[Laudrup]

I have heard that there was a poll some months ago and a lot choose Denmark as the most boring team participating.. That kind of ignorance and stupitity makes me angry, sad and confused.. I start to think: "What can a small country like Denmark do to make the world see the truth?".. Denmark is considered to be the brazilians of scandinavian football so to speak.. Our approach has always been to create the game.. Except for Nielsen´s Euro 92 winning team. Back then we didn´t have the players to play like we wanted.. Let me give you guys a short lecture.. Danish football didn´t turn pro untill 78.. Untill then our best players such as Simonsen(european player of the year 77) and Real Madrid´s Henning Jensen, rarely played for Denmark´s national team. When a german coach named Sepp Piontek took over in 79 he confronted a very difficult job.. There was a lot of talent in danish football but no serious organisation.. In 81 people began to see results.. We didn´t qualify to the World Cup in 82 but we made a historic result, we beat the later 82 champions Italy 3-1 in one of the qualifiers.. In Euro 84 Denmark finally made it to a final tournament.. Denmark was the fresh blow of that competition.. We didn´t get beat untill the penalty shootout in the semi final against Spain.. A game we should have and deserved to win.. Imagine it, we were seconds away from making it to the final in our first major competition.. What was extraordinary was Denmarks fresh style.. Specially in the 5-0 punishment of Jugoslavia.. 2 years later we were qualified for the World Cup.. Our first World Cup.. For any real knowledgable football fan, aged more than 15, he´ll tell you that the world hadn´t seen anything as refreshing as Denmark´s style, since Holland introduced total football back in 74.. The tournament started out excellent for the danes, we beat Scotland 1-0 in the opening match but is wasn´t untill the second game against Uruguay that the world couldn´t close it´s eyes to the sensational team led by that days most terrifying striking force in the world Michael Laudrup and Preben Elkjær Larsen.. We simply gave the 2 times World Champions a lecture like they have never seen before or after.. 6-1 and marvellous play.. In the last game of the 1st round we once again outplayed a team, this time it was the later runner up in the tournament Germany, who were more than lucky to get away with a 0-2 defeat.. In the 2nd round however the danes were stopped.. We showed our worth in the first half, came up 1-0 and should have been upfront 3-0 when Jesper Olsen made a famous mistake just before half time.. He gave Butragueno, the unbelivable Madrid striker, a golden opportunity to score.. He did and from then on the danish team fell apart.. We didn´t have the physical strength to answer back.. We got slaughtered by a much weeker team 1-5! But for us danes this was amazing anyway.. The team had shown what danish football was about: very creative, attacking minded, positive football..

Why I´m so bothered by the unfair accusion that we´re a boring team is not because of the World Cup in 86. I can´t expect everybody to remember our golden days.. Why I´m so damn bothered is because of the way we played only 4 years ago in France.. We outplayed Nigeria 4-1 and were involved in France 98´s most entertaining match against Brazil(we lost 2-3).. But the way we approached the game was so positive.. Attacking the allmighty brazilians shows an unimpressed side... I´m so sad to hear about such short memories..:depress:

On the other hand, some might have mixed up Denmark and Norway, although the two teams have nothing in common.. Denmark try to create the game while teams such as Sweden and Norway concentrate on closing down the opposition..

 

[Cracker]

To my Danish dynamite can never be boring, only explosive :dazed:
I mean who can forget the summer of 98, that game against Brazil, stunning :dazed:
In the Euro2000 Denmark landed in the thoughest group I've ever seen, including our own this WC
And after the win against Uruguay, Denmark can actually win the group! Coz France showed pretty clearly that they're mortal

Keep up the nitro dear neighbours, we might meet in the 2nd round :devil:

 

[Lazindo01]

From what I see from Uruguay - Denmark.. it's kinda true.. see how they play the ball and make the passings, it just not entertaining ... but, nowadays in soccer winning is more important than any other thing ... so just forget it and keep winning it .....

