Sand out of Sarajevo showdown
Thursday, October 2, 2003
Article summary
Ebbe Sand is out of Denmark's vital qualifier against Bosnia-Herzegovina with a knee injury.
Article body
Knee injury
Coach Morten Olsen has been forced to remove Sand from his plans for the final Group 2 game in Sarajevo after the FC Schalke 04 player told him that he had not recovered from a knee injury sustained in a recent Bundesliga match.
Telephone conversation
"I spoke with Ebbe and we agreed that he would miss the match," said Olsen on Thursday. "We have a principle that we cannot base our team around players with big question marks over their fitness, and that is the case with Ebbe."
High tension
Olsen will wait until Friday before announcing who will replace Sand, 31, in the squad and is studying video footage of Danish players in action in recent UEFA Champions League games. A win for either side in Sarajevo would guarantee them a place at EURO 2004™. A draw would see Denmark qualify with Romania or Norway taking the runners-up slot.
