Group A friendly form

Germany go into Euro 2000 with patchy form

Managers like to tell you there is no such thing as a friendly in international football. So, results since qualification for the European Championships should provide a fair reflection of who will be among the runners and riders in Holland and Belgium over the next month. BBC Sport Online takes a look at the friendly form of those in Group A of Euro 2000.

Do not be fooled by Germany's huge 8-2 victory over the mighty Liechtenstein this week - the score was only 3-2 with less than 10 minutes remaining.

They also left it rather late to see off the Czech Republic the previous weekend, though that is a worthy victory if the invincible qualifying form of the losing finalists of Euro '96 is anything to go by.

England played well in the 1-1 against a star-studded Brazil and outplayed Ukraine in the second-half in the 2-0 victory at Wembley but their Euro 2000 preparations came unstuck when they struggled against the part-timers of Malta in a disappointing 2-1 win.

However England's run starts to look half decent, especially compared with Romania's.

Romania's form has been woeful, with their only victories in 2000 against the lesser lights of Latvia, Cyprus and Greece.

Portugal, for all their superstars, will want to pick up from a run that has seen them hit their best form against Wales.

England Feb 23 (Wembley): England 0-0 Argentina
May 27 (Wembley): England (Owen) 1-1 Brazil
May 31 (Wembley): England (Fowler, Adams) 2-0 Ukraine
Jun 3 (Valletta): Malta 1-2 England (Keown, Heskey)

Germany Nov 13 (Oslo): Norway 0-1 Germany (Scholl)
Feb 23 (Amsterdam): Holland 2-1 Germany (Ziege)
Mar 29 (Zagreb): Croatia 1-1 Germany (Rehmer)
Apr 26 (Kaiserslautern): Germany (Kirsten) 1-1 Switzerland
May 26 (Munich; Lothar Matthaus farewell): Germany 1-1 World XI
May 30 (Palma): Real Mallorca 0-4 Germany (Jancker, Wosz, Rink 2)
Jun 3 (Nurnberg): Germany (Jancker, Bierhoff 2, 1 pen) 3-2 Czech Rep
Jun 7 (Freiburg): Germany (Kirsten 3, Bode, Jancker 2, Bierhoff, Scholl) 8-2 Liechtenstein

Portugal Feb 23 (Charleroi): Belgium 1-1 Portugal (Sa Pinto)
Mar 29 (Leiria): Portugal (Rui Costa pen, Figo) 2-1 Denmark
Apr 26 (Reggio Calabria): Italy 2-0 Portugal
Jun 2 (Chaves): Portugal (Figo, Sa Pinto, Capucho) 3-0 Wales

Romania Jan 19 (Monterrey): Mexico 3-1 Romania (Dascalescu)
Feb 2 (Paphos; Cyprus tournament): Romania (Rosu, Niculae) 2-0 Latvia
Feb 4 (Larnaca; Cyprus tournament, semi-final): Romania (Hildan) 1-1 Georgia (aet; won 4-2 on pens)
Feb 6 (Nicosia; Cyprus tournament, final): Romania (Bogdan, Pompilus) 2-3 Cyprus (aet; lost on golden goal)
Mar 29 (Athens): Greece 2-0 Romania
Apr 26 (Constanta): Romania (Mutu, Ganea pen) 2-0 Cyprus May 18 (Fort Lauderdale): Romania 0-0 Jamaica
May 27 (Amsterdam): Holland 2-1 Romania (Moldovan)
Jun 3 (Bucharest): Romania (Ciobotariu, Petre) 2-1 Greece