Heiner-Møller's high hopes for Denmark

Denmark coach Kenneth Heiner-Møller is confident his side can make an impression at UEFA WOMEN'S EURO 2009™ and what better way than to overcome hosts Finland in their opening game in Helsinki on 23 August? Here he discusses Denmark's chances.

uefa.com: Are you confident Denmark can succeed at EURO?

Kenneth Heiner-Møller: I think the best way to have confidence in yourself is to have some prior success and we haven't had that in any competition; the EURO or the World Cup. We haven't qualified through from a group stage recently, but we have to do that sometime and maybe this year we'll get through. I think we've got the squad to do it and the players. Previously we had maybe eleven or 12 good players, but these days we have about 16, 18 or 20 good players. So I think we'll get through the group stage and then let's see what happens.

uefa.com: Are you hoping for a good Danish fan following in Finland?

Heiner-Møller: In our last qualifier in Denmark we got 10,000 people. So if just one tenth of them could go to Finland that would be great.

uefa.com: Are you looking forward to the opening game against Finland in Helsinki?

Heiner-Møller: Yes, we really are. I have great respect for Finland. We played them twice in World Cup qualification. We lost 2-1 in Finland, we won 1-0 at home. We wanted to play Finland in their opening match because it's special. At the World Cup we played China in their first match and there was a full stadium, it was a fantastic experience for the players and me and everybody. So I hope there will be a full stadium, 40,000 people, and I hope we will win.

uefa.com: Were you surprised how strong Ukraine were in qualifying and do you expect another tough match?

Heiner-Møller: I expect a really tough match. I think Ukraine will deliver some sort of upset during EURO. They have some very gifted players with a lot of talent, and they're very tough to play against. Hopefully we'll have learned our lesson.

uefa.com: How about the Netherlands?

Heiner-Møller: The Netherlands are getting better all the time. We played them two years ago in Korea and I remember looking at the team sheet and I saw a very young team. Maybe they're still young, but they've got a lot of matches in their legs and have bonded as a team.

uefa.com: How does women's coaching compare with men's coaching?

Heiner-Møller: I work very similarly with women's and men's teams. My thoughts when I started to train the Brøndby women's side were that I'm a football coach, I'm teaching and coaching football, and it doesn't matter if they're women or men. These are players and I'm a coach so I have to teach them how to play football the way I want them to play. So the way I talk to players, the way I want them to play football, is similar for men and women.