The stadium that witnessed Euro 2020’s most harrowing scenes also saw its most heart-warming. Nine days after Christian Eriksen collapsed on the pitch of the Parken Stadium, his team-mates were grouped around a coach’s phone, checking the scores from Belgium against Finland, seeking confirmation their excellence against Russia had got its rightful reward. It did. Denmark qualified.
A couple of weeks ago, the 5.8 million Danes were probably invested in their team and virtually everyone else was probably ambivalent. Now their progress is cause for widespread celebration.
It goes far beyond the sympathy vote, traumatic as Eriksen’s brush with tragedy was. It is not just because of his own innate likeability, as both a player and a person. The actions of Simon Kjaer and Kasper Schmeichel, while offering further evidence of what an admirable character each is, contribute, but Denmark’s new-found well-wishers have plenty of other reasons to enjoy their exploits.
Because, and while it runs the risk of conflating football with altogether more important issues, Denmark’s response on the field in their last two games has been exemplary.
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They were understandably below par when the game against Finland resumed and, impossible as the circumstances were for everyone, it remains remarkable they played on later that day. Schmeichel’s error for the goal underlined how they could be distracted by weightier matters. The fact that Finland had a solitary shot and the Danes 22 showed that, while the hosts were much the better team with Eriksen, they might well have won without him.
But they returned to action galvanised by his sudden departure, performing with the air of a team determined to dedicate every achievement to their sidelined team-mate. Take out the individual who is simultaneously the most prolific player, the creator in chief and the finest passer from most teams – in more normal situations, with a hamstring strain or a groin problem – and they might crumble.
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Denmark compensated. They have harnessed their emotion and channelled it into their efforts. But for a virtuoso display by Kevin de Bruyne, they might well have beaten Belgium. Their first-half display against the world’s top-ranked team was an astonishing blend of energy and quality. There was a doomed heroism to their desperate attempts to get an equaliser, with Martin Braithwaite striking the bar. Then came the four-goal salvo against Russia. From fourth, Denmark had secured second place. Over their last 180 minutes, they have been one of the best teams in the tournament, despite being deprived of by far and away their best player.
It feels both a triumph of the collective and of many an individual. Each has tried to unleash his inner Eriksen.
Braithwaite has rained in shots. Yussuf Poulsen, so often a man who sets up chances for others, has struck in both matches. Mikkel Damsgaard has shown verve, class and a scoring touch to cement his status as the rising force of Danish football. In midfield, Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg is a surprise presence at the top of the tournament’s assist charts, with an Eriksen-esque three. The Inter Milan player has scored many a fine long-range goal in his time but few better than centre-back Andreas Christensen’s strike against Russia.
Manager Kasper Hjulmand reconfigured his team intelligently, removing Eriksen’s position in a switch to 3-4-3 that turned his full-backs into all-action wing-backs. Where others would have had legitimate reasons for bowing out of a tournament, Denmark have instead conjured a remarkable revival. They have become the first side in European Championships history to reach the knockout stages after losing their opening two games; but this is so much more than a statistic of a footballing comeback.
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Perhaps Denmark have become more than a team, too, though they are a very fine one. Their only defeats in 30 games have come to Belgium (albeit repeatedly) and Finland (in circumstances that will hopefully forever remain unique). They faced the prospect of a very different, far worse loss and have recovered to record a famous victory.
They have had proof of sport’s ultimate meaninglessness and yet brought meaning to the process of carrying on. And now they go on, into the knockout stages, able to dream of a win that would be still more improbable than Euro ’92.
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