Brazil – M. Zagallo: “Denmark resembles the Germany team but has more imagination”

Mario ZAGALLO:

Statements from Ozoir la Ferrière (south-east of PARIS), on Monday 29 June 1998.

“I saw match No.51 DENMARK-NIGERIA (4-1) and I realised that something about the NIGERIA team had changed, though I have no idea how the standard of this team can have fallen so quickly and so brutally. I am not surprised by DENMARK. The Danish team put the pressure on for the first 25 minutes and play a strong, fast and efficient style of football. It resembles the GERMANY team but has more imagination. The DENMARK team is well organised: it has no individual match winners. It is this team spirit which is the secret weapon of DENMARK.” According to M. Zico, the technical co-ordinator of the team, the most dangerous players are HELVEG (6) and Michael LAUDRUP (10): “the former organises the movement of the DENMARK players and the other scores the goals, because he gets into all the right spaces, and is therefore the most dangerous.”