Olsen bides his time with Gronkjaer

Denmark coach Morten Olsen is leaving the door open for Jesper Gronkjaer to play against Italy on Monday in his team’s Euro 2004 opener despite the coach’s initial deadline of Thursday having come and gone.

The Chelsea winger is still in Denmark by the side of his sick mother but Olsen is hopeful he will make it to Portugal.

“There’s no deadline for Gronkjaer,” Olsen said. “In this situation is all up to Jesper.”

Gronkjaer has been the most disappointing aspect of the Danes’ preparation this week for the opener against the Azzurri.

But the pieces all seem to have fallen into place for Olsen’s squad. Udinese attacking midfielder Martin Jorgensen returned to training on Thursday after being sidelined for two weeks with flu and a thigh strain, but he is now in contention for a place in the squad.

Italy, traditionally slow starters in the big tournaments are nevertheless favourites for this competition, but Jorgensen is not willing to concede anything. “I think it will be a close match against Italy,” Jorgensen said.

“I don’t think they are huge favourites. It is, of course, a game I would like to win and I think I will play, but that all depends on Olsen.

“In the end you want to see if the leg can hold up, but I think I will have my rhythm back after a few days of training before the game.”

Jorgensen’s return coupled with the fitness of Charlton midfielder Claus Jensen will give Olsen more optimism ahead of Monday’s match. Jensen missed Thursday’s morning session due to a slight hip injury but was available to train with the rest of his team-mates in the afternoon.

“There is one thing certain if we want to do well in this tournament and that is to have the best physical condition, some luck but more importantly, no injuries because for the smaller teams that have less players available this is a problem,” Olsen said.