Passions run high in Denmark

Group Two/Denmark v Norway: Scandinavians are often stereotyped as passionless, withdrawn people who would do anything to avoid confrontation.

This week, however, Norwegians and Danes have not so much come out of their shells as leapt out of them to throw insults at each other in readiness for today's Euro 2004 qualifier in Copenhagen.

Tension has been building since the first game last September, when Norway came from a goal down to draw through John Carew's late, late equaliser.

The Danish press started a media war by referring to the Norwegians as "mountain apes" and criticising their long-ball style.

This week the feud has left the pitch and strayed down a much more nationalistic path. The Danish newspaper BT started the unpleasantries with a piece headlined "Why we can't lose". Its reasoning was that Norway was "a nation full of losers" and "blue-eyed Arabs". It also said Norwegians were oversexed.

All the bickering has created a huge interest in today's game at the Parken stadium and a Danish FA official said it could have sold up to 100,000 tickets. The capacity is a mere 41,752.

Denmark's coach, Morten Olsen, banned his players from talking about anything apart from football and phoned his counterpart, Nils Johan Semb, to try to stop the sniping.

But Semb said: "I think I am right when I am saying that we would all love to have this kind of attention ahead of every national team game. It is all a bit of fun and we should enjoy it while it lasts."

Norway lead Group Two with 10 points, three ahead of Denmark and four ahead of Romania. A 0-0 draw or a 1-0 win would do them nicely - and further infuriate the Danes.

- Guardian Service