Danes say hip hip hurragh as Rommedahl injury improves

Denmark's forward Dennis Rommedahl, shown here June 18, is making a rapid recovery from a hip muscle injury.

Denmark received a boost ahead of their Euro 2004 Scandinavian derby on Tuesday with Sweden when it was revealed that impressive winger Dennis Rommedahl was making a rapid recovery from a hip muscle injury.

The 25-year-old PSV Eindhoven star suffered the injury early in the 2-0 defeat of Bulgaria on Friday and a session in a flotation tank has worked wonders, though he still faces an anxious wait to see if he will make the date with the Swedes.

A draw between the two could be enough to see both of them progress, though Italy who are two points adrift could still spoil the party by beating Bulgaria.

"The status of Rommedahl's injury is encouraging," Danish team doctor Mogens Kreutzfeldt told a press conference.

"With an injury like that it usually worsens the day after but instead it has done the reverse and we can even think of him making the match with Sweden.

"However that is not to say we can make a definitive call on whether he will play. We may not even know until the morning of the match," he added.

However even if he isn't fit there is a ready-made starter in Jesper Gronkjaer, who came on to replace Rommedahl and scored the second goal just two days after returning to action after missing the opening 0-0 draw with Italy because of the death of his mother.

Gronkjaer, who is set to complete a multi-million pound move from Chelsea to Birmingham City, said that he had felt the effects of not having trained while being back in Denmark.

"It seems I underestimated being away from training for a week and the influence of other things which have happened," said the 26-year-old veteran of Euro 2000 and the 2002 World Cup finals.

"There was no problem with the heat, it was probably more to do with the amount of energy I expended in the second-half trying to get the ball back from the Bulgarians.

"However with almost a whole competitive game under my belt there should be no problem in starting and finishing the next match."