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These evening, the last quarter-final match will be played, where the national teams of Denmark and the Czech Republic will meet. The match will take place in the city of Porto, at the Dragao stadium, which holds 52,000 spectators. The winner of this match will meet the Greek team. Denmark and the Czech Republic met at the previous European Championship in Belgium and the Netherlands. The Czechs won 2-0 then. However, it was an inconsequential match, as both teams had already been eliminated from further competition. The last meeting of the teams took place in Copenhagen, in the qualifying tournament for the 2002 World Cup. At that time, the Danes were stronger, winning 2-1, and securing the first place in the qualifying group. The Czech Republic is the only Euro 2004 team to have won all three group matches. Therefore, the Czechs hope to continue their streak of unbeaten matches. Coach Karel Brückner will be able to bring back all his best players, most of whom are rested as they did not play in the match against the Germans. The Czech team will play with the strongest line-up as there are no injured players. Brückner has already beaten Denmark twice, but then he was the coach of the Czech U-21 team. "The players are happy to meet Denmark, but I don't think that's a good thing. They play an interesting football, are very determined, and dangerous on counterattacks," said Brückner. "We will have to start everything from scratch again, and I believe that teams can play in a completely different style than in the group matches. We are certainly not favorites for the duel," continued the Czech national team strategist. Meanwhile, the Danish national team has not avoided problems. It is unclear whether Ebbe Sand will play, as he injured his leg in the first Danish match against Italy and most likely aggravated the situation by playing in the match against Sweden. If Sand does not play, then coach Morten Olsen will have to rearrange the entire attacking line, pushing Jon Dahl Tomasson further up, and assigning an attacking midfielder position to Claus Jensen. The Danish national team coach also hopes that the other two injured players - Dennis Rommedahl and Martin Jorgensen - will recover from minor injuries. However, they could be replaced by Kenneth Perez and Peter Lovenkrands. "We are still in doubt about three players," said the Danish national team coach. "There are question marks about Rommedahl and Jørgensen - and a very big question mark about Sand. All three have muscle injuries. I want Ebbe to be 100 percent healthy because we will play against such strong opponents as the Czechs. Only then will I let him on the field." But there are more losses. The Danes have already lost the injured left-back Niklas Jensen and he will most likely be replaced by Kasper Bogelund, who has played quite successfully for Sweden. Danish defender Thomas Helveg expects it to be a tough match and knows he will have to fend off the attacks of the best European footballer from last year, Pavel Nedved. Helveg has played against the Juventus midfielder many times, as he has been playing in Italy for 11 years - at Udinese, Milan, and now Inter: "Everyone knows him well, so there's no need for me to tell my teammates what to expect from him. It's very difficult to stop Nedved when he's attacking, as he combines speed with excellent ball control," Helveg said. "We will win or lose as a team," he continued. "We have a few stars, but they don't shine individually, as we all play as a team. No one in this team is exceptional, and everyone tries to help their team mates. It's rare to see someone trying to fight alone." The match will be officiated by referee Valentin Ivanov from Russia. Predicted starting line-ups: Czech Republic (4-4-2): Cech; Grygera, Bolf, Ujfalusi, Jankulovski; Poborsky, Rosicky, Galasek, Nedved; Koller, Baroš. Denmark (4-4-2): Sørensen; Helveg, Laursen, Henriksen, Bøgelund; Gravesen, D. Jensen, Jørgensen, Grønkjær; Sand (C. Jensen), Tomasson. Try betting on the match result in the bookmakers!
