If you’re unfamiliar with World Cup Blog, then allow me to explain: The blog you’re reading now is the front page, but the core of WCB is the multitude of team specific blogs, including one for each of the World Cup 2010 teams.
The authors of these team blogs have forgotten more about their sides than I’ll ever know, so I decided to tap that knowledge by asking each of them a set of 10 questions. Today it’s the turn of Cerberus from Denmark World Cup Blog. Read on to learn about Olsen’s Elleve…
1. Who is Denmark’s best player?
Well, in terms of raw ability, it would have to be the world’s most underrated striker, Nicklas Bendtner. He’s been in blistering form with Arsenal as of late, oftentimes being the hardest working player on the field and being the source of several last gasp chance-saving goals. In the recent Arsenal-Barcelona clash, people were referring to him as “Mess-lite” as if it were an insult to be comparable to a player of that shocking quality. I think he’s going to shock a lot of people who haven’t been paying attention.
Though, while I say that, if we’re talking indispensability to the squad, it’d have to be Juventus defensive midfielder, Christian Poulsen. The way the Denmark national team plays relies on the long-haired prowess of Poulsen to police the back and make sure any counter-attacks can be stopped good and dead before they begin. The last friendly against Austria showed the sudden dearth of quality that can occur when he’s not on the pitch.
2. What do you think of Denmark’s coach?
Anytime your coach is included in the nickname of the squad, something is going right. Morten Olsen has been the head coach since Euro 2000 and has coached over 100 games for the squad. Before this campaign, he was planning to retire after World Cup 2010 qualifying, but he’s extended up to and including Euro 2012.
He’s currently also heavily involved in the youth national team, so he’s pretty well connected to what will be the Danish football philosophy for years to come. He’s stated that he wants to be succeeded by Danish legend Michael Laudrup and anytime you tease fans with a dream like that and they still chant your name as the nickname to the team, you’re doing something right.
3. What do you think of Denmark’s World Cup 2010 kits?
Interestingly enough, I’ve really been a fan of Denmark in spite of their kits. To me, red and white feel very common and pedestrian, probably because of the large number of club and national teams that decide to rock one or the other on their home or away jerseys. This is especially evident when you live in Denmark for a little bit and see how colorful their generic towns and street clothes are in comparison.
That all said, I really, really like the middle of the shirt in the adidas design for this world cup. The way the white lanes move and stretch create a really interesting effect that distracts me from the “meh” of the traditional sleeves and collar.
The away kit is traditional. As good as you can do with mostly white and only red for the highlights. Overall, I imagine many fans will love both, as they are a step above what we often wear.
4. What is Denmark’s biggest strength?
Flexibility in midfield and attack. Olsen’s Elleve like to play almost a version of Total Football Lite in the mold of Barcelona or Arsenal. I’m not entirely sure at times if the setup is meant to be 4-3-3 or 4-5-1 and it can be really easy to lose track of who’s got the ball in the midfield because players will overlap and switch spots on the attack and defense, relying on Christian Poulsen to cover any exposed holes.
The overall effect is one that really creates some beautiful flowing football and allows Denmark to create opportunities for a break anywhere either down the sides for the cross or up the middle to Bendtner.
A close second would have to be our secret weapon in our goalkeeper, Thomas Sørensen. Possibly one of the best penalty stoppers in the world right now, he provided key penalty saves in several of the Qualifying matches and given the amount of World Cup games decided in penalties, that skill could be key to Denmark’s chances.
5. …and biggest weakness?
It’s really two things. First, long balls and crosses. We’ve got great flowing play and we get a lot of chances, but we often end up shotgunning the chances with many many breaks, until everything clicks and the ball is in the net. We waste a lot of chances on bad balls through that we could end up ruing against a more methodical team.
And secondly, depth. Our first XI has surprising quality and definitely has potential as a dark horse candidate. However, when you peel that back, injure a few players, the replacements we can offer for any spot are not as strong. A bad injury spell before or during the Cup could strangle Denmark’s chances before they even begin.
6. If you could steal one player from any other World Cup 2010 team, then who would it be and why?
Well, I’m sure everyone is putting Messi for obvious reasons, but I feel what we could really use is his Barcelona teammate Xavi. As I said earlier, we’ve lost a lot of chances to inaccurate long balls. It hasn’t mattered so much because we like to create so many shotgunned chances that the missed opportunities don’t hold us back, but I shudder to think what the score lines would look like with Xavi’s inch-perfect precision passes.
I think he would raise the quality of everyone’s game and move Denmark from strong-looking dark horse to strong contenders or potential favorites.
7. Tell us one thing about your team that the rest of the world might not know…
Hmm, if you’re talking team history, it’d probably be that a country of 5.5 million produced arguably the greatest goalkeeper of all-time in Peter Schmeichel, who not only had a ludicrous number of clean sheets, but scored 11 goals as a goalkeeper and that’s without being a Brazilian penalty specialist.
Modern days, I think the trivia I found the cutest is that Olsen is having everyone he selects for the 23 man squad make a trip back to their childhood club and/or their primary school in order to promote worldwide education for charity and to inspire the next generation of footballers.
A good idea and a good cause and definitely something that could add a different happier element to World Cup preparations outside the usual club versus country whining and the like.
8. What would you consider success/failure for your team at World Cup 2010?
To tell the truth, Denmark is not expected to be here at the World Cup. They were seeded third in their group for qualifying and managed to top the group, only losing at the final throwaway game. To me, the strength of qualifying means they could bottom out the group and I’d still be proud of them.
Beyond that, Denmark when they have qualified have had a good track record of getting to the Second Round and I’d love to see that tradition continue. Anything more than that and I’ll be ecstatic.
9. What are you most exited about at World Cup 2010?
Call me insular, but I’m really interested in what Olsen’s Elleve pull out. Not only has the team been greatly overlooked, but the individual players have often been written off before they begin. I’d like to see if Bendtner continues his Arsenal form, whether the strong defense can contain the strong attacking mindsets of the Netherlands, Japan, and Cameroon, and whether or not Denmark end up being the Turkey of this tournament.
I think Denmark has an opportunity here to utterly confound the announcers and betting tables if they can manage it and I’d love to see if that comes to pass.
I think also Group E will end up the most exciting to watch as all of the teams are much more balanced than a lot of the groups (underdog to be group of death) and feature a lot of teams that love to play free-flowing attacking football which is great to watch.
10. Who do you think will win World Cup 2010?
It’ll totally be Denmark…
Not buying it? Well, worth a shot. In general, I’m not sure. The big names are always favorites, but the level of quality on their squads also often lead to major problems when they fail to gel. Spain certainly looks the best, but I’m not sure that’ll be enough to see them through.
In general, I tend to root for underdogs. I’d love to see an African team reach the finals. I’d love some of the other looked over teams like Slovakia or South Korea to prove their prowess on the world stage.
Basically, I don’t want another boring France/Italy stumble through competition won on dodgy penalties and random luck.
>> Supporting Olsen’s Elleve in the World Cup? Put on your Denmark jersey, get your Denmark World Cup tickets, and get to the stadium! If you’re watching from home, keep up to date with Cerberus’ Denmark World Cup Blog, and follow us on Twitter and Facebook
