Jamie Walker smells something rotten. Lots of ruddy bacon...

William Shakespeare once wrote, "something is rotten in the state of Denmark". Based on our knowledge of those Scandinavians, nowadays it is more likely to refer to gone-off bacon than fratricidal kings. Still, let us whittle along to you, dear readers, about the home of Peter Schmeichel, Carlsberg and Lego.

Denmark
150/1 (Bet365)

Nickname
Danish Dynamite

How they qualified...
They topped a group which included Portugal and Sweden, suffering only one loss along the way, a 1-0 home reverse to Hungary.

Commentators are most likely to bang on about...
Whether this Danish World Cup side can live up to the most successful team in the nation's history, the 1992 European Championship winners. The likelihood is pretty low, although the Danes have a good squad this year. It will be interesting to see whether anyone has the gall to mention 'that' cartoon of the prophet Mohammed, though. Somehow, there is a lingering doubt.

Players you've heard of...
There's not exactly a shortage of players who haven't at one time or another plied their trade in England. Thomas Sorensen, Daniel Agger and Nicklas Bendtner all play Premier League football at the moment, whilst Dennis Rommedahl, Jesper Gronkjaer and Jon Dahl Tomasson have all played (poorly, if we remember rightly) for Charlton, Chelsea and Newcastle respectively.

A player you can pretend to have heard of....
Simon Kjaer. The young Palermo centre back has been touted for a move to several of the top European sides over the past few weeks. But since Football Italia hasn't been on Channel 4 for nearly ten years, we're pretty few in this country have actually seen him play very much.

Mental manager rating...
Coaching incumbent Morten Olsen isn't known for his psychotic tendencies. Yes, he is a hard taskmaster, but of the 'firm but fair' variety. He did have a bit of a rant about the World Cup 'Jabulani' ball, calling it 'impossible'. But so has everyone, so that's not a fair cause for crazy.

Chances of hooliganism...
Viking blood they might have, but that was long, long ago. Nowadays, the Danes are most riotous when peacefully demonstrating against fossil fuels, so don't expect too much of a fracas.

If they were a celeb they'd be...
Porky Pig. Friendly, likeable, and made of a hell of a lot of bacon.

How we reckon they'll do...
Dark Horses. There is a good chance they will qualify in second from Group E behind the Netherlands, which could set up a first knockout-round tie against the ageing Italians. They could win that, but we doubt they will progress past the quarter-finals.