VIDEO: Dates with the Danes
David Barber
Wednesday, 09 February, 2011
Exclusive insight into this fixture with Stuart Pearce and John Barnes.
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Click here to watch Stuart Pearce and John Barnes talk about England's friendly with Denmark in 1990.
England have played in 17 matches against Denmark, winning ten, drawing four and losing three.
The series began with Copenhagen friendly in 1948 which finished goalless. Prior to that, the Danes had won two out of three meetings at amateur level. A 41,000 crowd in the Idraetspark saw England line up with Swift, Scott, Aston, Wright, Franklin, Cockburn, Matthews, Hagan, Lawton, Shackleton and Langton.
England remained unbeaten in their first eight matches with Denmark, which included World Cup and European Championship qualifiers. In the last in that sequence, in September 1982, an England team managed by Bobby Robson for the first time claimed a 2-2 draw in a Euro qualifier, again in the Idraetspark.
The Danes recorded their first win over England in the Wembley return a year later. Phil Neal handled in the box on 37 minutes and Allan Simonsen, the former Charlton player, sent Peter Shilton the wrong way with his penalty. This was a very good Danish side – with Michael Laudrup, Preben Elkjaer and Jesper Olsen – and they ended up qualifying at England’s expense.
The next five matches produced a miserly five goals. The results, with England’s score first, were 1-0, 1-1, 1-0, 0-0 and 1-0. The goalless fixture was the opener at the Euro 92 Finals in Sweden.
England heroes Stuart Pearce and John Barnes were both involved in match-ups with the Danes and you can watch them discuss the 1990 friendly by clicking here.
Then, in 2002, the two countries clashed in the World Cup Finals for the first time. England won 3-0 in the Second Round in Niigata (Japan) with goals from Rio Ferdinand, Michael Owen and Emile Heskey booking their place in the quarter finals.
Denmark have held the upper hand since then, winning 3-2 at Old Trafford in 2003 and 4-1 in Copenhagen in 2005. Both were friendlies.