Danish sport had multiple reasons for cheer as 2009 began. Mikkel Kessler was fresh from knocking out Danilo Haussler with a stunning five-punch combination to retain his WBA super middleweight boxing title and up his professional record to a magnificent 41-1; Soren Kjeldsen had won the lucrative last edition of the Volvo Masters, the concluding event of the PGA European Tour, to claim a top-ten position on the 2008 Order of Merit; and recent conquests had rendered the southernmost Nordic nation the reigning European Handball Championship and Speedway World Cup kings, while Nicki Pedersen was about to begin the quest for an unprecedented third successive Speedway Grand Prix crown.
But while boxing, golf, handball and speedway have prominent followings in Denmark, football is unequivocally its most popular sport. And in footballing terms, Danes had nothing to smile about in March 2009.
Their national team had missed out on a place at the 2006 FIFA World Cup Germany™. They had finished fourth in their UEFA EURO 2008 qualifying group – acceptably, perhaps, behind Spain; unacceptably, outright, behind fierce enemies Sweden and minnows Northern Ireland. Their last two results were a 1-1 draw with Greece and a 1-0 loss at home to minnows Wales. They had, accordingly, slumped to 38th - their lowest-ever position - on the FIFA Coca-Cola World Ranking.
Denmark’s existing model was a decaying shadow of their Michael Laudrup-inspired wow machine of the 1980s, the resolute regiment Richard Moller Nielsen guided to glory at EURO 1992, or the outfit that occupied a personal best of third place on the global ladder in May, July and August of 1997.
The current cast, by contrast, had the critics rallying. How long could they persevere with Morten Olsen, who assumed the reins in 2000? Could 30-somethings Thomas Sorensen and Dennis Rommedahl still cut it on the international stage? Did the output of youngsters Simon Kjaer and Nicklas Bendtner really vindicate their hype? Did Denmark genuinely have a chance of holding off Portugal, Sweden and Hungary for Group 1’s automatic ticket to the 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa™?
Those questions have been answered in the most pleasant of red and white fonts. Denmark did, of course, qualify for 19th edition of the global finals, and, thanks to Olsen’s tactical acumen, an admirable defensive record indebted to Sorensen and Kjaer, and the attacking contributions of Rommedahl, Bendtner and teenage sensation Christian Eriksen, they entered the final week of Group H qualifying for EURO 2012 in with a chance, albeit a slim one according to the odds, of seizing top spot and a place at the continental finals.
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