Dyer gets half a game against Denmark

By Matthew Jones
June 15 2002

Strike pair Michael Owen and Emile Heskey led England's march into the quarter-finals as they both scored in a resounding 3-0 win over Denmark.

Strike pair Michael Owen and Emile Heskey led England's march into the quarter-finals as they both scored in a resounding 3-0 win over Denmark.
Sven Goran Eriksson's troops simply blew the Danes away with some clinical finishing in Niigata, and will now face either the brilliant Brazilians or Belgium for a place in the semi-finals next Friday.

England could not have wished for a better start against Morten Olsen's men, who surprisingly won Group A and disposed of world champions France in their previous match.

Nervous defending by the Danes awarded England a corner on five minutes, and David Beckham's cross was headed down by Rio Ferdinand and fumbled over the line by keeper Thomas Sorensen.
Heskey smashed the ball home to make sure, but the goal was awarded to the Leeds defender, who has been a revelation at the back for England so far.

The goal visibly stunned the Danes, whose lack of pace at the back was then ruthlessly exposed when Trevor Sinclair's ball released Heskey, who easily outpaced Martin Laursen but saw his shot well saved by Sunderland ace Sorensen.

A cheeky chip by Beckham also found Owen free in the box but the Liverpool star failed to get a clean strike and Sorensen saved comfortably.
England were growing in confidence by the minute, though, and the second goal finally came following a flowing move on 22.

The impressive Sinclair received the ball in acres of space on the left flank, and his square pass was cleverly flicked by Nicky Butt into Owen's path, with the Reds hitman tucking home a left-footed strike to grab his 17th goal for England.

Denmark were simply shell-shocked but refused to let their heads drop and gave England a warning against complacency when Ebbe Sand coolly rounded both Sol Campbell and Ferdinand before steering a left-footed shot just inches wide of the upright.
As the heavens opened, England's defence continued to stand firm, with the main threat coming from Dennis Rommedahl's pace on the right flank.

Denmark's defence once again undermined any hopes they had of getting back into the game, though, with some sloppy play allowing England to go 3-0 up on 44 minutes.

Danny Mills's quick throw-in on the right was not dealt with and allowed Beckham to pounce, with the England skipper quickly sending a slide-rule pass to Heskey and the burly Liverpool powerhouse smashing a 20-yard shot under Sorensen's body and into the back of the net.

Thomas Gravesen's 35-yard strike was tipped over the crossbar by David Seaman just before the interval, but England held on to their cleansheet.

Both Owen and Heskey had justified Eriksson's faith in them despite drawing blanks in the group stages, and the former was taken off as a precautionary move by the Swede at the break, being replaced by Leeds striker Robbie Fowler.
Eriksson then threw on Kieron Dyer and Teddy Sheringham for Paul Scholes and Heskey respectively - with the Spurs veteran winning his 50th cap - as the boss started to tentatively turn one eye to Friday's quarter-final.

But England were in cruise control now, with Beckham going closest to making it a four-star display with first a curling 25-yard shot and then a strike from just inside the box - both of which were comfortably saved by Sorensen.

Denmark failed to get up a full head of steam, with their best chances a deflected header by four-goal Jon Dahl Tomasson from Kasper Bogelund's piledriver, and sub Claus Jensen's clever chip which was tipped over the bar by Seaman.

And England held on to collect their third cleansheet in four games, reach the quarter-finals for the seventh time in their history and equal their best score in a World Cup finals.