Perhaps Kasper Hjulmand had suspected that it would be worthwhile for his Danish team to receive as few yellow cards as possible. The possibility of reaching the round of 16 of this European Championship via the fair play rating was high in this Group C. In the end, Denmark managed to secure second place on Tuesday despite the 0:0 draw against Serbia, the third draw, and will face Germany on Saturday (at 9 p.m. in the FAZ live ticker for the European Championship, on ZDF and on MagentaTV) because the team had one fewer yellow card at the end of the preliminary round than the Slovenians, who had the same number of points and goals.
Denmark’s defender Jannik Vestergaard was combative when it came to their upcoming opponents. “Everything is possible,” said the former Bundesliga professional. After all, Switzerland showed that the DFB team “is also vulnerable.” Nevertheless, Denmark needs “a top performance against Germany, and perhaps Germany cannot reach the top level.”
“We have to push ourselves to the limit,” Hjulmand said before the match. But in the first half, this message did not seem to have been fully received. The favored Scandinavians started the match somewhat hesitantly, cautiously, preferring to play across or backwards rather than trying to play the ball deep. However, the Serbs were even more despondent.
The match continued uneventfully for 20 minutes, then Christian Eriksen threatened the goal for the first time. But Serbian goalkeeper Pedrag Rajkovic deflected his low shot for a corner. Shortly afterwards, the ball was suddenly in the goal, but the goal did not count because Wolfsburg’s Jonas Wind had obstructed the Serbian goalkeeper (23′).
The Danes were unable to combine in the penalty area, so they tried long-range shots. Rasmus Höjlund’s shot was parried by Rajkovic (32′) and when Wind got the ball in a promising position a few minutes later, he slipped.
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And Serbia? Coach Dragan Stojkovic had spoken of a “football festival” that awaited his team, the fans, the whole country. However, the players did not seem to be in a great mood to party. This “really tricky team”, as Hjulmand had described the opponents, hardly appeared in front of Kasper Schmeichel, who was idle in the first half.
After the break, the game picked up pace. Stojkovic brought on Luka Jovic – the former Frankfurt player had given the attacking momentum against Slovenia and scored the equalizer seconds before the final whistle. Serbia played more courageously, which was good for the game – and in the 53rd minute the ball was behind the line for the second time. After a great move by Jovic, Joachim Andersen steered the ball into his own goal while trying to clear it. However, Jovic was offside before that and so this goal did not count either.
Hjulmland also brought in new personnel. Kasper Dolberg came in for Höjlund, who had been so disappointing at this European Championship, and later for veteran Thomas Delaney and Victor Kristiansen. The teams had played against each other three times so far and the Danes had won three times. The first point won by the Serbs on Tuesday was of no use; they finished fourth in Group C and have to return home.
2024-06-25 20:57:21
#Denmark #face #Germany #draw #Serbia
