Bring on Malta!

Denmark-Malta:

I can just see the headline: “8 pm CET, on saturday night, 11 danish gladiators will head on to the freshly mowed grass of Parken in an effort to show the world that the danish NT is back! Pride, glory, and never ending amounts of respect lie ahead for those brave enough to take on the mighty footballing nation of…. uh…. Malta?”

Truth be told, if Denmark has any wish of qualifying for S.Africa, this is a game that requires three points in the bank. Considering the opposition in the first two qualifying games, Denmark has gotten off to the best start since qualifying for the EC 2004 in Portugal. However, having to bring home 3 points, and actually delivering 3 points, is often two different things. If they can bring the team that pulled off 3 insane goals in 8 minutes “The miracle in Lissabon”, it’ll hopefully be a walkover. If they show up and play like they did against Hungary, it might be problematic. With a win saturday, it is however, looking mighty fine:

Team MP W D L GF GA Pts
Albania 2 1 1 0 3 0 4
Denmark 2 1 1 0 3 2 4
Sweden 2 1 1 0 2 1 4
Portugal 2 1 0 1 6 3 3
Hungary 2 0 1 1 1 2 1
Malta 2 0 0 2 0 7 0

Them:
I’ll be honest, I dont know a whole lot about Malta’s NT. They’ve never qualified for a final tournament and with this group, this shouldn’t be the time either.

Us:
The squad as follows:

Thomas Sørensen
Jesper Christiansen
Stephan Andersen
Martin Laursen
Daniel Agger
Anders Møller Christensen
Thomas Rasmussen
Kasper Bøgelund
Christian Poulsen
Daniel Jensen
Leon Andreasen
Thomas Kahlenberg
Thomas Kristensen
Martin Vingaard
Michael Krohn-Dehli
Jonas Borring
Jon Dahl Tomassen
Dennis Rommedahl
Nicklas Bendtner
Morten Nordstrand
Søren Larsen

With the injuries in the squad, your guess is probably as good as mine, in regards to the lineup. And while that statement is not entirely true is does hold some relevance . Coach Morten Olsen has called up a good mix of trained veterans and young blood, and spiced it with a few old faces that haven’t been on the team the last couple of games… I’m looking at you Thomas Kahlenberg and Søren Larsen. Unfortunately the problem, as always, is the lack of quality backs in the danish national pool. They are so incredibly important for the succes of Olsens gameplan, and this time we are going to be without Lars Jacobsen flanking the right side. Fiorentinas experienced winger Martin Jørgensen is out with the flu, Fiorentinas defender Per Krøldrup went home from the training camp with an injured ankle and captain Jon Dahl Tomassen is supposedly out for the match as well. If I was Olsen, I’d probably use this lineup in the 4-2-3-1 system, but knowing Olsen he might mix it up real good before then:(If Jon Dahl Tomassen makes it back from his injury Id plug him in, instead of Kahlenberg)

Sørensen
Bøgelund-Laursen-Agger-Rasmussen
Poulsen-Andreasen
Rommedahl-Kahlenberg-Vingaard
Bendtner

Edit 11.October: Bendtner is supposedly also out which would give room to either FCKs Morten Nordstrand or Søren Larsen from french Toulouse FC. I’m hoping for the latter.

Projection: Denmark-Malta 2-0 (23. Bendtner, 79. Larsen)

VI ER RØDE – VI ER HVIDE!