Denmark will look to give longserving coach and Danish football great Morten Olsen the chance of a final golden farewell with a place in next year's Euro 2012 by beating Portugal here on Tuesday in their final qualifier.
Olsen, who captained Denmark to their first ever World Cup finals in 1986, has announced last year he will stand down at the end of the present campaign but his reign will be extended to summer next year if the Danes beat a revitalised Portuguese side which would see them top the group at their rivals' expense.
The 62-year-old, capped 102 times, has guided the Danes to three major championships - the 2002 and 2010 World Cup finals and Euro 2004 - in the 11 years he has been in charge.
Whilst they are level on points with Portugal a draw would not suffice as they would finish second because the Portuguese have a better head to head record having beaten them 3-1 at home.
Denmark's highly-rated young midfielder Christian Eriksen believes that he and his team-mates have no reason to fear their opponents despite that defeat, because they had come off best in their two 2010 World Cup qualifiers, beating Portugal in Lisbon and drawing at home.
"It would be better to avoid the play-offs, but we can only avoid them by getting a win," the Ajax star told uefa.com.
"We've done well against Portugal before, though."
Portugal made a disastrous start to their qualifying campaign which played a role in the ousting of Carlos Queiroz as coach - a ban for being abusive to dope testers proved the final straw in what was an unpopular reign.
His successor Paolo Bento has galvanised the talented squad into forcing their way back into the qualifying picture and while a 5-3 home win over Iceland last Friday gives the Danes hopes of exposing their defence, confidence is generally high in the visitors camp.
Bento, who coached Sporting Lisbon for four years until resigning because of poor results in 2009, said he would not be playing it safe against the Danes.
"I never plan to draw or lose," the 42-year-old said.
"Portugal will play with two possible results that would allow us to finish in first place, but the priority is to win. We go there with the aim of a sixth (successive) victory in the group."
Playmaker Joao Moutinho reflected that feeling last week in an interview with O Jogo.
"The group is calm," said the 25-year-old Porto star.
"We came through the worst moments of the qualification campaign and at one stage it was very complicated and difficult.
"Now we have good momentum and we like that."
Source: AFP
