Coach Morten Olsen has selected the 23 players needed to make the swedes black and blue and yellow. Unfortunately there are a few key players that aren’t selected due to injuries, and some that have been selected that aren’t fully fit. Someone call up Dr. House, a witchdoctor or a freaking team bus to park in front of goal, because we’re not looking at first or second choices in defence – nope, cause that would have been too easy – we’re sending out a debutant to handle Zlatan. Why? Because everyone else is either injured, lost or dead! But more on that later…

The Callups: The first 21
Player Club Caps/Goals
G Jesper Christiansen FC København 9/0
G Stephan Andersen Brøndby IF 3/0
G Thomas Sørensen Stoke City FC 79/0
D Daniel Agger Liverpool FC 26/3
D Kristian Bak Nielsen SC Heerenveen 0/0
D Lars Jacobsen Everton FC 21/0
D Per Krøldrup ACF Fiorentina 25/0
D Simon Busk Poulsen AZ Alkmaar 3/0
D Simon Kjær Palermo 0/0
M Christian Poulsen Juventus FC 63/5
M Hjalte Bo Nørregaard FC København 1/0
M Jakob Poulsen AGF 2/0
M Michael Silberbauer FC Utrecht 10/1
M Thomas Kahlenberg VFL Wolfsburg 26/2
M William Kvist FC København 6/0
A Dennis Rommedahl NEC Nijmegen 86/16
A Jesper Grønkjær FC København 70/5
A Martin Bernburg FC Nordsjælland 1/0
A Martin Jørgensen ACF Fiorentina 87/12
A Morten Nordstrand FC København 8/3
A Nicklas Bendtner Arsenal FC 25/8

Morten Olsen then selected two more players yesterday:

D Anders Møller Christensen OB
M Martin Bergvold Livorno

Obviously we’re missing captain Jon Dahl Tomasson, but a nagging back injury has once again kept him out. It really is a shame, because it’s been a while since he’s had the chance to play for the red and white. And with only one more goal under his belt, he’d become the most scoring player for the National Team – I can imagine he too is aching to get out there. But oh well…

News, suspected lineups, matchups and more in the game preview: Coming soon!

And on another note: Congratulations to FC Copenhagen for their league win. I sure as hell hope the hangover wears off before saturday, for the five players that are called-up!

Saturday, the tall man did it again. I can imagine that Søren Larsen isn’t the most popular man in Malta right about now. That’s two games in a row against the minnows of group A, and that’s four goals signed by Søren Larsen. Not bad considering Toulouse FC wont play the man. For his sake, I hope the french suits have been paying attention… because he deserves to be playing at club level. That’s 10 goals in 14 games… are you shitting me??? INSANE!

Conquest of Malta:

Lineup:
Thomas Sørensen; Lars Jacobsen, Per Krøldrup, Daniel Agger, Michael Jakobsen; Christian Poulsen, Daniel Jensen (Leon Andreasen); Dennis Rommedahl, Martin Jørgensen, Nicklas Bendtner (Jonas Borring); Søren Larsen (Morten Nordstrand).

0-1 Søren Larsen (12.)
0-2 Søren Larsen (23.)
0-3 Morten Nordstrand (87.)

All in all, another 3 points in the bag. Denmark looked incredibly shaky at times, and Malta were alot closer to score than they should ever have been allowed. There are definitely issues that have to be worked out in time for our big games in june. If we have to find flaws: Denmark would have been punished for some of the defensive errors, had we played against Portugal or Sweden – perhaps even Hungary. However, we didn’t play them, so this discussion is pointless. Winning away, with a three goal margin is always something to be happy about, and the team will hopefully continue to build on the momentum and confidence, they’ve built up after the opening four games. The boys are playing with newfound energy, and its clear that we HAVE to make it to South Africa 2010. Watching the WC2006 and EC2008 from their couches wasn’t pleasant for the players, an the subsequent rage and anger over their own mistakes back then, and the criticism put forth on coach Olsen and the team – have turned up the fire in them. Poor Malta… who two games in a row had to have a triple serving of Danish Dynamite!

The table is beginning to look mighty fine – particularly considering that Portugal played another disappointing game at home. This time it was against Sweden who went home with a point after a 0-0 draw. This round could not have ben better for the danish roligans! THANK YOU KARMA (we have a bit to catch up in regards to being on the recieving end of luck)!

Highlights:

1 Danmark 4 3 1 0 9-2 10
2 Ungarn 5 3 1 1 5-2 10
3 Portugal 5 1 3 1 6-3 6
4 Sverige 4 1 3 0 2-1 6
5 Albanien 6 1 3 2 3-3 6
6 Malta 6 0 1 5 0-14 1

Lets assume what everyone has always been aware of. Two of the teams in bold will go through – well, it’s starting to look pretty darn interesting! Ten points after four games is particularly nice considering CR7 and the rest of the portugese cry babies have 6 after 5! If I was Carlos Queroz, I’d start to get nervous. Not only for his team, but for his job-security. Bill Murray says it better than anyone:

Velkommen Albanien:
Wednesday, Parken – the home of the NT, will be stage for Denmarks clash against Albania. Albania shouldn’t give us too many problems, however you can’t take anyone for granted – Albania has a few profiles. The main guy to look out for is captain of Marseille, Lorik Cana. A rough mix between a Roy Keane and Andrea Pirlo, Cana will be their most lethal weapon. He is the playmaker in the middle that can create the plays, as well as destroy ours. I hope Cana takes on a more offensive midfield role wednesday, meaning he’l be man-marked by Christian Poulsen. One of them will get red-carded… no doubt about that! Other than that, Albania has a striker plying his trade in the danish SAS-league. I think it might be fun for Besart Berisha to score against us in our fortress. Unfortunately for him that aint gonna happen! Albania is a better team than Malta, however, they don’t have the same amount of speedy players. This was really what was troubling us in the game saturday. If Albania can’t catch us on the counterattack I can’t see them having as much game as Malta did. Daniel Jensen and Christian Poulsen (perhaps ith the later inclusion of Leon Andreasen) should lock down all links between their midfield and attack… at least, that’s what should happen in theory (this is where we all start praying – that overconfidence wont be what kills us)!

Bendtner is probably out of the game, pending a fitness test wednesday. The probable lineup without him is as follows:

Thomas Sørensen; Lars Jacobsen, Per Krøldrup, Daniel Agger, Michael Jakobsen; Christian Poulsen, Daniel Jensen; Dennis Rommedahl, Martin Jørgensen, Jonas Borring; Søren Larsen.

Being a movie buff I have to refer to 1997s Wag The Dog. In it, Robert De Niros character starts a “fake” war against Albania. Anne Heche then asks him: Why Albania? What Have Albania ever done to us? Robert De Niro then answers: What have they ever done FOR us? And in the same spirit as that quote I hope we demolish them! Screw their underdog story – let’s make it a full blown massacre, at home, in front of a screaming mob consisting of 42.000 people dressed from head to toe in red and white! It’ll be brutal, it’ll be hostile… it’ll be beautiful!

Prediction: 3-0 (Jørgensen, Larsen, Andreasen)
MOTM: Christian Poulsen
Red card: Christian Poulsen

To get in the mood: