Euro 2008 is the second time that Switzerland and Austria will co-host the tournament after the Netherlands and Belgium in 2000, and 16 of Europe's best national teams will compete in the Delaunay Cup.

In the four groups, Degan's Belgian pair are in Group A, along with hosts Switzerland, Turkey and the Czech Republic, a traditional powerhouse in Europe.

Switzerland is one of the two hosts to host the European Championships, and compared to Austria's weak results in major competitions, Switzerland seem to be among the best teams in the middle of Europe.

However, the real rise of Swiss football began in 2002 at the European Youth Championship, in which the Swiss Under-17 national team won the cup. Two years later, the Swiss national team reached the finals of the European Championship in Portugal, ending the dark era of years of missing the Shijie competition.

Four years later, the Swiss national team, based on the U17 national team, shocked Shijie in the German Shijie Cup, conceding a goal in 390 minutes in four games in the group stage plus the quarterfinals, and was only eliminated in a penalty shootout.

In the last European Championship, Switzerland drew one and lost two in the group stage, ranking second to last among all 16 participating teams, which obviously did not satisfy the Swiss.

'It's different now and we have the ability to get to the knockout rounds.' "A lot of us have been playing together since we were 14 years old and we know how good we can do, and the German Shijie Cup is an example of this. ”

All Swiss people are looking forward to the tournament, even though the most popular sport in Switzerland is not football, but skiing, and even though the Swiss favourite athlete is not football, but tennis king Federer.

But as the head coach of the Swiss national team, Kuhn, said: "I can feel the passion of the fans, perhaps because we are tired of always having the quiet cow as the symbol of the country, and we want to show Shijie something new, lesser-known, like an angry bull." ”

For teams in the middle of the pack that have always been like this, the quality of the group can often determine their results, and the "weird" team brackets at Euro 2008 may cause a lot of trouble for the Swiss team.

In addition to facing the competition of strong opponents, the injury problem in the team is also a major problem for the head coach Kuhn, the number one star Frei's overhaul, whether he can participate in the group stage is still unknown, adding to the situation for the Swiss team, which is not rich, and the captain Vogel is also plagued by injuries, which will greatly affect the team's impact on higher honors.

Because they are opponents in the same group, Degan naturally pays attention to the Swiss team, because as the host country does not need to participate in the qualifiers, the warm-up match has become the main way for other teams to observe them, and in the recent friendly matches, the Swiss team has achieved good results, which also makes this team still show great ambition in an unfavorable situation.

"The semi-finals are the primary goal, but we must strive to achieve bigger dreams, meet challenges with confidence, and achieve self-transcendence." Bishop Kuhn said this as he looked ahead to the team's prospects.

In addition to the hosts Switzerland, who have home advantage, the Belgians led by Degan obviously cannot ignore the Eastern European Czechs who have sent away a golden generation.

Although there have been countless talented players in history, but the decline of the level of Czech football is helpless, after the stunning debut in 1996, the Czech team that was once full of geniuses had a bad fate, the "golden generation" of Poposky, Nedved, Kuka, Smitchell and others have all been far away, in 2006 German Shijie Cup, the Czechs completed their own Zuihou battle, and the golden age of Czech football came to an end. The fragile knees of the new core Rosicky could have cost the team control of the midfield at any time.

This European Championship is the first game of Czech football after entering the "post-golden generation", and from the perspective of qualifying, the new Czech national team did not perform well, although in the end beat Germany to qualify as the group leader, but this is largely thanks to the Germans' laxity after getting the right to qualify early. Except for Rosicky and Cech, no one in the Mesozoic generation has reached the level of the "golden generation" of that year.

