So far at the UEFA Women’s EURO 2022, Denmark have lost to Germany, before mounting a resilient comeback against Finland in a 1-0 victory at Stadium MK.
Their final focus of the group stage lies ahead of them, where a win against Spain would mean that they would progress to the quarter-finals of the tournament.
Reading midfielder Sanne Troelsgaard Nielsen was speaking to FAWSL Full-Time on Thursday and she stressed the importance of this evening’s game at the Brentford Community Stadium whilst also briefly mentioning how far the team can go in the competition.
“Of course, we had a tough night against Germany,” said Troelsgaard. “But we showed against Finland that we are a team, and we have something to build and now we look forward to the final group stage game against Spain.
“We have to be compact and disciplined in defence, but I think we will have chances to score. We have to train and analyse some videos, but I think we have a chance against Spain.”
Troelsgaard, who joined Reading from Rosengård in December 2021, is prolific in front of goal, scoring 55 goals for her nation. Whilst she’s yet to get off the mark in this major tournament, her teammate Pernille Harder is someone who has and she admires the Chelsea forward a lot.
“It’s better to play with her than against her,” said the 33-year-old who has already come up against Harder during her short time in the Barclays Women’s Super League and understands why she’s such a nuisance for opponents.
“I’m really proud to play with her and I have played with her for maybe 12 years now. I enjoy playing the ball out to her, and she will then score goals or play the right pass.”
Troelsgaard was part of Denmark’s UEFA Women’s EURO 2017 squad that narrowly missed out on lifting silverware when they lost 4-2 to hosts the Netherlands in the final but she believes that this year they have the belief and mentality that they can go one better.
She said “In the second game of the group in Holland, we lost to Holland, so we will have the chance and I think we have to bring those kinds of thoughts up again that we believe in ourselves.
“Spain are a good team who we have a lot of respect for, but look at us, we’re Denmark! Five years ago, we got to the final and we first have to believe that we can do something against Spain.”
With Spain missing the likes of Jennifer Hermoso and Alexia Putellas, Denmark will be looking to use that to their advantage and exploit their weaknesses, something which Germany were able to do on Tuesday night. It would mean so much to Lars Søndergaard and his team to progress further in the tournament.
By Megan Garbutt