Olsen: Danes mature enough to do better
Reuters - Tuesday 12 June 2012, 16:49
Denmark's players are mature
enough to look in the mirror and realise they must do better
against Portugal than they did in their opening Euro 2012 Group
B win against the Dutch, coach Morten Olsen said on Tuesday.
Denmark, who face the Portuguese on Wednesday, stunned the
Netherlands 1-0 in the first game when they scored early and
then were somewhat fortunate to hold out against their unusually
wasteful opponents.
"We have to find better fitness, we have to be better than
we were against Holland... if you win or lose there are always
things you have to improve and there were some things we saw we
did not feel good about," Olsen told a news conference.
"What makes this team strong is that they are mature, they
think, they look themselves in the mirror and say 'Well, there
were many things that were good but there are some things...
that have to be corrected'."
Denmark have a good record against the Portuguese, losing
just one of their last four competitive meetings. The Danes were
in the same qualifying group as Portugal and finished up in
first place.
One of the biggest threats is Portugal winger Cristiano
Ronaldo, who was tightly marked by Michael Silberbauer when the
two sides met in Copenhagen last October. The Danes won that
game 2-1.
Olsen declined to reveal whether Silberbauer would carry out
the same role again, saying merely that the player was fit.