Netherlands v Denmark: Preview

The Netherlands are looking to get back into the swing of major tournament football after some of their black players were subjected to racial abuse at the hands of a minority of spectators during their training session at Wisla Krakow’s Miejski Stadium on Wednesday. Coming off the back of an outstanding qualification campaign (of which they only lost one game), the Clockwork Orange are confident of making a deep run in this year’s campaign. Of course, in the last World Cup in South Africa they did just that, knocking over some big teams on their way to the final (against Spain) in Johannesburg. That infamous final marred the image of the team, sparking comments from former greats such as Johan Cruyff claiming that the performance was a disgrace to the extraordinary legacy of Dutch football.

Their opponents for today’s clash are Denmark, who themselves only succumbed to a single defeat in qualification for this tournament. Coach Morten Olsen is, understandably, envious of the options Bert Van Marwijk has at his disposal. “We can say we are a little jealous of the Dutch team, that we are not in their shoes. They are the favourites. There is no doubt about that,” he said. The European Championships bring back good memories for the Danes, having won the tournament two decades ago; in 1992 (despite only having gained access due to the withdrawal of the Yugoslav team). Incidentally, their semi-final shootout victory against the hotly favoured Dutch was their only success over them since 1967.

Team News

Both teams have minor injury concerns prior to their first encounter of the tournament. Joris Mathijsen is ruled out with a hamstring injury, with Wilfred Bouma likely to come in and partner John Heitinga in the centre of defence. Denmark look unlikely to feature midfielder Niki Zimling, after he was taken away by an ambulance during a training session on Friday. Christain Poulsen looks set to replace him in the centre of midfield.

Threats

The Netherlands boast an embarrassment of riches in attack, having both the Premier League’s top goalscorer and the leading marksman for the qualification phase of this tournament. But both Robin van Persie and Klaas-Jan Huntelaar will find it hard to score against a Denmark team which only conceded 6 goals in 8 qualifying matches, helped by the talented Daniel Agger at the heart of the defence. The Dutch are notorious for operating a single striker in attack, so either of these dangermen could end up on the bench. Another option for van Marwijk could be for van Persie to start amongst of the attacking midfield three, a position of which he is used from earlier in his career.

Denmark have two established Premier League players - Daniel Agger and Nicklas Bendtner. Most eyes will be on Christian Eriksen, who plays as an attacking midfield for Dutch outfit Ajax. Many scouts will know his game inside out, such is the attention being played to this young player. Tonight is his chance to display his skills to a wider audience; the questionable Dutch defence could be in for a long night.

Probable Line-ups

Netherlands: Stekelenberg, van der Wiel, Heitinga, Bouma, Willems, van Bommel, de Jong, Robben, Sneijder, Kuyt, van Persie

Denmark: Andersen, Jacobsen, Agger, Kjaer, S.Poulsen, C.Poulsen, Eriksen, Kvist, Rommedahl, Bendtner, Kahlenberg

Metalist Stadium, Kharkiv.
Kick-off: 5PM on BBC1

The Netherlands to win 2-0