The players have been selected and we now know the names of the 45 players that will represent Team Denmark in the first ever A-European Championship tournament. It is one of the better teams we have assembled and it will be great to follow them, as they take on the top countries in Europe. It is also extremely sad to see one club completely disregarding the national team, but more on that later on.
Being around danish football for the better part of 10 years, and having actively played with, or against, a lot of the players on the roster. I wanted to give my own in-depth look at the team and what we can expect.
The content and opionions in this post is my own view on the team and does in no way reflect any club or player associations that I might have.
I highly recommend participating in a solid discussion through the “comment feature” (the + sign)
I am in now way a writer/journalist, so bear with me with me on the typo’s.
Overall it is very postive that the coaches actually had to make hard choices on who to select, and who not to. As simple as this may sound, this is actually a big deal in modern danish football and it bodes well for the overall quality of the players in Denmark.
45-man-roster by position
- 3 Quarterbacks — Expect Kasper Skyum to win the starting job over Mathias Lilhauge — Kenneth Stender would be the 3rd stringer.
- 4 Runningbacks — Marco Rysgaard is the starter. Lars Hyrsting and Bjørn Bach will battle it out for 2nd string (and shared load). Joachim Hannesbo will return kicks and play mostly special teams.
- 7 Wide Receivers — The danish offense relies heavily on a 4 wide out set. The starters would be Jonas Bo Hansen, Peter Ebdrup, Thomas Johansen and a good battle for the last inside WR position.
- 8 Offensive Linemen — Once again the position is dominated by Gold Diggers and expect Peter Møller, Tobias Rehling, Tobias Sandau to be among the starters. Joachim Christensen (former Gold Digger, current Wagner Seahawk) would provide the 4th player and Peter Møllers younger brother, Jens Kristian would be a strong contender for the last spot. This will probably be one of the last tournaments where the vets rule the line up and they will need to make way for a younger class in the upcoming years.
- 8 Defensive Backs — Strong participation from the Towers in the back-end of the defense and potentially 3 starters. This group is one of the strongest on the team and the competition would be fierce.
- 6 Linebackers — I will go out on a limb here and call the group “weak” until we see how they perform. There are a couple of new faces in Phillip Hargett and Andreas Schneider (no stranger to national teams, but a late addition). Mikkel Vangsgaard once again leads the group and will start alongside Timmy Rysgaard, we will need to wait and see who grabs the last spot and who performs.
- 8 Defensive Linemen — Missing 3 players from last years B-Championship, this group will need to find its groove fast. Future Arkansas Razorback, Hjalte Froholdt will see his first action as a National Team player. The surprise pick here was Lars Froholdt, Hjaltes older brother and a Rookie to football. The rest of the group are young and experienced, but might lack size against the offensive lines of Austria and Germany.
- 1 Specialist — Always great to have a combined Kicker/Punter.
This is a pretty standard roster by all accounts, the only real surprise is that we have 3 quarterbacks going. The tournament is short, but the position has overall been injury prone and thus security might have been needed. The same goes for Runningbacks, the danish offense is usually a 1 back-offense and we should look for a lot of special teams contribution from the backs.
45-man roster by club association
- 11 Players — Søllerød Gold Diggers
- 8 Players — Copenhagen Towers
- 5 Players — Aab 89ers
- 5 Players — Aarhus Tigers
- 4 Players — Herlev Rebels
- 3 Players — Holbæk Red Devils
- 2 Players — International clubs/colleges
- 1 Player — Esbjerg Hurricanes
- 1 Player — Amager Demons
- 1 Player — Odense Swans
- 1 Player — Kolding Guardians
- 1 Player — Herning Hawks
- 1 Player — Horsens Stallions
- 1 Player — Copenhagen Tomahawks
..The Gold Diggers once again lead the pack amongst the biggest contributers and could have had a bigger contribution if players like Søren Bakbøl and Janick Pabst had participated in the activities. Although new Gold Diggers QB Kenneth Stender made the team, I don’t expect him to see a lot of action in the tournament, the experience will however be a huge asset in his further development.
..The Towers finally decided to throw in some more Linebackers, but they could potentially also have had +10 players on the roster as Runningback (and 2012 MVP) Kasper Jensen was a no show, DL Peter Malmos did not participate and none of the Towers wide Receivers went to camp. We will miss one of the best DB’s in Denmark in Christian Dinesen.
..Having lost a lot of players this off-season, the Rebels have a strong contribution none the less and they should see plenty of playing time.
..With a very thin roster, the 89ers provide a strong contribution and the starting quarterback. A positive note from up north
..With more than 14 teams providing players, it also speaks volumes to the overall development of danish football.
It was extremely disappointing to see every Triangle Razorbacks player drop out just days before the camp — RB Geoffrey Lewis would have been a huge asset in the run game and one of the all-time best WR’s Thomas Linneman did not participate (He might have retired). Throughout the last 5 years the 5 time Danish Champion Razorbacks have been a very small contributer to the danish national team. Why? I can only speculate and the most obvious answer would be due to the player-payments, but this does not quite uncover why all the players chose to withdraw their participation just days before the team went into camp.
Who are we missing?
#1 — RB Geoffrey Lewis — One of the best backs in Denmark
#2 — WR Søren Bakbøl — Taking a year off from football.
#3 — WR Thomas Linnemann — Former League MVP and one of the best WR’s to ever play in Denmark.
#4 — LB Kasper Øelund — Retired.
#5 — WR’s Aske Troen / Lasse Tor Hansen — Playmakers in the danish league, no show for the national team.
#6 — RB Casper Jensen — 2012 MVP has shown little to no intrest in the national team.
