Injuries plague Danish national team, with goalkeeper Thomas Sørensen’s being the most notable
Stoke goalkeeper Thomas Sørensen tore a minor ligament in his elbow during his club’s Premier League match against Chelsea this past weekend – good news insofar as the damage could have been much worse.
Sørensen told Sporten.dk he thinks he’ll be ready to play again when the Danish national team takes on The Netherlands in the teams’ first World Cup match on 14 June.
Others mentioned most often as fill-ins in the net should Sørensen not be healthy by June are FCK keeper Jesper Christiansen, Brøndby’s Stephan Andersen, and Kim Christensen of IFK Göteborg.
Two wild-card possibilities are Brian Jensen of Premier League club Burnley and Kasper Schmeichel, son of goalkeeping legend Peter Schmeichel.
The younger Schmeichel has been outstanding in goal for English third division club Notts County and is rumoured to soon be on his way to a top level club.
National team head coach Morten Olsen has said he will absolutely not take more than two goalkeepers with him to South Africa for the tournament. He said Sørensen is his obvious top choice, but would not comment on who is in line to be his replacement in the worst case scenario.
Sørensen is one of several Danes slated for a spot on the national roster who have been battling injuries that have kept them out of many of their club’s league games over the past two months. Daniel Agger, Jon Dahl Tomasson, Nicklas Bendtner, Leon Andreasen and Christian Poulsen have all been out for periods with injuries that can still jeopardise their World Cup participation.
Final 23-man lineups for national teams must be sent into world football authority FIFA by 10 June.
The Copenhagen Post
