Mathijsen poised to miss Denmark game

Netherlands centre-back Joris Mathijsen is “80 per cent out” of their Group B opener against Denmark on Saturday after suffering a setback in his recovery from a hamstring injury. Mathijsen trained on his own for almost the entire session yesterday but could only jog gingerly and did not touch the ball. Dutch coach Bert Van Marwijk said: “I am willing to take a risk but we will see in the next two days what will happen.”

Wilfred Bouma, who only made the squad at the last minute, is being tipped as a likely replacement.