No other country in Europe has produced as many great players as the Netherlands – even now their players are all at big clubs, winning trophies year in, year out. However, they seem to suffer from the same disease as the English and Spanish sides – the lack of cohesion that the top sides in Europe use to turn losses into draws and draws into wins. Capable of winning pretty much every tournament since 1974, when they almost won the world cup, they have a solitary Euro ’88 win to their credit, scant consolation for such a proud football heritage, they should be in contention for the Euro 2008 crown if they can keep mentally strong.

In any event, they have a game in hand and are still very much the favourites to win the group. Romania and Bulgaria have decent enough squads and are rather evenly matched, with both having their share of talent but no real talisman to lift them to the next level. It will be a close contest between these sides for the second qualification place.

JumpTV is showing the choice matches live and on-demand online – check out http://euro2008.jumptv.com/ for more details. Highlights include Romania v Bulgaria on 17th November, which will possibly decide this group’s final outcome.