From scoring four goals in four games in 2002 and being named as Denmark’s player of the tournament in 2010, to missing out on selection in 1998, failing to qualify in 2006 and later being forced to retire, Jon Dahl Tomasson has quite the story when it comes to World Cup.

And the Rovers head coach says there will be no bigger Denmark supporter in England when the tournament gets under way tomorrow.

The 2010 tournament in South Africa proved to be his final moment as a professional footballer, forced to retire after spending over a year trying to overcome a thigh injury.

As fate would have it, Tomasson scored his 52nd, and subsequently final, goal in Denmark colours that moved him level with Poul Nielson as his country’s record goalscorer on what would turn out to be his farewell appearance.

His 112th cap proved to be his final game as a footballer, choosing to first retire from international duty after the tournament, but then from playing altogether the following year after failing to overcome his muscle injury.

That wouldn’t be the end of his World Cup journey however, as Tomasson would later represent his country at the 2018 tournament in Russia as assistant manager, while he also played at both Euro 2000 and 2004.

Tomasson hasn’t spoken much about his playing career since his arrival as Rovers manager, insisting that he was too old to join in with penalty practice ahead of the Carabao Cup tie at West Ham United last month, despite having held his nerve on the biggest stage when scoring in the Champions League shoot-out against Liverpool in 2007.

Yet of playing for his country in the World Cup, the 46-year-old said: “They were great moments.

“I was extremely proud. I’m the biggest Danish fan in the whole of Europe and for sure in England.

“It’s a proud moment to play for your country, a proud moment to be captain for many years, so it was something special.”

Tomasson scored 27 goals in 37 youth matches for Denmark, before winning his first cap for the senior team in 1997 against Croatia.

He wasn’t however, selected the for the World Cup in France in 1998 after a disappointing season with Newcastle United.

A move to Feyenoord in 1998 brought happier times, six goals in seven games helping them qualify for Euro 2000, and in his first international tournament he scored three times in three games.

After four years with Feyenoord, he moved to AC Milan, but not before an excellent 2002 World Cup in South Korea and Japan where he scored four goals in the group stages, a journey that was ended by England in the round of 16.

Only Brazilian duo Ronaldo and Rivaldo, and Miroslav Klose, bettered Tomasson’s goal tally in 2002, as he netted twice against Uruguay, once against Senegal, and also in a win over defending champions France.

After back-to-back qualifications, Denmark missed out on the 2006 finals in Germany, so it wasn’t until 2010 in South Africa that Tomasson, approaching 34 and back at Feyenoord for a second spell, played again in the tournament.

He did so as captain of his country, albeit in a disappointing tournament when they were knocked out in the group stage, with defeat to Japan ending their hopes after losing to Netherlands and a win over Cameroon.

Tomasson’s late goal in the 3-1 defeat to Japan proved only a consolation.

He had in mind that the tournament would be his last, but what he didn’t realise was that it would be his final game as a footballer.

“I got injured against Japan, it was my last game in 2010. I tried to come back, the whole of 2010 and 2011 that whole season I didn’t succeed,” he added.

“After that I stopped playing football and got used to the thought of not playing football and got used to the thought of what I wanted to do.”

Tomasson announced his international retirement after not being selected for Denmark’s Euro 2012 qualifiers, and said of his decision: “I had already thought about it before the World Cup, but I wanted to get some distance from the tournament first and therefore I’ve spent the rest of the summer examining my thoughts and feelings before making the decision.”

Denmark coach Morten Olsen described Tomasson as ‘the ultimate team player’ and that the national team was ‘saying goodbye to a fantastic player and a fantastic person’.

While Tomasson was braced for that decision, it wasn’t in his planning that the following year he was forced to retire from football as a whole, bringing down the curtain on a career that saw him win domestic titles in Holland and Italy, as well as the UEFA Cup and Champions League.

That decision saw Tomasson get his first experience of coaching, becoming assistant coach of Excelsior Rotterdam.

Reflecting on that time, Tomasson said: “I think I squeezed everything I could after my career.

“There will always be moments where I thought ‘I could have done more’ but that’s football.”

Rovers won’t have a representative at the tournament, with Ryan Hedges having missed out on selection for Wales, while Thomas Kaminski wasn’t called up by Belgium.

Hedges had been included in the provisional Wales squad but missed out when Rob Page narrowed down his squad to 26.

“We’d spoken about the World Cup. He’s done everything for Rovers, the maximum he can do, to be selected,” Tomasson said.

“At the end of the day, other people are making those choices and we have to accept that.”

Denmark, ranked 11 in the world, as in Group D alongside France, Australia and Tunisia, who they start their tournament against on Tuesday.

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