However, the Czech team obviously does not intend to sit still, the team's core player Cech said in an interview after arriving in Switzerland with the team: "Compared with the European Cup in Portugal and the Shijie Cup in Germany, this time the Czech team's luck in the group draw has improved, Belgium with Digan is worthy of respect, but it is not invincible, Turkey and Switzerland are tenacious, but lack of talent team, the most critical game in the group stage is the second game against Belgium, if you lose, We will probably be forced to the point where we will have to beat Turkey in the first round of the group in Zuihou, but I still believe that we have a good chance of making it out of the group, but how far we can go after that will depend on luck. ”

Petr Cech is confident, but it is clear that they are not the main focus of Degan, and if there is any team in this group that needs special attention, it is Turkey, who had a feud with Belgium at Euro 2000.

After decades of confusion, Turkish football has re-emerged in recent years as an international powerhouse. The Turkish team competed in Euro 1996 and 2000 respectively, and then had a historic moment in the 2002 Shijie Cup, reaching the semi-finals and finishing third.

However, in this European Cup qualifiers, Turkey's road to qualification can be described as twists and turns, after the first four rounds of all wins, in the prospect of qualifying a big haode situation has lost points on the weak team, after the penultimate round of home loss to Greece, the Star Moon Army has been in jeopardy, fortunately, Turkey defeated Norway away in a battle of Tianwang Mountain, and then won Bosnia and Herzegovina at home in the final round, and took the last train of the European Cup with a one-point advantage.

Previously, the Turkish national team announced the squad for the European Championship, in this squad, most of the players who play in the domestic league, the two giants of the country, Fenerbahce and Galatasaray, occupy half of the national team. However, up front, Turkey will still rely on the duo of Nihat and veteran Suker to attack the city, and Altintop Jr., who plays for Bayern Munich, will be the heart of the midfield, and they will still hope to play the role of dark horse again this time after beating hosts Belgium in Euro 2000.

Zuihou is the Belgian team led by Degan, which unexpectedly began a major change after the qualifiers, and the former meritorious players have been excluded from the selection of the national team, replaced by a large number of young people.

It may be that this national team, which is mainly made up of young people, lacks experience, but with the hottest striker in Shijie football today, Degan, it is still very interesting to see what kind of performance this team will show in the European Championship finals.

At the club level, Deegan has achieved enough to put any shijie-caliber star to shame, and now he is looking to make a breakthrough for his country.

The four teams in Group B include the other hosts, Austria, European powerhouse Croatia, three-time European Championship winners Germany, and qualifier Poland.

When people think of Austria, the first thing that comes to mind is music and art, not football, and the country has given birth to too many musical geniuses in its history, perhaps it is the development of the arts that makes it difficult for the country to achieve much in sports.

For Austrian teams, "mediocrity" is the most appropriate assessment, and before the game even started, Austria was already known as the weakest seed team in the history of the European Championship, and it was not easy to get points, let alone qualify. In the previous warm-up matches, they have been winless for nine consecutive games, and when it comes to the European Cup finals, how to avoid being preyed on by Germany, Croatia and other powers has become the most concerned topic of the domestic media

Being on the continent is perhaps the greatest sorrow of Austrian football, as they had been away from international competitions for almost 10 years before this European Championship, and they appeared once in the 1998 Shijie Cup in France.

The last two chances to participate, the 2004 European Championship qualifiers were lost to the Czech Republic and the Netherlands, and the 2006 Shijie Cup qualifiers were off to a good start, drawing with England in the first game, which was very popular at the time, but in the end it still missed the qualifiers, and was deprived of tickets by Poland.

Most of the Austrian players are in the small and minor leagues, and only a few have been able to climb the top ranks, with Pogatts at Middlesbrough in the Premier League, Gricos at Empoli in Serie A and Ebelzberg at Freiburg in the Bundesliga.

These three defenders, together with the 75-year-old midfielder Wieschenberger and the 20-year-old young striker Harnick, are the entire squad of the Austrian national team that plays in the top five leagues.

However, it should be noted that there are no longer a few players in the team who were born around 1985, and it seems that the manager is also aware of developing new talents.

This tournament is also the first time in the history of Austria to qualify for the European Championship finals, but unfortunately it is by virtue of its status as host. There is no long qualifier to train the team, and only warm-up with some friendly matches of low value, and there are still more losses and fewer wins.

