Preview: Denmark – Japan

(GSM) – Denmark and Japan will battle for second spot in Group E which secures a place in the knock-out stages. The Netherlands already booked their spot in the next round and Cameroon is already eliminated after losing their first two matches against Denmark and Japan.

The Danes recovered well from their first match, which they lost against the Netherlands (2-0). The Scandinavian team bounced back from behind to defeat Cameroon (2-1). Dennis Rommedahl provided some Danish Dynamite by setting up Nicklas Bendtner for the equaliser and producing the winner on the hour mark.

The Japanese will draw inspiration from their match against World Cup outsiders the Netherlands: the Blue Samurai only lost bay a narrow margin (0-1). The minor loss came after they won their opener 1-0 to Cameroon.

The Asians are aware they have the ‘chance of their lifetime’ to reach the next round of the World Cup as a draw will see them through.

“The coach has told us that in life you only get a few opportunities to reach the knockout stages of the World Cup and told us to give it our all,” said captain Makoto Hasebe.

“We are all really disappointed about losing to the Netherlands, but the Denmark result is not a bad one for us and we will head into the game in a positive frame of mind.”