Rangers manager Dick Advocaat has transferred his Euro 2000 wrath to Frank Rijkaard, accusing him of ignorance in his selection of Ibrox players for the Dutch team, and unleashing veiled criticism of England boss Kevin Keegan.

Advocaat, having vented his disgust at the 'boring' tactics of one of tonight's finalists, Italy, criticised Rijkaard for failing to recognise that Arthur Numan should have been first-choice left full-back ahead of Ibrox team-mate Giovanni van Bronckhorst.

The midfielder started the tournament ahead of Numan in the defensive slot, with Advocaat citing Rijkaard's reluctance to travel to Scotland and watch his players in club action as reason for the oversight.

'I was surprised to see Gio playing in the left-back role because Arthur is the No. 1 there, ' said Advocaat. 'But I know why that happened, because the coach was here once in two years and he never made one phone call in that time. So, probably, he did not know who was the left full-back.'

Advocaat also highlighted England's failings. The Dutchman believes both Rijkaard, who announced his decision to quit as Holland coach in the wake of his side's semi-final penalty shoot-out exit against Italy, and Keegan's sides were evenly-matched in terms of quality of personnel, but England's inability to bond as a team was instrumental in their first-round exit.

He said: 'It surprised me but I don't think that it is right for me to say much about that.

'But with all respect, Keegan said himself already that England is a big country with a lot of quality players. But for one reason or another, it did not work for them in the tournament.

'It was realistic for Keegan to say before the tournament that England could win, in the same way that it was realistic for Holland to say that they could win.

'England and Holland, at the moment, have the quality to say with some confidence that they could win the European Championships.

'Individually, England's players are up to the same standard as the Dutch players, but they don't play as a team.'

Although the standard of football on offer at Euro 2000 has met with almost universal approval, Advocaat, displaying all the traits which have earned him the reputation as one of the most difficult-to-please coaches in the world game, added: 'I was not that impressed by the quality of football at the tournament, especially the games in the first-round stage.

'There was some quality on offer when the best eight teams got through the group stages but, even now, Italy are in the final and they are hardly the most exciting.'