Yesterday’s batch of Group A results afforded all four teams the chance of a place in the final eight and, this evening, Holland and Portugal will be hoping to keep their dreams alive after opening day defeats. As always, our Dugout Discussion is up and running ahead of the first of the Group B matches:
Today’s early kick-off sees Denmark take on the Portuguese and, with a win against the Dutch already under their belt, Morten Olsen’s men will be confident of upsetting the odds once again.
The team news is already in and the lineups are as follows:
Portugal XI: Patricio; Pereira, Alves, Pepe, Coentrao; Veloso, Moutinho, Meireles; Nani, Postiga, Ronaldo
Denmark XI:Andersen; Jacobsen, Kjaer, Agger, S Poulsen; Kvist, Zimling, Eriksen; Rommedahl, Bendtner, Krohn-Deli
Unsurprisingly, Morten Olsen keeps the same starting XI that saw off Holland 1-0 last Saturday, with Michael Krohn-Deli looking to notch for the second successive Group B game. Lars Jacobsen can expect a busy time at right-back, as he lines up directly against Cristiano Ronaldo.
Paulo Bento’s side is also unchanged following their narrow defeat to Germany. Helder Postiga keeps his place as the lone forward, though with Hugo Almeida now recovered from flu and the highly-rated youngster Nelson Oliveira pushing for pitch time, Postiga is unlikely to last the 90 minutes unless he considerably ups his game, after a poor performance last time out.
