Grain of doubt about Sand

Sand doubt
The only natural left-back in the squad, Niclas Jensen, is already sidelined with a leg injury, and it has now emerged that there is a major doubt over striker Ebbe Sand's availability.

Overstretched muscle
"Ebbe is suffering from an overstretched muscle in his buttock," said coach Morten Olsen today. "At half-time against Sweden he said he didn't think he could finish the match. But we asked him to continue so that we could carry on matching the Swedes in the air.

'Very doubtful'
"Ebbe clenched his teeth and finished the game, but right now he is very doubtful for the quarter-final," Olsen added. "I am not saying this for tactical reasons. It's a fact." Sand himself added: "After some heavy tackles in the Sweden match I have felt constant pain at the back of my thigh. I'll wait and see how I feel tomorrow."

'Many options'
With or without Sand, Olsen is optimistic about Sunday's game. "We have many options," he said. "For instance, we can move Jon Dahl Tomasson up as a striker, with Claus Jensen behind him, and we also have Peter Madsen who has been very sharp in training."

Best game
The coach also expressed his pleasure to be facing the Czechs rather than Germany. "I prefer opponents who want to play football, like ourselves, and that is what the Czechs do and the Netherlands too," he said. "The group match between those two is still the best I have seen at this tournament.

Extra rest
"It would have been a different story if Germany had qualified and we had met them," he went on. "They would probably have based their game on a strong defence, which would undoubtedly have been hard to overcome. We have got ourselves an extra day of rest compared to the Czechs, and we are going to use it to rest and relax."