Satisfied faces for the most part summed up the reactions after Denmark’s WC opening. Full speed to 43 goals and exactly the right course for the medal hopes in the red and white camp.
— A nice stable performance. Of course we all bet that Belgium is not the biggest handball nation, but we complete the match with a good attitude, said Mikkel Hansen.
Hansen had just that attitude that made the difference in a match that Denmark both won and drove early.
As it now befits a Danish championship line-up, there were many people who wanted to contribute when the national team captain Nikolaj Jacobsen finished mixing his World Cup game.
Hansen’s sniping and penalty variations were the first to be noticed. Mathias Gidsel won ground with his game sense and Simon Pytlick’s dive made the collaborations work like butter from nine meters.
– We have many talented players, many who want to play. The easiest way to show that you want to play is to do well when you are on the pitch, said Denmark’s top scorer in the opener and shared more praise.
– Pytlick a good player. He is good at choosing the right one, and he does so again today.
Chewing resistance for one of the biggest WC favorites will take some time. First of all, Denmark gets more opportunities to charm the audience in Malmö Arena.
– You can’t have a bad relationship with an arena when you come as an away team and there are 12,500,000 people of which 11,500 are Danes, smiled Hansen.
In two days Denmark matches again, against Bahrain. Shortly after the final whistle, Nikolaj Jacobsen had his opinion clear about possible areas of improvement.
– There are too many plays in our middle zone, around the linebacker. We need to gain height, if our two threes are at the same height, it will be too easy to get a pass. ¨
– There are always small things, basically we do what we set out to do at high speed and make few mistakes, said the national team captain.
