Denmark is the third team I am reviewing in the series about the 32 countries participating in the next World Cup in South Africa. I already covered Cameroon and Japan which are in the same group as Denmark.
Denmark’s star moment in international football is undoubtedly when they won the 1992 Euro organised in Sweden. Denmark had not even qualified for that competion but were called in to replace Yugoslavia who had been banned despite qualifying due to sanctions imposed by the international community during the Yugoslav wars. I remember that many journalists were suprised at how relaxed the Danish players seemed to be during the competition contrarily to so many other teams who bunkerised thelselves from the outside world (and still do).
The first Danish star I recall was Allan Simonsen who played for Borussia Mönchengladbach. Despite his frailness, Simonsen was a world-class dribbler and wonderful to watch. Simonsen unfortunately broke his leg in the game against France in the 1984 Euro. That Euro saw a great Danish team make it to the semi-finals against Spain thanks to 2 other great champions, Michael Laudrup and Preben Elkjær. As much as Laudrup was a stylish player displaying incredible finesse and technique, Preben Elkjær was the “buffalo” with a no-nonsense go for the goal attitude as well as exceptional dribbling skills. He remains my favourite Danish player of all times, I just loved his incredible drive and determination. Unfortunately for his team, Preben missed his penalty during the penalty shoot-out against Spain in the 1984 Euro which saw Spain then play and loose the final against France.
During the 1986 World Cup held in Mexico, Denmark should have gone much further than they did. As often during WorldCups, teams that start off too strong have problems maintaining their level during the second round. That is exactly waht happened to Denmark who impressively won their first round group but then lost in the eighth finals against Spain again with a memorable bad pass by Jesper Olsen that his fellow team mates never recovered from.
After some disappointing years, Denmark showed up again during the 1998 World Cup in France winning a great 4 – 1 victory over Nigeria in the eighth finals and only loosing 3 – 2 againt Brazil in the quarter finals after a memorable match (see video).
In recent years, Denmark has often come out strong from the first round groups, as in the 2002 World Cup and 2004 Euro (with a controversial last minute tie againt Sweden which eliminated Italy), but then failed to move ahead during the second rounds. In this World Cup’s qualifying group, Denmark finshed a strong first ahead of Portugal and Sweden. However, I see them come in third of Group E behind The Netherlands and Cameroon.
Maracanazos love to play Lego!