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Dutch national team coach Bert van Marwijk admitted that the draw for the European Championship is not very favorable for his team.
The World Cup runners-up will play in Group B together with Germany, Portugal, and Denmark.
"There's nothing we can do. We face a huge challenge because everyone agrees that this group is the most difficult. We just took a photo with all the coaches and none of them were happy," the specialist said. "But, of course, there are advantages - in the knockout rounds we would face teams from Group A, which are not as strong."
He added: "It's good that there is already a huge motivation - we want to play those matches right now. The opponents are really great, so we can expect a very interesting fight."
The coach of the German national team, Joachim Low, seconded his colleague: "The group is the strongest and the most interesting. The European Championship will be great because every team in it is strong. You don't see that in other global tournaments where you have to compete against Costa Rica, Ecuador, or similar."
He also said: "People tend to talk a lot already, but the most important thing is who will be in the best sporting form in 2012. And this will depend on many circumstances, such as injuries."
Portugal's team coach Paulo Bento reiterated that this group is the strongest and added: "We have said before that we will go to the tournament to fight and try to win every match. We understand perfectly that we are in the group with extremely strong opponents, but we couldn't choose, so we have to accept it. Our goal remains to reach the knockout rounds."
"This group is really difficult, it's not just the appearance," said Morten Olsen, who is at the helm of the Danish national team. "Both teams that I considered favorites, Germany and the Netherlands, are in it. Also, there is Portugal - we played against them in the qualifiers, we beat them, but we know they are a strong opponent.
"Of course, we will have to be at our best and avoid injuries. But it's hard to expect anything without luck. True, my colleagues also didn't seem overly excited."