"It's a process of constantly facing and overcoming difficulties and setbacks." Even their head coach Hickelsberg was cautious, but in order to encourage most of the young players in the squad, he immediately said in a bloody way: "Austria and Switzerland as hosts will create exciting games and I am confident that we will make history and reach the quarter-finals." ”

All right!

Maybe even he didn't believe it.

However, the strength is not good, but the attitude can not be bad, as the saying goes, the stupid bird flies first, and Austria, which is recognized as the weakest in the round of 16 of this European Cup, started training earlier than other teams, trying to make up for the congenital deficiency with acquired efforts.

In the latest national team rankings released by FIFA, Austria is ranked 43rd, although they are not the lowest ranked in the round of 16 of the European Cup, and there is another host behind them, Switzerland, who is at the bottom of the 48th, but even the Austrians themselves know that this is just a false name, just like the clouds in the sky, Switzerland is also the round of 16 of the 2006 Shijie Cup, and Austria does not know what year and month it will take to participate in the European Cup if it is not for the status of the host country.

Poisoned by Austria for a while, the next team to play will definitely make people instantly excited, shijie powerhouse Germany.

As a three-time winner of the Shijie Cup and three European Cups, although the honor of the predecessors is very far away from them, but every Shijie competition, the German tank will be regarded as the biggest favorite to win the championship.

Delicate and calm, the pursuit of precision and depth, with a rigorous scientific attitude and order, the Germanic spirit is also reflected in German football.

Three consecutive European Championships with the group of death as a companion, the last two simply died in the group stage, perhaps UEFA also felt guilty about this big family, this time gave them the most ideal signing, and finally no longer fell into the group of death, until the final can not meet the traditional strong team.

Unlike previous tournaments, the depth of the German squad has improved this time, and Klose is no longer alone in the attack, Gomez, Podolski and Kuranyi can already be in charge.

Ballack is still the only Shijie star in the German team, and in the two Shijie Cups in which he was the core, the German team has gone far, and now all the Germans need is to move forward solidly.

If there is a penalty shoot-out on the road, then its opponent will start to tremble. Since 1976, Germany have played six penalty shoot-outs in the Shijie Cup and the European Championships, and with their iron will, they have won five of them, a whopping 83% win rate.

In this European Championship, the German Football Association sounded the horn of the European Championship in a way that shocked the world. There is no doubt that this is a brilliant decision. Germany's coach Loew, accompanied by a press officer, announced the 23-man squad at Zugspitze, the highest point in Germany, a move that foreshadows the team's desire to reach the top of the European Championships.

In this list, the omission of Valencia goalkeeper Hildebrand, a regular of the national team, was the most surprising. Due to Valencia's continuous civil strife this season, and being swept by opponents many times in the second half of the season, as the main goalkeeper, Hildebrand's status in the national team plummeted.

Goalkeeper coach Koepke said Bayer Leverkusen's young goalkeeper Adler "deservedly deservedly deservedly to go to the European Championships" due to his consistent performances over the past year. Even in the competition with the veteran Enke, Hildebrand also failed to gain favor and eventually became a spectator of the European Cup.

Soon after the draw came out, the famous European William Hill bookmaker announced the odds to win the championship, in William Hill's opinion, which country has the best chance of winning next year's European Cup?

The answer is Germany, with Loew's team in first place at 4 to 1. Of course, Germany should be thankful for their good fortune to be at the top of the table, and the remaining three teams in the same group as Germany, Austria, Croatia and Poland, do not seem to be Germany's opponents. There is no problem in qualifying from the group, as for the future, it will depend on whether the Germanic tank is fully fueled.

