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Denmark plotting another German surprise

Twenty years after beating Germany to land the European title, Denmark hope to maintain the upper hand over their neighbours in competitive meetings in their final Group B game.

Background: Denmark v Germany ©Getty Images

Denmark have enjoyed both their finest hour and their most humiliating defeat against Germany, their opponents in the teams' final UEFA EURO 2012 Group B fixture.

• Germany lead the way in the section having won both games so far, Mario Gomez scoring all their goals in victories against Portugal (1-0) and the Netherlands (2-1). Denmark are third having beaten the Netherlands 1-0 before a 3-2 defeat by Portugal.

• Germany will qualify as group winners if they draw, but will be knocked out if they lose to Denmark by any result other than a one-goal defeat in which Germany score at least two and Portugal beat the Netherlands. Denmark will progress with any win; a draw will only be good enough if Portugal lose. If Denmark lose they are out.

Head-to-head record
• Denmark's record in 25 previous meetings with Germany is W8 D3 L14. However, they hold the upper hand in competitive fixtures, where they have won two of three encounters.

• The Danes have not lost in their last three meetings with Germany – all friendlies – recording wins in Copenhagen and Duisburg, and a draw in the Danish capital.

• The nations' competitive ties have all come at final tournaments: at the 1986 FIFA World Cup (2-0 to Denmark), the 1988 UEFA European Championship (2-0 to Germany) and the EURO '92 final (2-0 to Denmark). Denmark coach Morten Olsen played in the first two games.

• The countries first met in a Copenhagen friendly on 6 October 1912, which Denmark won 3-1. The Danes won their first three games against Germany, who finally prevailed 2-1 in Nuremberg in 1928.

• Germany handed Denmark their heaviest defeat in a friendly on 16 May 1937, winning 8-0 in Breslau – now the Polish UEFA EURO 2012 host city of Wroclaw – with Otto Siffling hitting five of those goals.

• Denmark's record against the former East Germany is W2 D2 L2.

Selected previous meetings
11 August 2010: Denmark 2-2 Germany (Rommedahl 74, Junker 87; Gomez 19, Helmes 73) – Parken Stadion, Copenhagen, friendly
Denmark:
Sørensen, Jacobsen, Agger, Kjær, S Poulsen (Thomsen 28), Enevoldsen (Schøne 46), Kvist (Lorentzen 67), Eriksen, D Jensen (Silberbauer 46), Rommedahl, Pedersen (Junker 55)
Germany:
Wiese, Beck (Riether 56), Boateng (Schulz 78), Tasci, Schäfer, Hitzlsperger (Helmes 66), Gentner, Träsch, Kroos, Marin (Hunt 56), Gomez.

• Joachim Löw's experimental Germany side surrendered a 2-0 lead to draw 2-2 with Olsen's Denmark in the sides' most recent meeting.

26 June 1992: Denmark 2-0 Germany (J Jensen 18, Vilfort 78) – Ullevi Stadion, Gothenburg, EURO '92 final
Denmark:
Schmeichel, Sivebæk (Christiansen 66), L Olsen, Piechnik, Nielsen, Christofte, Vilfort, J Jensen, H Larsen, Povlsen, B Laudrup.
Germany: Illgner, Reuter, Kohler, Helmer, Buchwald, Brehme, Hässler, Sammer (Doll 46), Effenberg (Thom 80), Klinsmann, Riedle.

• Denmark's finest hour came as Richard Møller Nielsen's men beat Berti Vogts' Germany to win their only major title in a tournament they had only entered as late replacements for Yugoslavia.

14 June 1988: West Germany 2-0 Denmark (Klinsmann 10, Thon 85) – Parkstadion, Gelsenkirchen, 1988 UEFA European Championship group stage
Germany:
Immel, Buchwald (Borowka 33), Kohler, Herget, Brehme, Rolff, Littbarski, Matthäus, Thon, Völler (Mill 74), Klinsmann.
Denmark:
Schmeichel, Vilfort (Berggreen 73), L Olsen, Sivebæk, I Nielsen, Heintze, M Olsen, Lerby, M Laudrup (J Eriksen 62), Elkjær, Povlsen.

• Germany's only competitive victory against Denmark came as West Germany at the 1988 UEFA European Championship. Franz Beckenbauer's side reached the semi-finals as group winners, with Sepp Piontek's Danes ending the group stage with no points.

Form guide
• Winners in 1992, Denmark failed to reach UEFA EURO 2008. Prior to that, they had competed at every UEFA European Championship finals since 1984, when they reached the semi-finals, but lost out to Spain on penalties.

• West Germany or Germany have played in every EURO final tournament since marking their first appearance with victory in 1972. Also winners in 1980 and 1996, they reached the 1976, 1992 and 2008 finals, but have yet to take Europe's top prize since the turn of the millennium.

Team ties
• Denmark coach Olsen spent the final seasons of his playing career (1986-89) with 1. FC Köln, who finished second in the table in his final campaign. He coached the club from 1993 to 1995.

• Several Denmark players have Bundesliga experience:
Lars Jacobsen (Hamburger SV 2002-03, 1. FC Nürnberg 2007-08)
Simon Kjær (VfL Wolfsburg 2010-)
William Kvist (VfB Stuttgart 2011-)
Christian Poulsen (FC Schalke 04 2002-06)

• Kjær is on loan at AS Roma, but contracted to Wolfsburg until 2014.

• Christian Poulsen and Manuel Neuer were team-mates in 2005/06, the Dane's final season with Schalke.

• Nicklas Bendtner and Per Mertesacker are both on Arsenal FC's books, though the fomer spent the 2011/12 season on loan at Sunderland AFC.

• Denmark's Simon Poulsen made his international debut in a 1-0 win in Germany in March 2007. Bendtner scored the only goal.

Competition format
• If two or more teams are equal on points on completion of the group matches, the following criteria are applied to determine the rankings:
a) Higher number of points obtained in the matches played between the teams in question;
b) Superior goal difference resulting from the matches played between the teams in question;
c) Higher number of goals scored in the matches played between the teams in question;
d) If, after having applied criteria a) to c), two teams still have an equal ranking, criteria a) to c) are reapplied exclusively to the matches between the two teams in question to determine the final rankings of the two teams. If this procedure does not lead to a decision, criteria e) to i) apply in the order given;
e) superior goal difference in all group matches;
f) higher number of goals scored in all group matches;
g) position in the UEFA national team coefficient ranking system (see annex I, paragraph 1.2.2);
h) fair play conduct of the teams (final tournament);
i) drawing of lots

• The Group B coefficients are as follows:
Netherlands 40.860
Germany 40.446
Portugal 31.717
Denmark 31.205

• If two teams which have the same number of points, the same number of goals scored and conceded play their last group match against each other and are still equal at the end of that match, the ranking of the two teams in question is determined by kicks from the penalty mark provided no other teams within the group have the same number of points on completion of all group matches. Should more than two teams have the same number of points, the criteria listed under paragraph 8.07 apply.