Denmark look confident, Serbia regroup
Thursday, May 5, 2011
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Thomas Frank believes his Denmark side are feared by England as they look to seal a last-four slot from Group A, where hosts Serbia will make changes to save their campaign against France.
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Brimming with confidence after their 3-2 win against Serbia, Denmark take on holders England on Friday knowing that victory will secure their place in the semi-finals.
While France – held 2-2 by England in their first outing on Tuesday – face hosts Serbia in Indjija, it is in Novi Sad where UEFA European Under-17 Championship Group A could really begin to take shape. Denmark coach Thomas Frank tipped his team as "dark horses" before the tournament got underway and knows they will need to be at the top of their game once more if they are to overcome England.
"I have seen them on DVD and I think they are the best team in the group," he said. "Normally England are well organised and have physical strengths. Now they are very technical and they have two or three fantastic individual players: especially the wingers.
"Everybody in the English team is good on the ball, so they must be favourites, but I think they fear us a little because if they don't win they are in trouble. The three teams in our group are physically stronger than us, so we need to have the ball to keep the opponents running. We need another fantastic performance."
England manager John Peacock has captain Nathaniel Chalobah, a central defensive star of last season's tournament winners, back from suspension, and he is confident the depth of his squad will start to reap reward as the tournament progresses. "It will always take until game three to qualify in this competition," Peacock said. "We had our captain missing [against France] and having a good squad of 18 players is obviously very important for us."
The Serbia coach Milovan Djorić, who felt his players suffered under the burden of being in front of an expectant home crowd against Denmark, towed a similar line to Peacock, admitting "there will be some changes" against France. Les Mini-Bleus' Patrick Gonfalone, meanwhile, knows their opponents will be keen to atone.
"Serbia are obliged to get a result against France, which is why we expect a difficult game, and a different game," Gonfalone said. "But with the potential of the team and the discipline that we could have, we should be able to get the points and play a good game."