Thursday Sep 29 2005 13:57
Denmark coach Morten Olsen has rejected out of hand suggestions that his side would play for a draw with Sweden to ensure that Italy go out of Euro 2004 at the Group stage.
A stalemate between the Scandinavian rival is likely to see the Azzurri eliminated even if they see off Bulgaria, but Olsen has slammed talk of a fix that has mainly emanated from the Italian camp.
He told reporters: "That is ridiculous. Who do you think we are? Do you think we are not honest and sporting?
"I will not speak of it. We will be playing for a result, we will not do this in any kind of Italian way.
"I think we have the will to beat Sweden, but it is more a question of do we have the ability to do it on the day?
"We think, with our team, very much in the collective and I believe we have the ability to do it. Sweden have always been very well-organised on the field, but I think they have become more offensive and more open recently.
"For me, it is a pleasure that we are playing Sweden in the final game of our group, although I think we would both prefer it we were playing each other later on in the tournament.
"Twenty or 30 years ago, we had this derby game every year but now football has changed so much it is not the same.
"A lot of our players play abroad professionally now, too, but it is a very important game for both countries this time.
"I hope we can win.
"On our day, with our capacity, I think we can beat anyone but on another day we can also lose to them all."
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