“Firstly: it is impossible to psychologically anticipate an incident such as Christian Eriksen,” says Jef Brouwers, a sports psychologist affiliated with the Red Devils, among others.
“Because everyone reacts completely defeated at such a moment. It is a bomb that hits, a party that is destroyed.”
“Psychological help has already been called in to the Danes. In such a case, the players try to let the players process the emotions together. You could already see on the field that those players together protected Christian Eriksen against intimate intruders during this terrible moment.”
In those emotions, it was decided to continue the Denmark-Finland game after all.
Brouwers: “I don’t think it was such a good solution to continue playing. It is impossible to deal with such an incident in such a short time.”
“It was a sad situation. Everyone wondered what was going on with Eriksen. It is a very great sadness where your thoughts go in all directions.”
What drives those players to play anyway? “A mixture of many things. For example, someone may have decided to play and in that way give everything a place as quickly as possible. But with such a drama, that is impossible in such a short time.”
On Thursday, the players from Denmark await the duel with Belgium, where some boys are also walking around who have built up a bond with Christian Eriksen – in a club context.
Jef Brouwers: “I am convinced that all Denmark players will be coached individually and collectively, so that they can still handle the rest of the European Championship.”
“I have no experience with this myself. This is a crisis moment. You need specialists who have experience in dealing with trauma.”
“I expect a very emotional match, but in the meantime something will have been processed in the emotion. We can still make Denmark-Belgium a great party and thus pay tribute to football and Christian Eriksen.”
Should Brouwers now also lend a helping hand to the Red Devils in this emotional crisis moment?
“I have not been asked for that at the moment. That is not necessary, because Roberto Martinez is an excellent mental coach who can run this perfectly.”
“Martinez doesn’t need me for that. He has a very good relationship with his players and has enough qualities to control this.”