Poland, this is an ill-fated country, they have countless warriors of steel. The revival of the old powerhouse Poland in the past two years is eye-catching, after 40 years of qualifying impact, Poland will appear on the stage of the European Cup for the first time, although this team does not have too many stars, but more than 30 years of travel around the magical coach Ben Haac, the whole team and the three cores, goalkeeper Boruc, "midfield bull" Krzynovic and "swingman" Smolarek, magically kneaded together, overwhelmed Belgium and Portugal in the qualifiers. More importantly, the Polish Football Association, the media, the players and even the fans all have great trust in Ben Hak, and the atmosphere of unprecedented unity has added victory to the Poles' group stage journey.

Although the first game of the qualifiers lost 1:3 at home to Belgium without Digan, suffering a "black start", and Matušak's goal in the second round failed to help the team win, but then Ben Hack's team began a wave of six consecutive wins, defeating Lithuania 1:0 away, defeating Portugal 2:1 at home, and finally advancing to the top of the group.

This season, however, Polish football has been hit hard, with the match-fixing scandal almost sweeping away the First Division, with a two-year investigation leading to the relegation of four First Division teams and two Second Divisions, with defending champions Lubin Basin FC given a "suspended death sentence". The excitement over the successful bid for Euro 2012 was swept away by the storm, and the Dutch coach of the Polish team, Ben Hack, even planned to resign for a while.

The Polish national team's preparations for the European Championship are unfolding in this chaotic situation, and it is worth noting that the Brazilian who plays for Liege in Warsaw. Guerrero, who became a Polish citizen, was eventually selected for the Polish national team with FIFA permission. Guerreiro will be the biggest highlight of the Polish team at this European Championship.

In 1996, people saw Croatia for the first time in a shijie football match, and on November 21, 2007, at Wembley Stadium, a heavy rain did not extinguish the "torch" of the Croatians, and forced England's promotion hopes into the sewers of the stadium.

Nicknamed "The Torch", the Red and White Checkered Army will be led by the young marshal Bilic, who is a bachelor of law, a rock 'n' roll youth, a linguist, a poet and a personality of young marshal Bilic, to face hosts Austria, favourites Germany and Eastern European powerhouse Poland.

"Youth" is Croatia's advantage, among the rising stars, Modric and Colluka and others have gradually become big players, Kranica and Rakitic have also played brilliantly in the European League, Srna and Petrić and several other "early 80" players are already veterans, plus veterans such as the Kovac brothers and Simic pressed the formation, and the Brazilian Da Silva is a god soldier from heaven, quite the charm of the former Suker, the torch that eliminated the England team will become a fire in the summer, continue to burn in Austria, Perhaps they can repeat what Croatia did in 1998.

In addition, unlike England, Croatia rarely "loosens the throttle in the second half" after taking the lead, which is the most enviable point for McLaren, the Three Lions twice qualified and the situation finally collapsed at the Zuihou juncture, Bilic's team is full of resilience, the first game against Macedonia is particularly classic, and the reversal of the opponent at the Zuihou juncture shows the maturity of Croatia after the Shijie Cup experience. As England fans, people may hold a grudge against Croatia, but they can't deny their strength.

More than a month before the start of the European Championship, Croatian national team coach Bilic announced the final 23-man squad for the European Championship, becoming the first team among the 16 national teams to participate in the final stage of the European Championship.

There are only two players from Croatia's domestic league on this list, while the rest are playing in other European leagues, with the most notable player undoubtedly "Cruyff Jr." Modric, who has just won the treble with Fiorentina.

"I don't want to reveal what we're aiming for, but I think we can accomplish it with hard work." Bilic said confidently, "There are a lot of difficulties ahead of us, but with a little help of luck, we have a chance to win." ”

As in previous international competitions, the group of death is always a topic that cannot be avoided, and this is no the case at this European Cup, where Group C has become a veritable group of death.

The top spot in the group of death is the Shijie Cup champion Italy, turning over the history of Italian football, the last European Championship was won 40 years ago, but this does not affect the fans' love for them.

