“It looked uncomfortable. We saw lightning fly. The match had to be interrupted, it would have been dangerous,” former national team defender Michal Kadlec reported for ČT from Dortmund after the match. “I would highlight the pitch. Even after the rain it was in fantastic condition. If it had happened elsewhere, the match would not have finished. Hats off to the organizers,” added Kadlec.
The storm started in the 35th minute of the match with the scoreless scoreline, England referee Michael Oliver pointed towards the sky and made it clear that no play could be played in this inclement weather. The players of both teams stood by the benches for a while, but eventually headed to the locker rooms.
They could hide. Many spectators in the stadium were not so lucky. Some fans in the lower parts of the stands, which were no longer protected by the roof, fled up. Others covered themselves with raincoats, a pair of Danish fans again stripped down to half their bodies and jumped under the biggest stream of water. Ironically, the traditional German song “Oh, wie ist das schön” (Oh, how nice it is – author’s note) rang out through the stadium. Everyone took the break in their own way.
Germany coach Julian Nagelsmann used it effectively. He did a quick video breakdown with the team. “We showed at several moments that we have to play faster behind their defensive line,” Nagelsmann explained. “Maybe defending Andersen on Jamal Musial was extremely risky,” added the coach’s observation, which paid off in full after another regular fifteen-minute timeout. Musiala flushed Andersen and scored to make it 2-0, which was also the final score.
Nagelsmann also appealed to the players to erase from their minds everything that had happened on the pitch until then. When the match started, the Germans immediately caught him. They were agile. “We had to pull ourselves together a bit. It was important that we got out of the cabin well. We were in the game and didn’t let ourselves be surprised,” goalkeeper Manuel Neuer said.
But the coach refused that the unexpected break would hurt the German team. “Stopping the game never helps,” Nagelsmann said. “It was more bizarre and strange than useful,” added Neuer.
The match was divided into three parts, the weather was no longer angry after the first break. When referee Oliver looked up at the beginning of the second half and discussed something with the players, it was not about the fear of another breakthrough. The actors of the match watched a person who got to the roof of the stadium. A special police unit had to pacify him.
The football Euro match was interrupted after twelve years due to the vagaries of the weather, at the 2012 championship in Donetsk, Ukraine and France were not played for fifty-five minutes.
2024-06-30 08:29:58
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