Denmark v Sweden - PREVIEW
Sweden out to clip Denmark's wings
Sweden and Denmark, in the driving seat to make it into the quarter-finals from Group C, meet on Tuesday aware that Italy's beady eye is keeping a close watch on the outcome.
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| Denmark's forward Jon Dahl Tomasson (hidden) is congratulated by several teammates next to Bulgaria's defender Rossen Kirilov (foreground) after scoring the opening goal,18 June 2004 at Braga's stadium, during their team's Euro 2004 group C football match against Bulgaria at the European Nations championship in Portugal. AFP PHOTO Mladen ANTONOV |
The Scandinavians meet at Boavista's Bessa stadium heading the group on four points apiece. That means a high-scoring draw of 2-2 or more would see them go through at Italy's expense.
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| Denmark's midfielder Jesper Gronkjaer (L) kicks the ball in front of Bulgaria's defender Zlatomir Zagorcic (C), 18 June 2004 at Braga's stadium, during their Euro 2004 group C football match at the European Nations championship in Portugal. AFP PHOTO Dimitar DILKOFF |
A 1-1 draw would complicate matters if as expected Italy beat the already-eliminated Bulgaria as that would leave all three teams on five points.
In that event the team's head-to-head results are taken into consideration, then goal difference, fair play, and so on right down to a toss of a coin.
The Italians are concerned that Sweden and Denmark may collude to produce a result that would suit them both.
Both camps have brushed off the idea of a rigged result as ludicrous, insisting a win is all that counts.
To that end Sweden's chief spy, Benny Lennartsson, reckons he has the key to breaking down the Danes who held Italy to a goalless draw before putting two past the Bulgarians.
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| Sweden's striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic (R) celebrates with his teammates striker Marcus Allback (L) and striker Henrik Larsson after scoring against Italy , 18 June 2004, during their European Nations football championship match at the Dragao stadium in Porto. Italy and Sweden are competing in Group C with Bulgaria and Denmark. |
"In my view Denmark are the best team in the group. Five of their goals this year have come from the wings - Jesper Gronkjaer and Martin Jorgensen, I think they're the best wingers in the tournament, and they have a good third option in Dennis Rommedahl.
"Sweden are aware of the difficulty they can cause and we'll be trying to stop them.
Sweden take on the Danes without Tobias Linderoth, Graveson's club colleague having picked up a second yellow against Italy.
Up front Ibrahimovic will once again be paired with the talismanic former Celtic striker Henrik Larsson, whose decision to come out of international retirement has been fully vindicated with two goals so far.
Teams
Denmark: Thomas Sorensen; Thomas Helveg, Martin Laursen, Rene Henriksen (capt), Niclas Jensen; Jesper Gronkjaer, Daniel Jensen, Thomas Gravesen, Martin Jorgensen; Jon Dahl Tomasson, Ebbe Sand
Coach: Morten Olsen
Sweden: Andreas Isaksson; Mikael Nilsson, Olof Mellberg (capt), Andreas Jakobsson, Erik Edman; Anders Andersson, Kim Kallstrom, Mattias Jonson, Fredrik Ljungberg; Henrik Larsson, Zlatan Ibrahimovic
Coaches: Lars Lagerback and Tommy Soderberg
Referee: Markus Merk (GER)