Denmark advanced to the round of 16 with a draw against Serbia on Tuesday (June 25, 2024). The match in Munich ended 0-0. By winning the point and the fair play rating against rival Slovenia, the Danes finished second in Group C and will face Germany in the round of 16.
It was clear before the match that a lot was at stake. The fact that a lot was at stake was also noticeable from the start. Both teams did not want to make any mistakes, especially at the beginning, and it was the Danes who made the first offensive moves. First Alexander Bah tried a header (16th minute), then Christian Eriksen with a long-range shot (21st minute). In the 23rd minute, the ball was even in the Serbian goal, but Eriksen had crossed the corner kick with a good cut over the touchline into the penalty area.
To the live ticker: Denmark vs Serbia Arrow right 3rd group matchday Arrow right
Uneventful first half
And the Serbs? In the first half, you couldn’t tell that they were doomed to win in Munich if they wanted to reach the round of 16. They relied on counterattacks and left the field to the Danes. But the Serbs didn’t have a real chance in the entire first 45 minutes.
This meant that the last chance of the first, relatively uneventful half went to the Danes. Wolfsburg’s Jonas Wind had a shot from 16 meters, but slipped as he shot, causing the ball to go well over the goal (38′). It was football to get used to in the first half.
Jovic offside in Danish own goal
Of course, things couldn’t go on like this. Serbia’s coach Dragan Stojkovic thought the same thing and brought on ex-Frankfurt player Luka Jovic when the game restarted. And the game did indeed finally get a little better. Denmark’s Andreas Skov Olsen fired the first warning shot from the edge of the penalty area in the 51st minute. But the Serbs also finally started to take an offensive part in the game.
In the 53rd minute, the ball was actually in the Danish net, Joachim Andersen had put the ball into his own net. But this goal didn’t count either, as Jovic had just been offside. But Denmark remained the more active team. Jannik Vestergaard had the next Danish chance, but his header from a good position went straight into the arms of Predrag Rajkovic (64th).
Second place thanks to fair play rating
After these decent twenty minutes, the match became noticeably more erratic, the flow of the game decreased, and for a long time there were no chances on either side. Aleksander Mitrovic was the first to try in the 81st minute. As the Serbian final offensive did not really have any effect, the curious situation arose that Denmark came second in Group C in a direct duel with Slovenia due to the fair play score. For Serbia, the tournament is over after the preliminary round.
The fact that Denmark and not Slovenia are the opponents of the DFB team was due to the number of yellow cards both teams received. Slovenia has seven, Denmark only six. “Anything is possible,” said defender Vestergaard after the game and said with a view to the round of 16: “The Germans are a good team. We need a really strong performance and the Germans may not be allowed to show their best performance.”
