MUNICH, Germany (Reuters) – After Denmark’s two draws in their opening Euro 2024 games, coach Kasper Hjulmand wants to hear his players singing victory songs after their final Group C clash against Serbia on Tuesday, with victory guaranteeing them a spot in the last 16.
The Danes are second in the group after consecutive 1-1 draws against Slovenia and England and though a draw might be enough, Hjulmand’s team will be going for all three points.
“We always want to win, we miss being in the locker room singing about how we won, that’s what we want … we play the game wanting to win,” Hjulmand told reporters.
The Denmark coach said he expected the usual mix of physicality and technique from Serbia, and hinted that his side might seek to hit them on the counter.
“For a long time, their style has been very transparent. They have a lot of ball possession. They want to play, they’re very physically strong and they have a strong presence on the pitch. When they’re good, they’re really good,” he explained.
“We can be under pressure and we can be defending, but we’re going to look for the opportunities to score. Our approach is to score and, even though it might be very tough, we strongly believe that we can go out and win the game.”
With four of the best third-placed teams also making it to the knockout stage there are plenty of possibilities, but Hjulmand and his team will not waste any energy on the permutations, or trying to target or avoid certain opponents.
“We have to play our kind of game, we have to show our identity and how we do things and, if we do that, we have a good chance of winning,” he said.
“It’s going to be a tight 50-50 game and we’re just going to have to try to score more goals, no matter the scenarios in the game.”
(Reporting by Philip O’Connor; Editing by Ken Ferris)
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