 England went two goals ahead in the
opening half hour and controlled the
sluggish Danes from there out to win
a place in the quarter-finals. England
will meet the victor of the Brazil
v. Belgium match.
Rio Ferdinand, Michael Owen, and Emile
Heskey were the goal-scoring heroes,
though a fit-again David Beckham was
consistently outstanding for the English.
Denmark, who slew France in the opening
round, never seemed to recover from
the early deficit in Niigata. It's
the first time that Denmark have failed
to score in a FIFA World Cup™
match.
It took only five minutes for England
to get cracking. A pinpoint Beckham
corner found the head of Ferdinand
at the far post. The defender’s
header took a fortunate deflection
off a sprawling Thomas Sorensen before
bobbling over the line (0:1, 5’).
Faster off the line, England began
to exert a measure of control over
the match, as AC Milan standout Thomas
Helveg was carried off the pitch with
an injury. Kasper Bogelund replaced
the classy back (7’). ‘Danish Dynamite’ didn’t
quite explode, but with ten minutes
gone the red-clad squad began to look
more like the side that finished top
of Group A with Jon Dahl Tomasson
leading the charge.
But England hit back with Heskey
sprung clean through on Sorensen after
shaking off his marker. The Sunderland
‘keeper though was quick off
his line to clean up the danger (16’). England’s pressure paid dividends
again as Owen slammed a deflected
low cross from Trevor Sinclair clinically
into the corner from eight yards out
(0:2, 22’).
The Danes nearly hit right back as
Ebbe Sand took a pass from Thomas
Gravesen, and cut twice in the box
before slamming his shot just wide
of the post (27’). And another
great run down the right from Dennis
Rommedhal found the toe of Ebbe Sand
looking dangerous, but the striker
failed to steer his strike past David
Seaman (38’)
Minutes before the interval, Heskey
fired a rocket past Sorensen on the
end of a Beckham pass. Some slack
defending and a waterlogged pitch
was surely to blame (0:3, 44’). Denmark missed out on an early chance
to get one back just after the break
as Rommedahl pulled the ball back
from the byline for Jesper Gronkjaer.
But the Chelsea man fired well over
to see his chance go begging (47’). And straight away Heskey’s
dangerous low cross for Owen nearly
led to another English goal, but the
little marksman was only just unable
to steer the ball into the Danish
net (48’).
The Danes continued to press with
Rommedahl down the right but found
a solid wall in the English defence. Beckham nearly compounded Danish
frustration by putting England four
goals to the good. The Manchester
United icon fired a right-footed rocket
on Sorensen from 25 yards. The ‘keeper
managed to keep it out, but only just
(57’).
Denmark charged on in search of a
goal, and a flurry of attacks culminated
in a fine Bogelund shot inadvertently
cleared off the line by teammate Tomasson
(67’).
England again nearly extended their
lead when a brilliant Robbie Fowler
cross picked out Sinclair charging
in at goal. The midfielder’s
header, though, could only soar over
the bar (70’).
But despite some good attacking at
both ends of the park, there were
to be no more goals as England pulled
off a stunning win over Denmark to
secure a place in the quarter-finals.
Denmark: Thomas Sorensen, Thomas
Helveg (Kasper Bogelund 7), Niclas
Jensen, Rene Henriksen, Martin Laursen,
Dennis Rommedahl, Thomas Gravesen,
Stig Tofting (Claus Jensen 58), Jesper
Gronkjaer, Ebbe Sand, John Dahl Tomasson.
Subs Not Used: Jesper Christiansen,
Jan Heintze, Jorgensen, Peter Kjaer,
Peter Lovenkrands, Steven Lustu, Peter
Madsen, Jan Michaelsen, Brian Nielsen,
Christian Poulsen.
Booked: Tofting.
England: David Seaman, Danny Mills,
Rio Ferdinand, Sol Campbell, Ashley
Cole, David Beckham, Paul Scholes
(Kieron Dyer 48), Nicky Butt, Trevor
Sinclair, Emile Heskey (Teddy Sheringham
69), Michael Owen (Robbie Fowler 46).
Subs Not Used: Wayne Bridge, Wes Brown,
Joe Cole, David James, Martin Keown,
Nigel Martyn, Gareth Southgate, Darius
Vassell.
Booked: Mills.
Attendance: 40,582
Referee: M Merk (Germany). |
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