European Football Championship Denmark Germany’s opponent in the round of 16 – memories of 1992
The 0:0 result was enough for Denmark around Joachim Andersen (v) to take second place. Dusan Vlahovic (o) was eliminated with Serbia. Photo
© Daniel Loeb/dpa
Julian Nagelsmann and his national players have to wait a long time before they know their opponents. Denmark maintains second place in an exciting final phase. The pairing brings back memories of the European Championship.
The German opponents in the round of 16 went to their fans with great relief. The Danes, led by playmaker Christian Eriksen, celebrated their hard-earned entry into the knockout round after a winless preliminary round.
The 2021 semi-finalist maintained second place in Group C in the decisive preliminary round match against Serbia with a less than impressive 0-0 draw and thanks to the better fair play rating – even the Serbs’ courageous final offensive against a wavering Dane could not change that.
“Everything is possible,” said former Bundesliga professional Jannik Vestergaard with a view to the round of 16. Switzerland showed in the 1:1 draw against the DFB selection that Germany is “also vulnerable.” “We need a top performance, and perhaps Germany cannot reach the top level – but it is definitely doable,” said the central defender.
The knockout match completes the repeat of the 1992 European Championship final against Germany, won by Denmark. The team of national coach Julian Nagelsmann, who will have had two more days to recover, will face a team against which they have a positive record. The DFB team won 15 of 28 games and lost eight.
Always Eriksen
However, what Denmark offered in front of around 60,000 spectators in Munich certainly doesn’t scare the German team. The team of former Mainz coach Kasper Hjulmand was the better team in terms of playing and sealed the tournament exit of the Serbians, who were also winless. But their performance was not convincing. “We don’t have to be afraid of them,” said former international player Michael Ballack on MagentaTV.
Driven by pacesetter Eriksen, the 1992 European champions came at least close to taking the lead before half-time. The Manchester United midfielder is still one of the key players in the fairytale European Championship comeback three years after his cardiac arrest – and not just because of his goal against Slovenia.
Djokovic is excited
Eriksen (21st), Rasmus Højlund (32nd) and Wolfsburg Bundesliga pro Jonas Wind (39th) lacked precision or power from distance. At one point, the ball was in the goal after a surprising corner kick variation, together with striker Wind and the busy Serbian keeper Predrag Rajkovic – but Eriksen’s cross had previously gone out of play.
Serbia’s tennis legend Novak Djokovic, who hugged and high-fived his compatriots on the sidelines before the match, saw nothing in his team that had anything to do with the attacking game he loved for a long time. “Safety first” was the motto of the team around Bremen defender Milos Veljkovic.
Quick-fix actions
The only way forward was with quick-fire moves. Coach Dragan Stojkovic’s plan to initially leave captain Dusan Tadic and Juventus Turin’s top striker Dusan Vlahovic out of the attack did not work. The new man, former German junior international Lazar Samardzic, did not make an impact. Tadic came on for him at half-time and repeatedly encouraged the fans to cheer more.
After most of the spectators had booed the poor performance before half-time, there was a lot of tension after the break in a game that had been disappointing for a long time. Especially because the parallel match between title contenders England and Slovenia was also 0-0 at half-time.
Last-minute hero Jovic is Joker again
The inclusion of former Frankfurt player Luka Jovic, who had given the Serbs hope of reaching the round of 16 with his last-minute goal against Slovenia, was loudly cheered by the Serbian fans.
Things got even louder when Joachim Andersen scored an own goal that appeared to make it 1-0, but it was disallowed due to an offside position. The review by video referee Bastian Dankert did not change that.
dpa
#Subjects
