page_title: Denmark at the FIFA World Cup
section_title: 2010 FIFA World Cup
hierarchical_section_title: Denmark at the FIFA World Cup / FIFA World Cup match records / 2010 FIFA World Cup
caption_attribution_description: Netherlands - Denmark at the 2010 World Cup
context_page_description: The FIFA World Cup is an international association football competition contested by the men's national teams of the members of Fédération Internationale de Football Association, the sport's global governing body. The championship has been awarded every four years since the first tournament in 1930, except in 1942 and 1946, due to World War II.
  The tournament consists of two parts, the qualification phase and the final phase. The qualification phase, which currently take place over the three years preceding the Finals, is used to determine which teams qualify for the Finals. The current format of the Finals involves 32 teams competing for the title, at venues within the host nation over a period of about a month. The World Cup Finals is the most widely viewed sporting event in the world, with an estimated 715.1 million people watching the 2006 tournament final.
  The first time Denmark entered the tournament was for the 1958 edition in Sweden. However, they lost all four of their qualifying matches to England and the Republic of Ireland.
context_section_description: At the 2010 World Cup, Denmark was grouped with Japan, Cameroon and the Netherlands. Denmark lost the first match 2–0 to Netherlands, but then had a vital 2–1 victory against Cameroon, which enabled further advancement in case of victory over Japan, the final match of the group stage. Denmark, however, lost 3–1, thereby failing to reach their goal of advancing to the round of 16.
  Source: FIFA
  Rules for classification: Tie-breaking criteria
  All times local (UTC+02)
  14 June 2010 (First Round)
  13:30
  Soccer City, Johannesburg
  Attendance: 83,465
  Referee: Stéphane Lannoy (France)
  19 June 2010 (First Round)
  20:30
  Loftus Versfeld Stadium, Pretoria
  Attendance: 38,074
  Referee: Jorge Larrionda (Uruguay)
  Japan opened the scoring in the 17th minute from a direct free kick taken by Keisuke Honda – only the second goal scored from a free kick in the tournament. Honda, standing to Danish goalkeeper Thomas Sørensen's left, kicked the ball with great force; Sørensen initially moved to his left, and as the ball sailed past the wall, he shifted direction, but could not recover in time to make the save. Japan's second goal came thirteen minutes later, also from a direct free kick, this time by Yasuhito Endō. Standing outside the penalty area directly in front of the Danish goal, he curled the ball around the wall. Sørensen had been standing on the right side of his goal and could not move to his left fast enough. Endō almost scored from yet another free kick early in the second half. This time, Sørensen appeared to have difficulty judging the path of the ball, and was only able to palm it away at the last second, where it caromed off the goalpost.
  Denmark needed to win this game in order to advance and increased their attacks accordingly. Late in the second half, Christian Eriksen put his shot over the goal and Søren Larsen hit the goalpost. They were finally able to score in the 82nd minute. When Makoto Hasebe was adjudged to have fouled Daniel Agger inside the penalty area, Denmark were awarded a penalty kick. Jon Dahl Tomasson took the shot, which was saved by Eiji Kawashima; the goalkeeper, however, was unable to control the rebound, which fell to Tomasson, and he was able to put it in the goal. Japan scored their final goal in the 87th minute. Honda dribbled into the penalty area, forcing Sørensen to attempt to block a potential shot, but Honda passed it to substitute Shinji Okazaki, who merely had to put the ball into an empty net.
  The victory was Japan's second World Cup tournament victory on foreign soil, and only their second against a European team. Japan finished group play in second place with six points, and advanced to the knockout round for the second time in their history, and the first time on foreign soil. Denmark ended in third with three points. This was the first time Denmark failed to get past the group stage in the World Cup.
  24 June 2010 (First Round)
  20:30
  Royal Bafokeng Stadium, Rustenburg
  Attendance: 27,967
  Referee: Jerome Damon (South Africa)
caption: Netherlands vs Denmark
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