When the Italian team appeared, all the tactics and line-up became unimportant, and it was most important to enjoy it quietly, especially when the national anthem was played before the opening, the ten seconds when the camera swept over the athletes were the most unmissable, because the handsome and resolute faces were incomprehensible.

Italy, who topped the group of death in qualifying, were subsequently placed in the group of death, but as winners of the 2006 Shijie Cup, there is no reason to exclude Italy from the favourites.

Although Maldini is gone, and although Baggio's back is a little blurred, as long as the Italian team plays, they will bring the Apennine sunshine.

But a peak is often followed by a low tide. Especially for a free-spirited nation like Italy, after winning a great victory, it is often chosen to go on a wild revelry rather than go further. Therefore, after winning the Shijie Cup in 1982, they failed to reach the finals of the 1984 European Championship and lost face.

This time Italy almost repeated the mistake of the past, Lippi retreated bravely after the Shijie Cup, which is not a good sign in itself, the whip of the Shijie championship is always a hot potato, and finally in a voice of doubt, the Italian Football Federation chose Donadoni who lacks qualifications. Tired, confused, and skeptical, the Shijie champion started the journey of this European Championship in such an atmosphere.

Forced to a draw by Lithuania in the first game and a defeat to France in the second, Italy quickly pushed itself to the brink, as critics feared. With France and Scotland on strong momentum, Italy looks almost indistinguishable from the 1983 Azzurri side, and calls for Donadoni to step down are getting louder.

But never underestimate the champion's heart, and this time Italy survived at a critical juncture. After getting through the chaos and discomfort of the start, Donadoni and his Azzurri gradually entered the role, and then temporarily defused the clouds with a wave of five consecutive wins, especially the victory over direct rivals Scotland to give Italy the initiative.

With Scotland's surprise defeat in Lithuania, Italy's qualification is clear. All it takes is a draw in Glasgow to keep the shijie champion out of the fray. Italy, who are good at fighting life and death, did not let the opportunity slip away, and in a classic Italian game, Donadoni's side beat Scotland 2-1 to advance to Euro 08 in the first round.

It seems that there is no danger, but in fact, the life and death of the shijie champion are on the line. The Italians need not thank God, but Donadoni, whom they had suspected, for the success of a young coach with no experience in coaching a strong team in extremely difficult conditions.

This success not only refers to Donadoni leading the Italian national team to qualifying, but more importantly, under his leadership, the Azzurri have stepped out of Lippi's shadow and built a national team that is very different from the German Shijie Cup in terms of personnel composition and tactical play, and has been deeply branded by Donadoni, which has created space for Italy to continue to move forward after winning the Shijie Cup.

Taking over in the midst of chaos, starting without a win, and moving forward steadily amid criticism and ridicule, Donadoni demonstrated the patience, confidence and determination of a championship coach.

What's even more valuable is that Donadoni was able to recognize and correct his mistakes in time after making mistakes, which was more gratifying to the Italians than the stubborn old coach Trapattoni.

In the face of Totti and Nesta's hesitation and Piero's "verbal warnings", Donadoni also showed his tough side, boldly excluding three of Italy's most influential stars in the past five to seven years from the national team, reducing controversy and winning a quiet atmosphere for the team.

Donadoni is a big part of the credit, and the Italian players are also commendable, especially the 'new' internationals who didn't win the shijie title.

Ambrosini, Di Natale and Panucci have all played a vital role in Italy's qualification, Barzagli, who has been unusable under Lippi, has also picked up the burden of Italy's centre-back, and Fiorentina's new wingers are also worth looking forward to, as are the Shijie champions who still have the motivation to move forward, making up Donadoni's squad with experience, quality and desire.

Italy are undoubtedly one of the favourites to win Euro 2008 as winners of the Shijie Cup, and captain Cannavaro is confident that his side will win Zuihou in Austria and Switzerland.

Cannavaro, who has already made 115 appearances for Italy, will be playing in his first major tournament at this summer's European Championships, and he is just nine games away from beating Maldini's international appearances.

