On Monday night, Stadium Australia will host a party – with a capacity crowd of almost 80,000 invited. The stage is set for the Matildas to continue their remarkable World Cup turnaround in the round of 16, in what would be only their second ever victory in the tournament’s knockout phase.
It could be quite the celebration. But Danish coach Lars Søndergaard has other ideas. He wants to crash the party and make it his own. Asked on Sunday at a pre-match press conference if it was his job to spoil the fun, Søndergaard was unapologetic. ‘It is, yes,” he said. “We’re going to have our own party, if we succeed in ruining the party – and that party is fine for me.”
The European side are playing in their first Women’s World Cup since 2007. By progressing from Group D, thanks to victories over China and Haiti and despite a loss to England, the European nation has reached the knockout round for the first time since 1995.
“It’s of course a big match,” said Søndergaard. “We’re looking forward to it. I think we’re living in a dream at the moment and we want that dream to continue for a couple more weeks. Big game, fantastic occasion, many spectators – we’re looking forward to it.”
The Danish team, nicknamed de rød-hvide (red and white) for their distinctive playing kit in national colours, will enter the encounter as underdogs against the more highly-fancied Matildas playing on home soil. Australia are presently 10th in Fifa’s world rankings, while Denmark are 13th.
“As a small country as well, in a way we’re used to being underdogs when we play against the big nations,” said Søndergaard. “So I think of course Australia as the home team, with a lot of spectators behind them, could be said to be favourites.”
But the Danish coach was optimistic of springing an upset. “We want to surprise,” he said. “And we also think, and I think this is the most important thing, that we can do it.”
Denmark and Australia have only met once before in the Women’s World Cup – when the Matildas made their tournament debut in 1995. The Danes won 5-0. But the two nations have also faced off twice in friendlies in recent years, with each side securing a victory.
On Sunday afternoon, Søndergaard explained that he was wary of reading too much into those earlier matches. “I think that was in different phases in the era of Tony [Gustavsson, the Matildas coach],” he said. “He was quite new in the first game we had, and then he’d had some time with the team by the second game. I think they have continuously developed into the playing style he wants them to play in.”
Danish midfielder Janni Thomsen said her squad was hoping to harness the energy of a capacity crowd, even if they would be largely cheering on their opponents.
“This really is a dream come true – a full stadium, I’ve been dreaming of that since I was a child,” said Thomsen. “All these spectators – they’re not going to be supporting us, all of them for sure, but we’ll take it. We’ll use the atmosphere and help it work in our direction.”
The winner of Monday night’s clash will face France or Morocco in the quarter-final in Brisbane on Saturday afternoon.
