Mikkel Damsgaard is a phenomenon whose star, like Denmark’s, shone at this European Championship. Both he and the entire Danish squad colored this championship in many different ways. Denmark, for example, once again had striking variants on stationary phases against England. Both at the corners and at the free kicks they were in a pile and the English had no choice but to do the same. A strange sight that didn’t immediately lead to danger, so Damsgaard had something else in mind. He just hit a free kick just past the half hour and just below the crossbar. No foils, no rehearsed variants just an old-fashioned icing straight into the goal. Only the first goal for England at this European Championship.
What is good comes quickly. The Danish goldcrest is only 21 years old. Christian Eriksen will have been looking with satisfaction at his replacement. After all, Coach Hjulmand chose Damsgaard to rebuild the attack line after the unfortunate Eriksen’s failure. And so that choice turned out well. A great goal against Russia, an important assist against Wales. He had also made himself noticed against the English before his goal with some great actions, but he came across a great defensive Walker.
Blunder Pickford
For the English, the semi-final was already the fifth home game out of six matches. They only played the quarterfinals in Rome. “That’s a psychological component. England has the fans behind them,” Danish national coach Hjulmand also realized.
Supported by the audience, the English started the match strongly and quickly came alongside. Though it could just as well have been 0-2 after the first half, as the Danes slowly but surely got better into the game, while goalkeeper Jordan Pickford relapsed in his Everton blunder. However, he plays a good tournament, but at one point gave the ball back to the Danes close to his own sixteen. His blunder was not punished, however, as Braithwaite missed his shot. Pickford could have done better with Damsgaard’s free kick.
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But it was not 0-2, but 1-1. Thanks to a good cross, Sterling came alone in front of Schmeichel, but kicked right at the goalkeeper. Two minutes later we had a déjà vu. Another huge opportunity for Sterling after a cross. Second time lucky, because Sterling seemed to hit the mark this time. In the replay, however, it became clear that Kjaer pushed the ball into his own goal. The European Championship of the own goals, you know.
Hjulmand had chosen the right pawn in Denmark with Damsgaard. Southgate was not inferior to England with his choice for Saka. For the 36th time in a row, the England national coach opted for a different starting line-up than the previous game. This time the very young Saka of Arsenal came back in the squad in place of Jadon Sancho. A good choice, because it was Saka who sent the cross and Kjaer misjudged.
After the English equalizer, the chants rolled even louder from the stands, but the Danes continued to show after the break that they had not accidentally reached the semi-finals of this European Championship. Ex-Genkie Joakim Maehle was again on the alert against England and gave a good ball to Dolberg. Pickford saved. The Danish striker’s confidence grew, but he was unable to convert that into goals.
On the other side, Schmeichel also made a save on a strong header from Maguire. The Danish goalie remained important and knocked a few more balls out of his goal.
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Both teams were evenly matched. The intensity and surrender were there on both sides. Anyone who had seen the Nations League would probably not have been surprised that the level of both teams was so close to each other. The Danes won 0-1 in the Nations League at Wembley in October and kept the English 0-0 at home a month before.
Denmark was therefore a formidable opponent. Although the English had forgotten that for a while before the game. National coach Gareth Southgate realized that and called the game “a match of national importance” beforehand. “We don’t have as good a football history as we sometimes believe,” he said. Southgate had to remind his own country that they had never reached the final of the European Championship in their history. Yet in England before the game against Denmark it was more about the possible duel against Italy in the final than about the Danes. Unlike England, however, Denmark is an ex-winner of the European Championship. In 1992 they triumphed.
Tension trump
However, the English in the stands were not worried. Even without seeing a third goal, the noise in Wembley rose around the 70th minute. All hands went together when crowd favorite Jack Grealish was allowed to fill in. Grealish showed and urged England to push just a little more than Denmark for the winning goal. The English did not feel like overtime and wanted to finish it at home in regular time.
Harry Kane claimed a penalty, but the referee didn’t flinch. The VAR checked, but also found it not a penalty. Philips tried twice from afar and Stones had a header up his sleeve. Shaw and Sterling were just short of the Danes’ double belt. The chants in the stands had given way to concerned faces.
England did put more and more pressure on, so that the Danes lost the ball faster than they would have liked. It was a matter of waiting until the very last second of extra time for a real big chance. Grealish found Kane with a low cross, but he hit the ball wrong. Just like in the other semi-finals, we got extra extensions again.
Kane, Maguire, Grealish and Sterling all had chances in overtime, but none wanted them. Meanwhile, the Danes only thought about survival, but just before the end of the first extra fifteen minutes, Sterling elicited a light penalty. The VAR checked, but referee Makkelie did not correct. A present for the home team. Kane pushed behind the ball, while Wembley held his breath. The English captain initially missed, but shattered the Danish fairytale in the rebound. 2-1 and the spring with the Danes was now completely broken. They can look back on a good European Championship. It was admirable how they fought their way back into the tournament after Eriksen’s retirement, but they were not awarded a final. That honor is for England, for the first time in history.
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