In addition, the selection of Montolivo, Antonini, Abate, Paccini, Maggio, Ledesma, and naturalized player Motta has also made Fiorentina a major player in this Italian national team.

However, being in the group of death has also made Italy's journey full of uncertainties, and coach Donadoni said in an interview: "This group is very difficult, and the road to promotion will be very difficult. I had a premonition of a bad result when the draw was drawn, but I didn't expect it to come true, now I don't want to complain about anything, I will work hard with the team, the Netherlands and France are obviously the strongest opponents in the group, both teams have won the European Championship before, and Romania is also not to be underestimated, they always like to surprise people. ”

Romania is indeed ready to surprise people, and now the Romanian team, under the transformation of the striker-turned-coach Pitulka, has also become a terrifying "vampire count", and in the European Championship qualifiers, the Dutch team topped the group, scoring 26 goals in 12 games, a full 11 more than the Dutch team. When the three giants of France, Italy, and the Netherlands in the group of death were drawn to Romania, they couldn't help but talk about the tiger's color.

Although the only star of Romania's star players is Zivo and Digan's forward partner Mutu in Fiorentina, the players selected for the national team, who are familiar with each other, are, in the words of the media, "the precision of the passes between the players can be measured in centimeters." ”

With the European Championship qualifiers over, Croatia and the Czech Republic are undoubtedly the focus of attention among all the Eastern European teams that have qualified. The former has defended the honour of Eastern European football with unrivalled sportsmanship, while the latter has been the strongest team in Eastern Europe in recent years. However, there is one team that is enough to represent Eastern European football, and that is Romania.

After nearly a year and 12 rounds of hard competition, Romania finally beat the favorite team Netherlands to become the top of the group and get a ticket to the final stage one round early.

Counting Romania's qualification process, four points home and away against the Netherlands were the decisive battles, which gave them a direct comparative advantage over the Netherlands, laying the foundation for the final stage of the European Championship by finally overpowering the orange team.

In today's Romanian team, Mutu, who plays in Serie A, is undoubtedly the brightest star, and now Mutu is no longer the down-and-out player who took drugs, was banned from the game, and then was swept away by Chelsea.

Coming to the Renaissance city of Florence, Mutu seems to have embarked on the road of revival of his career, and the golden combination of Mutu and Digan in the just-concluded season can be called the "best partner" in Serie A, accompanied by Fiorentina all the way to win the treble.

Mutu's performance in the national team is also wonderful, both on and off the field, Mutu has become the soul of Romania, under the leadership of Mutu, the young player Marika has also improved rapidly, the Donetsk Shakhtar striker is fast, dribbling, shooting, passing and other eighteen martial arts are proficient, over time, will be able to become Mutu's right-hand man.

Romania was once the flag of Eastern European football, and their skilful ground coordination combined with superb individual jishu has allowed them to dominate Eastern Europe and achieve a series of brilliant results.

In the 94 Shijie Cup, under the leadership of the "midfield conspirator" Haji, Romania passed all the way, and even eliminated the favorite Argentina, although it failed to cross the Swedish hurdle in the end, but the Romanian team became one of the biggest highlights of the Shijie Cup, and the "Maradona of Carpath" Haji became a Shijie-level midfield master.

Now, under the leadership of the equally talented Mutu, the Romanians hope to repeat their former glory and let the eagle of the Balkans soar over Europe again.

Another big powerhouse in the group of death is the Netherlands, there is no shortage of bewitching tulips Shijie first-class stars, with dazzling style of play, can win any shijie strong team, but can also be after the passion, inexplicably defeated at the feet of the weak team and out of the game, just like the tulips full of the Netherlands, can wither overnight, so the Dutch team with more tragic color.

In this European Cup, Basten changed the passionate "433" formation to the pragmatic "442", compared with the Dutch team that used to be smooth and aggressive, the Dutch team is now more stable and a little more conservative, and it is unlikely to play the hearty side attack of the past. Despite this, Van der Vaart, Sneijder, Robben, Van Persie and many other midfielders with extraordinary creativity, their offensive organization, creativity, and improvisation on the field are still expected.

