Netherlands out to end long wait

NETHERLANDS
Wim van Zwam's side have not appeared in the final tournament since 2000, but solid recent friendly displays against England (1-1) and Korea Republic (1-0) have boosted morale. "Playing at home will be a special and exciting tournament for my players," said the coach. "After a very nice season, it could be the cherry on top of the cake – but only if we qualify for the finals in France. We're thinking about Slovakia first, not even the second or third matches. We must take three points against Slovakia and then we'll see. We don't have many individual stars, but as a team we are hard to beat."

Qualifying round: Malta 1-0, Cyprus 5-1, Czech Republic 1-0 (Group 10 winners)

Key players: Rajiv van la Parra (forward, SM Caen), Luc Castaignos (forward, Feyenoord), Lorenzo Ebicilio (forward, AFC Ajax)

GERMANY
The 2008 winners have struggled since booking their place in the elite round, recording only one win in their last six friendlies, a 2-0 victory against Poland at a mini-tournament in La Manga. There were also draws against Scotland (0-0) and Italy (1-1) while matches against Norway (1-2), Portugal (1-3) and the Czech Republic (2-3) all ended in defeat. Coach Horst Hrubesch, who led the team to victory two years ago, is relatively unconcerned, however, saying after the Italy match: "I liked what I saw. The only thing lacking were goals. We could have been two up at half-time."

Qualifying round: Luxembourg (3-0), Moldava (5-0), Turkey (1-2) (Group 3 runners-up)

Key players: Shervin Radjabali-Fardi (defender, Hertha BSC Berlin), Marc Hornschuh (midfielder, BV Borussia Dortmund), Marco Stiepermann (BV Borussia Dortmund), Cenk Tosun (striker, Eintracht Frankfurt)

SLOVAKIA
Having come through the qualifying round in Slovenia, coach Pavol Peráček is optimistic Slovakia can spring another surprise, saying: "After the draw everybody was saying this is the most difficult group, but I've never seen such ambition in my players' eyes. We will fight for a finals place, there is no other choice." Last month's friendly against Ukraine was called off due to the volcanic ash cloud from Iceland, although in March Slovakia played Norway twice in Senec – losing 2-1 and drawing 1-1 – and twice went down 2-0 in Croatia.

Qualifying round: Slovenia 1-0, Finland 4-0, England 0-2 (Group 2 runners-up)

Key players: Pavol Bajza (MFK Dubnica), Vladimír Kováč (MFK Ružomberok), Matúš Mikuš (FC Nitra)

POLAND
Poland took part in February's La Manga tournament, losing to Portugal 1-0 and Germany 2-0 before overcoming Norway 3-1. "Our main problem is that we've always been without players," said coach Michał Globisz, whose side have recently drawn 1-1 against Switzerland and lost 4-2 and 1-0 to the Republic of Ireland. "We're definitely not favourites, Germany and the Netherlands look to be much stronger teams. But maybe it's better for us to be dark horses; there's less pressure on us, which is good for my players."

Qualifying round: Denmark 2-1, Azerbaijan 1-2, Israel 1-1 (third in Group 13)

Key players: Ariel Borysiuk (midfielder, Legia Warszawa), Bartosz Salamon (midfielder, Brescia Calcio), Tomasz Holota (midfielder, GKS Katowice)