 

[Sune]

Laudrup knows his football. Denmark boring What a joke!!! Nice to see how Laudrup has proved his worth as a poster. Denmark has showed the world some thrilling entertaining football throughout the years. Only ignorant football fans would say otherwise!! And as for the people critizising our spectacular Euro 92 campaign.:fero:

KOM SÅ DANMARK

Sune

 

[JamGraffiti]

From what I see from Uruguay - Denmark.. it's kinda true.. see how they play the ball and make the passings, it just not entertaining ... but, nowadays in soccer winning is more important than any other thing ... so just forget it and keep winning it .....

So you think that because Denmark move the ball straight to the wings when they get the ball then that is boring? :wth: :eekani:

I know everyone probably would rather watch teams like Real Madrid and Argentina everyday of the week because they have so many attacking options and such a high skill level but for pure entertainment value and attacking play i think the Danish have it so far

I guess that because i am a big fan of teams that play with wingers and the fact that the first position i ever played in football was on the right wing in a 4-3-3 makes me a bit biased but ever if Denmark went to the wings time and time again against Uruguay i could never call it boring :crazy:

I don't know if i'm right in saying this but i understand that their coach, Morten Olsen was a former Ajax coach (although apparently not so successful). From what i could see the other night Denmark actually played like Ajax and the Dutch NT (when they played this way) in a lot of ways while still playing to the strengths of a Scandinavian team (e.g having two tough grafters in the midfield closing down the opposition, cleaning up loose balls and distributing the ball to the wings, and also playing with a big target man up front (although Sand has many more qualities that you typical one dimensional centre forward). Denmark seemed to be playing a genuine 4-3-3 with Tommasson as an attacking midfielder/second striker (so in essence a 4-2-1-3-----same as Ajax). I know someone said that 4-3-3 (with wingers) and 4-5-1 are nearly the same with the wingers in a 4-5-1 doing more defensive work but i am sure Denmark were playing 4-3-3 because unlike a lot of other teams, when the Danes overhit a cross, the other winger was that far up the pitch that he could interecept it whereas for many other teams playing 4-4-2, 3-5-2 etc... one of the wide mean always had to sprint to get the ball. The only team i have seen more attacking than Denmark so far has been Argentina and they are just awesome. I think they played 3-4-3 with an attacking midfielder/playmaker and two wingers and a central striker (i.e 3-3-1-3) but they can afford to play like this because of their strong defence and numerous attacking options, and most importantly DEPTH.

I know that on the surface their style of play might have looked a bit monotonous (especially for those who like to see individual flair and players taking on several defenders - which i also like to see) but for a side like Denmark against the big guns that is just not practical. As it is, Gronkjaer and Rommedahl had to take on their respective defenders all game. I think that if you were to watch the game from a tactical point of view you would have noticed a lot of diagonal runs off the ball which opened up the space for the wingers to work in. Personally i love it when these sort of tactics come off.

I'd actually like to see this poll that was made because it seems strange that Denmark would seemingly have so many votes when there are more obvious targets like Norway, Paraguay, and Italy to name a few

 

[Magic#10]

Denmark boring?? Olsen not successfull at Ajax?? He won the double with Ajax with an Ajax that hadn't the best players except for Laudrup (last year of his carreer).
Olsen also won the national championship twice, cup and took Brøndby to a semifinal in the UEFA cup where a Roma goal 2 minutes before time denied Brøndby from being in the final. That team was the foundation of the later winners of Euro 92.

Denmark boring?? You people either don't know sh*te about football or what boring is!

 

[JamGraffiti]

Denmark boring?? Olsen not successfull at Ajax?? He won the double with Ajax with an Ajax that hadn't the best players except for Laudrup (last year of his carreer).
Olsen also won the national championship twice, cup and took Brøndby to a semifinal in the UEFA cup where a Roma goal 2 minutes before time denied Brøndby from being in the final. That team was the foundation of the later winners of Euro 92.

