Lehm likes Danish direction

Henrik Lehm is a confident man as he prepares to lead Denmark into the UEFA European Women's Under-19 Championship - and with good reason.

Unbeaten run
"We are undefeated in our last eleven internationals - having won nine and drawn in two - and most of those have been against top ten nations in Europe," Lehm told uefa.com. "Germany and France, who are probably among the favourites at the European Championship, are among those we have defeated."

Free-scoring form
Denmark do not just save their best performances for friendlies. In the first qualifying round they defeated Northern Ireland 7-0 and Lithuania 10-0 before a 1-1 draw with Sweden, who also went on to qualify and will be Denmark's third Group A opponents in Switzerland. They then began the second stage with another 7-0 victory against group hosts Romania before 2-1 wins against tough teams from Iceland and England.

Hopeful signs
In the finals they begin against Belgium in Solothurn before encounters with Germany and Sweden in Lagenthal, and Lehm believes his team's form is reason to be hopeful. "We beat Germany 1-0 in a tournament in Spain in March, and we have drawn with Sweden previously," he said. "We do not know a lot about Belgium, but I believe that is also a problem we can solve."

Semi-final aim
Lehm, who held three-day training camps in Vejle and Vildbjerg during June, is clear what his criteria for success at the finals will be. "Reaching the semi-final will be necessary in order to define the tournament as a successful European Championship for us," the coach said. "We have to go on from our group, but I do not think it will mean a lot if we qualify from in first or second place, as I am pretty sure that our semi-final opponents will be either France or Russia, and it does not really matter which one we meet. We are so closely matched with those two teams that the match will be decided by which team hits form on the day.

Lehm belief
"I expect France, Russia, and Germany, together with ourselves, to be the favourites to take the title, which I am sure will also be won by the team who play best on the day - and by psychological factors too, of course," he went on. "However, our players are filled with self-confidence and do not believe they can lose at all. I do all I can to maintain that self-confidence simply by reminding them of our eleven matches undefeated again and again."

Team for the future
Not only do Denmark have talent this time round, but hopes are high for next year's event as well. "I am sure that 12 out of the 18 players in our final squad for the European Championship will be Under-18 players - which also means that this is a squad with a lot of potential for the future, and that is important in such a small country as Denmark, where we cannot expect to be able to produce a lot of great talents every year."