An anticipated elimination

I watched Denmark's match against Italy today somewhat reluctantly. There were other interesting matches at the same time, but with Armenia's victory against Bulgaria, Denmark had, against all odds, a chance for second place in their world qualifying group and perhaps even a play-off match. And I did not regret it: I got emotionally into the match as Denmark equalized Italy's lead, and even went ahead 2-1 in the second half, on two goals by the drunk-driving returnee Nicklas Bendtner. But alas, in the last seconds of the match Italy made it 2-2, and Denmark's sudden dream of a World Cup spot were suddenly shattered.
Suddenly, because they were never really there: two ties against Bulgaria, and an epic 0-4 home defeat to Armenia were the reasons that Denmark did not qualify, and in spite of the emotions of today's match, they had little to do with Italy's late equalizer. In fact, I had the sense that Italy's reserve side could have scored at will, in spite of Denmark second-half dominance. All Danish fans have to face the fact that Denmark is simply not good enough for a World Cup this time round. It is as simple as that. The return of Nicklas Bendtner could not have been more positive, with him scoring two goals. That said, it is still with regret that one looks at a player that has clearly wasted his talent, but he is surely the best striker Denmark has, which just goes to show the very low quality of strikers produced in Denmark...
Italy wins the group, and the second placed side of this group seems unlikely to get a play-off match, which also tells you of the low quality of the group.

Norwegian party-animals

Last week Denmark won a crucial home victory, 2-0 (two goals by Nicklas Bendtner! I didn't know the guy could score any more!), against Norway on the way to the EURO 2012. Denmark now has all the cards to qualify, while Norway has to be very lucky if they are to be in Poland/Ukraine next summer.
As is often the case in these matches, the build-up was further motivated by the neighbourly rivalry between the two nations, for whom the match was crucial.
Thus, it is all the more strange to see now that many players of the Norwegian team were out partying in the nightlife of Copenhagen the day before the match, some of them not getting home until the early hours of the morning.
Notwithstanding that Denmark is a much better football team than Norway, one has to understand the poor Norwegians: Oslo is a pretty boring city where a beer costs some 10 Euros! Can anyone blame these poor guys for not being able to withstand the tempting charm of wonderful Copenhagen???
Hey, next time the Norwegian football team is in Copenhagen, beer is on me!!!! Skaal!!!!