Thomas Sorensen was included in Denmark’s provisional FIFA World Cup™ squad this afternoon despite suffering a dislocated elbow last month.
The Stoke City goalkeeper sustained the injury in City’s 7-0 thrashing at newly-crowned Premier League champions Chelsea on April 26 and is still not certain to be fit for South Africa but that did not prevent Denmark coach Morten Olsen from naming him in a 26-man party.
Sorensen has been the Danish number one for nine years and will be key to their hopes of progressing out of Group E, which also contains the Netherlands, Japan and Cameroon. The 26 players named today will take part in a friendly against Senegal in Aalborg on 27 May with four others on standby.
Olsen will then whittle down the squad to 23 prior to Denmark’s FIFA World Cup opener against the Dutch on 14 June. Malaga defender Patrick Mtiliga was the surprise inclusion having not played for his country since November 2008.
“We had Patrick with us against Wales in November 2008 when he played for one half and we have followed his progress closely since,” said Olsen. “With the move from NAC Breda to Malaga he went to a better club and a better league. We believe Patrick is the perfect fit for the type of opposition we will face.”
Denmark’s provisional FIFA World Cup: Jesper Christiansen (FC Copenhagen), Kim Christensen (IFK Gothenburg), Stephan Andersen (Brondby), Thomas Sorensen (Stoke City); Daniel Agger (Liverpool), Lars Jacobsen (Blackburn), Patrick Mtiliga (Malaga), Per Kroldrup (Fiorentina), Simon Busk Poulsen (AZ Alkmaar), Simon Kjaer (Palermo), William Kvist (FC Copenhagen); Christian Poulsen (Juventus), Christian Eriksen (Ajax), Daniel Jensen (Werder Bremen), Jakob Poulsen (AGF Aarhus), Michael Silberbauer (FC Utrecht), Mikkel Beckmann (Randers), Thomas Enevoldsen (FC Groningen), Thomas Kahlenberg (Wolfsburg), Dennis Rommedahl (Ajax), Jesper Gronkjaer (FC Copenhagen), Jon Dahl Tomasson (Feyenoord), Martin Jorgensen (AGF Aarhus); Michael Krohn-Dehli (Brondby), Nicklas Bendtner (Arsenal), Soren Larsen (Duisburg)
Standby: Anders Moller Christensen (Odense), Leon Jessen (FC Midtjylland), Mikkel Thygesen (FC Midtjylland), Morten Rasmussen (Celtic)