Looking back on the Dutch team's qualifying journey, although the orange team performed in a decent and unhurried manner, and did not encounter too many problems on the way out, the team led by the legendary superstar Basten has always failed to meet the appetite of the domestic media and fans.

The Dutch media have pointed out more than once that "this is not the Dutch team we are familiar with." ”

After losing to Belarus in the first round of qualifying, the Dutch media lashed out at the team that had already qualified early, believing that it was a Dutch team that had "lost the spirit of attacking and defending", and called the team under Basten a "lost generation".

Indeed, the Dutch fans, who have the spirit of all-out attack and defense in their bones, are far more eager for the wonderful scenes of the game than for the results of the game, and never put down the "body" of the Tulip Army in the competition, which has also won the reputation of the "uncrowned king" for the team. With the exception of Euro '88, the Dutch national team's honours book was blank, and the ambitious Basten certainly wanted to change the embarrassing situation, and the Dutch-born and Italian-born "Swan" naturally picked up the defensive skills he learned in the Apennines.

Basten's revamp of the team proved to be a success, and despite the ugly scenes, the quality of the defense improved, which was especially important for the Netherlands, who were in the midst of a "change of blood".

The young coach Basten, who is about to play in the European Cup, is full of ambition, but just as the big game is approaching, midfielder Seedorf suddenly announced his withdrawal from this European Cup.

Van Basten was surprised by Seedorf's decision: "I was surprised by his decision, it was not news that I was expecting, I told Clarence that I respect him as a player and as an individual, but he has already made his decision. ”

Regarding Seedorf's voluntary withdrawal, public opinion generally believes that the reason is his dissatisfaction with the coach, although he returned to the national team, Seedorf believes that he has not been reused by the manager, and he has previously expressed his disappointment with Van Basten's tactical thinking.

'We've been struggling with the negatives for a while, but we haven't learned from the past, which has forced some great players to make difficult choices, and I don't want to make the team nervous, let alone affect the future of the tournament. Seedorf also explained his decision in an interview.

Civil strife in the squad is a tradition of the Dutch team, from Cruyff, Gullit to Davies, the core players of the previous teams have chosen to withdraw from the national team because of conflicts with the coach.

For Van Basten, Seedorf is not the first international to publicly express his displeasure with him, and before him, Ruud van Nistelrooy has also coddled him over tactical arrangements, and another midfielder, Van Bommel, has said that he will refuse to play for the national team as long as Van Basten is in charge.

With the turmoil within the squad and their placement in the Group of Death, it is fair to say that the Dutch team's journey has not yet begun, and Basten said after arriving in Austria: "It's a very difficult group, there are two Shijie Cup champions in the same group, both teams are great teams, with great players and a lot of experience in the tournament. It's a tough challenge for us, we have to face Italy first and then France and then we will know what the final outcome will be. ”

The Dutch coach admitted that the team had suffered the group of death in the Shijie Cup last year, and this time he suffered the same thing: "In the Shijie Cup in Germany last year, we were in a group with Argentina, Serbia and Ivory Coast, which was called the Group of Death at the time, and now it is the same, in terms of strength, this group is more difficult, and every opponent in the group is strong. ”

Basten had played with current Italian boss Donadoni at AC Milan and the Dutchman admits he is familiar with his current opponents: "I played with Donadoni for a long time at AC Milan and he was a difficult opponent. Italy has always been a country with a good football tradition, they have been able to reach the Zuihou stage in all major tournaments, and the French team has also performed well in the last few years, which is undoubtedly a very difficult group. ”

Speaking about the opponents Romania he faced in qualifying, Basten admits that it is also a strong team: "We played Romania in qualifying and they were also very strong, so all we can do is keep our chests up and face them bravely. ”

Basten's words, though harsh, sounded like saying, "I'm so wronged!" ”