The Czechs were the only team to win all their group games, finishing with a 2-1 victory over Germany accomplished without Nedved and several top players who were rested with their last-eight place secure.

Nedved has shrugged off a knee problem and should start in his favoured role on the left of midfield, pitting him against experienced Danish defender Thomas Helveg.

Helveg has faced Juventus midfielder Nedved many times in Italy's Serie A, where he has played for the last 11 seasons for Udinese, AC Milan and Inter Milan.

"Everyone knows him so there is no need for long speeches to tell my teammates what to expect," Helveg said before Sunday's game in Porto.

"When he moves forward it is difficult to stop him because he combines pace with great technique.

"You can try to tackle him when he is on the ball or better still to get close and tackle him before he gets space. The key thing is to close down his options and make him do what you want him to do," Helveg said.

Although the Danes have only beaten the Czechs once in 18 meetings, they are in confident mood after a 2-2 draw with Sweden booked their quarterfinal place and Helveg says there is a great spirit in the camp.

"We win or lose as a team," he said.

"We have some stars but you might not notice them as they play for the team. Nobody in this team is too big not to take care of his teammates. You rarely see anyone struggling alone for us."

Meanwhile, Denmark coach Morten Olsen believes his side can go all the way at Euro 2004 and emulate the success of the championship-winning team of 1992.

The Danes won the event for the first and only time in Sweden 12 years ago.

Denmark failed to qualify for that year's championships but were allowed into the tournament at the last minute in place of Yugoslavia, who topped their group.

"Football is all about tradition and history and the question I am being asked the most is 'Can you do it again?'," said Olsen, a member of the 1984 Danish team that reached the semifinals in France.

PROBABLE TEAMS
CZECH REPUBLIC: 1-Petr Cech; 2-Zdenek Grygera, 21-Tomas Ujfalusi, 5-Rene Bolf, 6-Marek Jankulovski; 8-Karel Poborsky, 4-Tomas Galasek, 10-Tomas Rosicky, 11-Pavel Nedved; 15-Milan Baros; 9-Jan Koller.

DENMARK: 1-Thomas Sorensen; 6-Thomas Helveg,4-Martin Laursen, 3-Rene Henriksen, 2-Kasper Bogelund; Jesper Gronkjaer, 7-Thomas Gravesen, 15-Daniel Jensen, 10-Martin Joergensen; 11-Ebbe Sand (or 14-Claus Jensen), 9-Jon Dahl Tomasson.