EIn a historical place for a piece of football history: England dreams of becoming European champions for the first time in the final against Italy at Wembley Stadium 55 years after winning the 1966 World Cup – 4-2 after extra time against Germany. The legend of Wembley has inspired the team of coach Gareth Southgate in their five appearances so far in the renovated arena, sometimes more, sometimes less.
Albion’s best kickers want to deliver their masterpiece against Italy in their last home game in this tournament on Sunday evening (9 p.m. in the FAZ live ticker for the European Football Championship, on ZDF and on MagentaTV) after they had a long tie with Denmark in the semi-final on Wednesday Do not allow opponents to be intimidated. Even if goalkeeper Pickford had to concede his first goal in this tournament, because Damsgaard scored an artful free-kick to make it 1-0 for the Danes (30th minute).
Sterling forced Kjaer to score an own goal a little later (39th). The compensation set the English beacon for an increasingly exciting dispute that was being extended. In the, the Dutch referee Makkelie granted the English a penalty after an action in which Jensen had touched Sterling lightly, which Kane used after Schmeichel’s parade after the 2-1 for the now clearly superior team (104th). England also proved to be a robust, stable unit on the penultimate World Cup stage, which strung out victory after victory with no frills, sometimes a little unadorned.
Eriksen invited to the final
The Danes also received the sympathy of millions of football fans on Wednesday. The players once again fought for their comrade Christian Eriksen, who had fought for his life at the start of the tournament after a cardiac arrest and kept his fingers crossed for his friends at home in Odense as he had at the previous games. “We know he’s fine,” said Simon Kjaer, the captain, before the duel with the favored Englishmen.
The convalescent Eriksen could be a guest at Wembley Stadium on Sunday, where Aleksander Ceferin, the President of the European Football Union, invited him to the final as a guest of honor. It remains to be seen whether the soccer star, who got away with life, would like to face so much concentrated public again. English captain Harry Kane, who played in a team with Eriksen at Tottenham Hotspur for years, demonstrated on Wednesday how his fate has touched the hearts of many professional colleagues. He presented the Danish team with a shirt signed by the English national team with the name Eriksen on the back.
In the game itself there was no longer any room for personal expressions of sympathy. Both teams initially preferred the security variant. The English from the growing conviction that they can also win unsightly. The more defensive Danes, because they did not want to be countered. So little happened for a long time to satisfy more demanding minds.
A shot by the young Danish striker Damsgaard, who just missed his target (25th), did not take the team of coach Southgate as a warning. Five minutes later, goalkeeper Jordan Pickford was beaten for the first time at this European Championship: not by chance by a free kick by 21-year-old Damsgaard, one of the tournament’s discoveries. His shot with a twist from 25 meters sank over the English goalkeeper into the net.
From then on, the English saw themselves challenged to dare more and to act more purposefully. While goalkeeper Schmeichel was able to win the one-on-one duel with Sterling (38th), he was beaten a little later when the Manchester City striker scored his fourth goal from a short distance after captain Kane and right winger Saka was ready, but Kjaer did the work for him. The game finally picked up speed, the palpation had become an exchange of blows.
The now exciting game swayed back and forth for a long time. Pickford parried Dolberg’s shot (52.), Schmeichel the header from Maguire (55.). Rescue acts celebrated by the 60,000 enthusiastic spectators at Wembley. England increased the pressure that the Danes, who were fixated on counterattack, initially withstood. The game was now as fast as the very best Premier League encounters.
The pictures of the semi-finals
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„Football is Coming Home“
The Danes, increasingly exhausted by the grueling tournament, lost a bigger pinch of their punch towards the end of regular time because the changes made by Hjulmand, which included Damsgaard and was replaced by Poulsen from Leipzig, did not generate any new energy for the few Unleash counterattacks by the outsider. The Danish defense, first and foremost goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel, fought against the English dominance as best they could.
The burden that the Danes had to bear became even greater in overtime with dwindling strength after a physically and mentally draining tournament. With Kane’s goal to make it 2-1, the resistance of the bravely fighting Scandinavians was not broken. Braithwaite’s shot, which Pickford parried (114.), once again raised last hopes. However, they did not come true. “Unbelievable what a game. Real hard. We were there when it counted. A final at home – what a feeling, ”said English scorer Kane.
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