Denmark count cost of defeat

Denmark began UEFA WOMEN'S EURO 2009™ as a team seriously tipped to reach the final but after losing 2-1 to the Netherlands could already be out.

Second defeat
The result leaves them outside the top two in Group A, and if results do not go their way in Group C on Monday they will not finish as one of the best two third-placed sides. They had their chances against the Netherlands in Lahti, when a draw would have booked a quarter-final slot, but as in their opening loss to Finland they were unable to make the most of them, at one stage falling two down.

Chances missed
"We had a lot of chances in the first half and we had every opportunity to close the game," striker Maiken Pape told uefa.com. "We were just not good enough. Maybe the result was fair. Maybe it is bad luck for us; I am extremely disappointed."

Nadim disappointed
Nadia Nadim, rampant down the right wing in the first half before an ankle injury forced her off at the break, was equally downbeat. "We should have won this game," she said. "We knew if we wanted to go further we had to win. We had lots of chances, but we didn't score – myself included. I am very disappointed ... It has been cool [to be in the finals within a year of her debut] but I wish I had been properly ready. I don't feel in any shape. I've been injured all the time."

Clinical Dutch
Pape admitted that they were undone by an unfancied but clinical team. "We knew they had some good players and we knew we were a better team and supposed to beat them, but if you don't take your chances you can't win and Holland took two half-chances with good shots. That's football."

Nervous wait
Now they must watch on and hope they will be involved in a Friday quarter-final at the Helsinki Football Stadium against the Group C winners. "We can only hope now. It is out of our hands now: we just have to wait ands see and hope we get lucky."