-round opponents: Denmark (June 11), Czech Republic (June 16), Netherlands (June 21). 

Best finish: Champion (1984). 

Last time around: Semifinalist. 

The quotable coach: "There is no such thing as little and small wins. A win is a win." So says Roger Lemerre, the coach who won't be looked upon as a winner at all unless the world champion wins here, after which he is set to step down.  

Player perspective: You would think that little would upset a player who has scored two goals against Brazil in a World Cup final and helped his country clinch the trophy. You would be wrong. French midfielder Zinedine Zidane was seriously unhappy when his club, Juventus, lost the Italian championship to Lazio this year on the final day of the season. "When I go to bed at night, sad images come into my mind," the Marseille-born player said. "This was the worst moment of my career and I'm trying not to think to much about it."  

Better Zidane should think about Paris in 1998, when his two headers lifted France to its World Cup triumph. Or about this tournament, which it very easily could win. Known all across France simply as Zizou or ZZ, Zidane is more a creator than a scorer of goals. Elegant and powerful, he is blessed with superb technically skill and constantly threatens opponents with defense-splitting passes and deadly free kicks from long range.  

The bottom line: The talent-packed French team is alive with colorful personalities, none more so than goalkeeper Fabien Barthez, recently picked up by Manchester United for a cool $11.68 million. Of the 22 players, 18 were on the squad that won the World Cup in '98. The newcomers, however, include temperamental striker Nicolas Anelka, who helped Real Madrid bring home its eighth Champions Cup this season.  

The defense is solid, with Laurent Blanc and Marcel Desailly the anchors and Bixente Lizarazu buzzing down the left flank. The key to the French game is the partnership between Zidane and whichever forwards Lemerre throws into the fray: David Trezeguet, Thierry Henry, Christophe Dugarry, Sylvain Wiltord or Anelka.  

"We have no reason to fear anybody," Lemerre has said.  

Tell that to the Dutch.  

Prediction: Anything less than a place in the semifinals will be disastrous for France. Its star-studded roster has the talent to take it all, but the question is, do the players still have a) the cohesion and b) the desire? The June 21 game against the Netherlands in Amsterdam could be the game of the tournament, if not a preview of the final.  

First-round opponents: Czech Republic (June 11), Denmark (June 16), France (June 21). 

Best finish: Champion (1988). 

Last time around: Quarterfinalist. 

The quotable coach: "Euro 2000 is a big challenge, something to remember for the rest of your life," says 1988 winner Frank Rijkaard, who, at 37, is trying to become the first person to win the European Championship as a player and a coach.  

Player perspective: There is no reason to believe that Dennis Bergkamp has ever met Erica Jong, yet his fear of flying is legendary. The Dutch striker would have far more than his current total of 75 international appearances were it not for his dislike of being airborne. This time around, though, he needed only to take a North Sea ferry home to Amsterdam to take part in Euro 2000, which he said will mark his international farewell.  

But while he is hopeless in the air, the Dutch star is out of this world on the ground. With a slew of honors to his credit while playing for Ajax Amsterdam, then Inter Milan and now Arsenal, Bergkamp is recognized as one of the world's top marksmen. With breathtaking skills and a bagful of tricks to taunt and tease opposing defenders, he is the Netherlands' all-time leading scorer, averaging a goal every two games.  

Now, he believes the Netherlands can be European champion, and no, the non-flying Dutchman doesn't have his head in the clouds.  

The bottom line: From a country famous for its "total football" and whose style long ago was nicknamed "clockwork orange" because of the precision of its orange-clad players, expect nothing but more of the same: nonstop movement on and off the ball, constant interchanging of positions, fine passing, creative build-up and excellent finishing.  

But only if the players are in the mood. The Dutch are as talented a team as there is in Euro 2000, but it will take harmony within the camp to produce the music on the field, and sometimes that has been lacking. How far the Netherlands will go depends on how much the players want to make up for the disappointment of 1996, when internal bickering and a humiliating drubbing by England combined to ruin their chances.  

Those players include such stars as Juventus goalkeeper Edwin van der Sar, Barcelona defender Frank de Boer, midfielders Edgar Davids (Juventus) and Clarence Seedorf (Inter Milan), and forwards Bergkamp, Patrick Kluivert (Barcelona) and Marc Overmars (Arsenal). At France, '98, the Dutch finished fourth, not good enough for their boisterous and demanding fans.  

"At the World Cup, we played well and did not go to the final," Rijkaard said. "Now at home, the pressure is on. The pressure could be too big because the audience wants us to win and at the same time play beautiful football."  

Prediction: Pressure or no pressure, this is the team to beat, the one that is widely favored to be lifting the trophy in Rotterdam on July 2. But soccer is, well, OK, a funny game, and the Dutch touch might desert it before the final whistle sounds. 

Grahame L. Jones 
The Sporting News