Sorry if i sounded ignorant but i was just asking. I thought i had just seen something on these boards about Olsen either not being successful with Ajax or jus not being a good coach foe the club, but obviously i was mistaken :doh: and i apologise

And i don't believe i said anything in my post about Denmark being boring

I also didn't know that Olsen was the man who had all that success with Brondby but hopefully Laudrup can do a similar thing with them

Finally after watching every game of the WC so far i think i can distinguish between exciting and boring. Teams so far that i consider boring are;

* Paraguay :yawn: :groan: (already know about them when they toured Australia with the three games ending 0-0, 0-0, 2-1(to Australia)
* England and Sweden - you would think that with the beautiful surface they were playing on that there would be enough incentive to play the ball on the ground. Sweden were disgraceful in the first half but did some nice short passes in the 2nd half whreas England were boring for the whole 90 minutes
* Italy - Ok they have a strong defence which enables them to defend for long periods, but why they felt compelled to defend after going 1-0 up and hit on the counterattack (usually with a long ball to Vieri or Totti) for the rest of the match or jut pass between themselves in midfield without going forward against an opponent playing their forst ever WC match i cannot fathom :crazy:

 

[San Siro]

Denmark boring? I don't think so!You want boring? Choose from this pool:
Norway, Italy, Germany, Ireland, Uruguay, the current Brasil...

 

[Magic#10]

Ok Andreas. I agree with you on your analysis of the most boring teams so far in the WC.

Best and most entertaining teams so far (to me) have been: Argentina - I really admire their defenders' qualities. Whenever they win the ball they looked for the construtive pass to a midfielder or strikers... Batigol is simply amazing - 56 goals in the NT so far say it all. Imagine Crespo on the bench...
Denmark - I think we have the best wingers of the tournament so far. Maybe biased but I just enjoyed watching them play... The first goal is one of the best goals in the WC so far - so simple - so beautiful.
Italy - they did what they had to do - no more no less. Vieri's goals were nice and I included them maybe because I know they will get better and better as the tournament progresses.


BTW - watching Saudi Arabia's collapse I can't help but think that it would be so much nicer to have either Australia or Holland participating. Would have loved to see e.g. Kewell and Nistelroy shine at the WC..

 

[Forza_Nerazzuri]

Olsen not successfull at Ajax?? He won the double with Ajax with an Ajax that hadn't the best players except for Laudrup (last year of his carreer).

I think Andreas' opinion wasn't all wrong........hmmm.....Olsen has been pretty succesful in the beginning of all of the clubs he has been coaching.......but correct me if I'm wrong....he got sacked from all the jobs after a while. Olsens success is more instantanious than continouos.....Brondby performed well in the seasons under Olsen, but then they were close to relegation and they fired him.....In Koln he saved them from relegation, but didnt do well the following year and they got rid of him. And in Ajax they were undefeated in his first year, but also here the following season didnt live up to the expectations. It has been said many times that Olsen coaches his players very hard with long training sessions.....it results in the players getting tired and loses their will to play - namely because of this Olsen will be better suited for NT-coaching.....

 

[Magic#10]

Point taken. But as someone once said: "You're not a great coach if you haven't been fired at least once in your career".

Beside I think Olsen has developed a lot in a human perspective since his time at Brøndby.

Another note: Bjerregaard (director of Brøndby) has later stated that he regrets that he fired Olsen. They were NOT close to relegation - in fact they lead the league before the "playoffs" in the spring of 1992 where the whole club tumbled and were close to go bankrupt (not because of Olsen but because they tried to buy a bank which could make Brøndby one of the richest clubs in Europe.). No team could be relagated in the playoffs - that was decided in the qulification-league.

 

[IVO]

Of all the teams so far, I most enjoyed watching Denmark. They have a smoothe flow to their game and don't waste time with the ball, anything but boring.

