Euro 2012: Testing times for Denmark's key men

Danish boss Morten Olsen has long been able to rely upon Thomas Sorensen, who has now reached a century of caps, but his lack of first-team football will come as a major concern. The former Aston Villa goalkeeper lost his spot between the sticks to Asmir Begovic and has subsequently made just 16 league starts for the Potters this term.

Olsen will at least take solace in the fact that Sorensen reclaimed the gloves for the final two games of the season, but in what is being described as a goalkeeper's tournament, Sorensen's wavering form is ill-timed in the extreme.

There's more bad news in the shape of Simon Kjaer, whose career has stalled badly since the World Cup. The 23-year-old centre-half rose to prominence after a two-year spell at Palermo, convincing Wolfsburg he was worth in excess of £10 million. But Kjaer, who has made 22 appearances for Denmark's senior squad, fell out of favour with the German club and was subsequently farmed out to Roma.

His fortunes have hardly improved back in Italy, where he played a considerable part in a wretched campaign that saw Roma finish seventh in Serie A. He will, in all likelihood, still get the nod alongside Liverpool's Daniel Agger, but a disappointing campaign will surely have taken its toll.

Similarly, Nicklas Bendtner is not exactly heading to this summer's championships in a rich vein of form. The Arsenal loanee has netted just eight league goals for Sunderland all season and can hardly be expected to set the Euros alight. What's more, Bendnter had the prospect of criminal proceedings to contemplate, albeit he was ultimately cleared of criminal damage in March. It all amounts to a troubled season, for a striker whose future is increasingly unclear, after he insisted he would never return to Arsenal.

Though this inevitably paints a bleak picture, it need not prove disastrous for the Danes. All three will justifiably feel they are playing for their respective futures and thus there has perhaps never been more at stake. Olsen's side are 6.25/1 to qualify from this summer's so-called group of death, in which they tangle with the Netherlands, Germany and Portugal.