Dominant Spain denied by Denmark
Tuesday, February 12, 2013
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Spain and Denmark continued their preparations for UEFA Women's EURO 2013 in Sweden with a scoreless draw at the Ciudad de Fútbol in Madrid that the home side had the better of.
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UEFA Women's EURO 2013 contenders Spain and Denmark failed to find a breakthrough as they played out a scoreless draw in Tuesday's friendly international in Madrid.
Ignacio Quereda's Spain – who begin their EURO challenge with a Group C opener against England on 12 July – enjoyed the majority of the chances on a chilly evening at the Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) headquarters of Las Rozas, but met with stubborn resistance from their Danish opponents.
On target in La Roja's previous warm-up game – a 2-1 victory against Russia in Murcia last month – Verónica Boquete went close to opening the scoring this time around but failed to beat goalkeeper Stina Petersen from an early Spanish counterattack.
Hoping to win a first major title at this summer's finals in Sweden, Kenneth Heiner-Møller's Denmark responded to the hosts' strong opening when Theresa Nielsen sent an effort narrowly wide of María José Pons's upright.
Verónica and Priscila Borja both flashed attempts over the Danish crossbar as the half progressed, while after the break Adriana just failed to connect with Verónica's centre. Spain continued to dominate thereafter but the visitors' compact rearguard preserved the stalemate.
Spain coach Quereda said: "Denmark are a very strong team so I will take positives from our performance. The chances didn't come that often because of our lack of depth but we are not worried about that. What I am more concerned about is our central midfield where we have to be more sensible and secure."
His opposite number Kenneth Heiner Møller added, "There were many fine things which we can take with us. However, we got into trouble when they pressured us high up the pitch. In those situations we made some unfortunate decisions. Our effort was really good, but obviously there are still some things we need to work with."
Following their EURO opener against England in Linkoping, Spain face France and Russia in their section. Denmark, meanwhile – drawn with Sweden, Italy and Finland in Group A – next take on Germany, Norway and Japan in the Algarve Cup in March.
