Women’s Euro 2022 team guide No 5: Denmark

This article is part of the Guardian’s Women’s Euro 2022 Experts’ Network, a cooperation between some of the best media organisations from the 16 countries who have qualified. theguardian.com is running previews from two countries each day in the run-up to the tournament kicking off on 6 July.

Having finished as runners-up at the 2017 Euros, it hurt not to see Denmark at the 2019 World Cup. A pay dispute with the Danish FA (DBU) led to the team forfeiting a game against Sweden, finishing second in the group behind their neighbours before losing a play-off against the Netherlands.

Missing out on the World Cup seems to have lit a collective fire in the squad, however and in the qualifiers for this summer’s Euros and next year’s World Cup they have been ruthless. For the Euros they walked Group B ahead of Italy. The Danes impressed with a particularly strong defence, conceding only one goal, while at the other end they scored 48 goals in 10 games. The Chelsea star Pernille Harder explained: “[The manager] Lars Søndergaard has given us a distinctive and attractive way of playing and it is important for us that we play beautiful football.”

Sødergaard also moved away from the more traditional 4-3-3 or 4-4-2 to a 3-4-3 formation with wingbacks, allowing players such as Sofie Svava, Sara Thrige and Janni Thomsen to thrive on the flanks. As crossing is a particular speciality of this team, Denmark crowd the penalty area with attacking players – as well as the opposite wing-back – to get more players into scoring positions.

The one-year delay of the Euros could give Denmark an advantage. They have just qualified for their first World Cup since 2007 and confidence is high. Denmark also have, like several other countries, a host of