 

[Laudrup]

Bravo Andreas.. You said it all.. I´m impressed by your observations from the Uruguay game and your general knowledge about the classic "dutch" system. It is a very flexible way of playing.. Very effecient if you´ve got quality wingers. Luckily Jørgensen, Grønkjær and Rommedahl are so called modern wingers. They have the ability to work defensive hence making it easy to switch from 4-3-3 to 4-5-1 if necessary. Also Olsen´s way of playing allows Henriksen, our central defender to move forward. That means our system changes to 3-4-3.. In some way there´s not a big difference between 3-4-3, 4-3-3 and 4-5-1.. To a certain degree it depends on the quality of the team you play. If the opponent is simply a better team you have to try and close them down. Olsen wants to play entertaining football but first of all he wants to win. He´s not naive.. Therefore I wouldn´t be surprised to see a 4-5-1 against France.

Sune. Thank you for the kind words. I knew you would like this thread

 

[Quitedk]

LOL

I find it totally bizarre that some ppl can seriously claim that the danish team is more boring that eg. Paraguay or Senegal. Personally I like football where my team tries to have the ball most of the time. Denmark used their wingers a lot against Uruguay, but that's because there were room for the wingers, in another match you'd might see the central players do the difference....!

Denmark, the most boring team? You must be kidding. We're just paying the price for being a small country here....

 

[Magic#10]

Oh and btw, Andreas, I didn't mean to imply that you were ignorant. You are nowhere near ignorant.
As you see some would say Olsen isn't the ideal coach for a club. I do though - as he took my team to the semi finals in the UEFA and later showed his ability with both Cologne and Ajax (though he was sacked in both clubs as he was at Brøndby) I just don't think he'd have been sacked if he wasn't for the economic turbulence in Brøndby.

But we wont see him coaching a club in the near future - I think he'll be a coach for Denmark in many years to come. I think this team will be at it's peak at Euro 04 in Portugal.
Tomasson will develop further at Milan, Laursen as well, Niclas Jensen at Man. City, Jørgensen injury free for the next couple of years could see him play for a better side than Udinese, Grønkjær gotta breakthrough at Chelsea, Rommedahl will develop tremendously in the years to come, Peter Madsen is the next superb player on the way to make an international break through....the list is long and I think the future is bright for the Danish NT

 

[Biancoceleste]

I am Danish, so I might not be too objective, but I do not think Denmark are boring. We've played some boring football in the past but the way this team is playing now we are not boring. We try to dominate the matches and we play a direct style of football when turning defence into attack by using the wingers.

On Olsen as coach. I don't think he is such a great coach. Clubwise. I've heard quite a few stories that he is very hard on his players and sometimes it is not even fair. The reason why he has been sacked three times in the clubs is because he runs the show womewhat like a dictator. The players can't have him around 24/7. But that is also why he is ideal as coach for the NT. He is a no-nonsense kinda coach, as he was as a player too, he expects an enormous level of discipline but because he hasn't got the players all the time but only for brief session they don't have the time to grow tired of him.

 

[Magic#10]

Raúl knows one thing or more about football and Denmark impressed him:

"Raúl: “We must carry on being humble, we got nothing yet”



03/06/2002
Raúl González, having contributed one goal to the Spanish triumph over Slovenia, said, "there should not be too much euphoria" about this victory and "there is a lot of work to be done. We have achieved a significant win", although he also pointed out, "we have beaten Slovenia, but then, Spanish football is quite superior to Slovenian".
Raúl gave a press conference this morning at the Spanish headquarters and insisted again that José Antonio Camacho's side "is top-quality and has nothing to envy any other team, though we have to prove so on the field".

"If we carry on working as hard as that I'm sure we can achieve something great for Spain in this World Cup", said Raúl, who also emphasized the importance of a victory over Slovenia as "giving the whole team more serenity and confidence".

The Madrid striker strongly believes in Spain's possibilities for the championship and promised "the squad will give at least as much in terms of sacrifice and spirit in the rest of our games" adding that Spain "could get even stronger".

