Nigeria-Denmark – M. Laudrup: “We played a great game for the whole 90 minutes”

Michael LAUDRUP (10, captain):

“We played a great game for the whole 90 minutes. We are very happy to have qualified especially as there’s been a lot of criticism of the way we’ve played. It was incredible the way the team passed the ball around today. I’m really happy. Tonight has shown us that football can be a very strange game. Who would have placed a bet on us? I’m the first to be surprised by our performance. Often, when we score a first goal early on, we become more defensive. That didn’t happen today. Obviously, it wouldn’t be logical to make us favourites against BRAZIL and many people would consider us to be one of the weakest teams in the last sixteen. Of course, BRAZIL is a very a good team both collectively and individually. We’ll have to give 100% to compete against them”.

Jes HOGH (4):

“Everybody thought that we would get through the first round and the fact that we did took some of the pressure off. So we no longer have to deal with that burden. Despite the result being in our favour, it was flattering and we didn’t have a very easy game. Fortunately, we managed to keep our concentration 100%. But the Nigerians were very dangerous. From now on, we’ve a real challenge ahead of us, to beat BRAZIL, one of the favourites. We’ll try to carry it off. It’s always good to have a goalkeeper of Peter SCHMEICHEL’s (1) calibre. It’s very reassuring for the defence and could improve our chances for the next round”.

Brian LAUDRUP (11):

“We felt really good tonight. It was an important match and we got off to a great start. This made things very difficult for the Nigerians who were 2-0 down. NIGERIA has some fantastic players and was a difficult team to beat. We are now going to savour this victory and we’ll leave thoughts of BRAZIL until tomorrow. We hope for a win because nobody is expecting us to put in a winning performance. We’ve nothing to lose. We’re above all very happy to be in the last eight”.

Peter SCHMEICHEL (1):

“Our team played exceptionally well. This gives me a lot of confidence when the team defends so well. For such a small country, to play against the best team in the world (BRAZIL), is such a great achievement. It’s the best thing that could have happened to us. We’re very proud to be in a quarter-final. All our goals were very good. That was our best performance. We only felt the pressure at the end of the first half…and even that wasn’t too bad. That was because we were playing well and keeping the ball. We all played well as a team”.

Martin JORGENSEN (21):

“It was surprising to see Thomas HELVEG (6) score tonight. He only usually scores one goal a season for his club. This year he hasn’t scored at all and waited for the World Cup to do it! I usually call him uncle because when we play together he helps me a lot. And today, my uncle scored…”.