Raúl repeated what he already said some days ago, he is convinced "this is going to be Spain's year", although he warned that, to achieve so, "one must work day by day, be humble and make some sacrifice". We got nothing yet. Now our closest goal should be to pass the first stage. After that, we will have time to dream of higher goals", said Raúl.

Real Madrid player admitted that, in the Slovenia game, the Spanish side "found it hard to get into the game. The first goal was very important". Raúl scored it himself with just three minutes left for halftime. "We were dominating the game but we weren't creating clear chances. That goal made us a lot happier going in at halftime with an advantage. In the second half then we were able to be more confident and enjoy ourselves a bit more", said Raúl.

Raúl assured that the Spanish team, besides their hard-working spirit, showed "moments of good play" and observed that, right from today, "we must focus on Paraguay, a different team altogether, with another sort of football, so we will have to change our attitude to play them. The two remaining encounters are going to be like two finals. We have tow chances to get the win leading to the next round, and we mustn't waste them", said Real Madrid forward.

As to Spain's second rival in the tournament on June 7th, the Paraguayan side, Raúl said that the team coached by Cesare Maldini is going to be very hard to beat, because, following their draw against South Africa, they will be playing "life or death".

Surprised at Denmark's performance
The Danish team has been the most surprising one for Raúl in the first stretch of the 2002 Cup. "From what I've seen so far, Denmark is the team I like the best for their play. I've been surprised at their performance", assured Real's forward, who also praised Germany for "their strength". "The German squad showed they are a great eleven in shape to play a World Cup match".
Raúl highlighted "the balance" he has seen in all the Cup matches played so far, except for the one pitting the Germans against Saudi Arabia. He also stated that the Argentinean squad looked "pretty strong". "Argentina proved they know very well what they are after and what they need to do in order to get victories in a tournament like this Cup", observed Real's footballer. Raúl also foresaw that, "although there are going to be many surprises, only the great teams will get through".

Realmadrid.com"

 

[Laudrup]

On Olsen as coach. I don't think he is such a great coach. Clubwise. I've heard quite a few stories that he is very hard on his players and sometimes it is not even fair. The reason why he has been sacked three times in the clubs is because he runs the show womewhat like a dictator. The players can't have him around 24/7. But that is also why he is ideal as coach for the NT. He is a no-nonsense kinda coach, as he was as a player too, he expects an enormous level of discipline but because he hasn't got the players all the time but only for brief session they don't have the time to grow tired of him.

Olsen is a highly qualified coach in my oppinion. He has had succes at every club he has been at but his direct and touch style hasn´t always pleased club managements and the media in general. In Cologne it is said that he was a victim of a media conspiracy that in the end costed him his job. Very unfairly as the squad wasn´t better than the result showed and as far as I know the results didn´t improve after his sack. Remember only a few months earlier he had miracously saved Cologne from relegation. As mentioned earlier, director of Brøndby, Per Bjerregaard later regret the unfair sack of Olsen, who created historic results for the club. The sack was probably a result of Bjerregaard´s desire to rule the club himself. For the first time since Olsen took over he wasn´t succesfull and he got the sack imediatly. Seems that the management had just been waiting for the opportunity.

 

[Sune]

Sune. Thank you for the kind words. I knew you would like this thread

You're welcome! I really enjoyed the post written by you. It's fair to say that Denmark is an underrated team who deserves more respect considering the size of our population. The people saying that we're boring probably expect us to play like Brazil or something.
Keep the red and white flag in the air and hope for the miracle to happen tommorrow against France:devil:

KOM SÅ DANMARK:fero:

 

[Magic#10]

I wouldn't mind if Denmark was boring tomorrow against France. If we get the result needed. This wont happen though as I don't think the defence is strong enough - Henriksen and Heintze have been below par at the WC.
Everyone needs to fight 100 %.
If Denmark goes through on the expense of France it'd be one of the biggest upsets ever!

They are European and World Champions!
We are the underdogs!