2-0 for the hosts of this EURO against a Denmark without aim
MADRID, 29 Jun. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The German football team qualified this Saturday for the quarterfinals of the men’s Euro Cup, which is being held in their country, thanks to a 2-0 victory against Denmark, thanks to a match played at the Signal Iduna Park and resolved with a penalty, converted by Kai Havertz, and a goal from Jamal Musiala after the break.
The Borussia Dortmund stadium saw a brilliant start from the hosts, including a goal from Nico Schlotterbeck with a strong header from a corner taken by Toni Kroos. However, it was annulled by the English referee Michael Oliver, when he noticed a foul by Joshua Kimmich on Andreas Skov Olsen in a block prior to the exit of that corner kick.
Immediately afterwards, Kimmich came quite close to redeeming himself with a powerful right-footed shot from outside the area that forced the Danish goalkeeper, Kasper Schmeichel, to make a nice stretch to clear the ball for a corner. When he got out of it, Schlotterbeck headed for goal again, but Schmeichel deflected his shot just enough with his mitt.
Julian Nagelsmann’s charges were comfortable and Denmark was unable to fill the gaps. This was later demonstrated by a long pass from central defender Antonio Rüdiger, directly into the rival area, for Kai Havertz to hook a volley with his left foot and for Schmeichel to once again appear as his team’s savior, sending the ball to the corner.
The response from the Nordic team was made to wait until the 20th minute, when Christian Eriksen punctured a lob ball to confuse the German defense, although Rüdiger cleared the shot from the edge of the area with his left boot. That action encouraged Kasper Hjulmand’s men, who had another chance to score before the half hour mark.
It was with a left footed shot by Joakim Maehle, on the turn, from inside the area and on the side. Two minutes later, a direct free kick taken by Eriksen from the balcony of the area, which again saw the ball crash into Rüdiger, also failed to score. All of this served as a prelude to a tremendous rain that fell suddenly at Signal Iduna Park.
At the request of UEFA, Oliver stopped everything under the threat of an electrical storm and the players took refuge in the locker rooms for almost half an hour with their technical staff and the referee team. As soon as the match resumed, Schmeichel once again excelled with a save after a point-blank header from Havertz, following David Raum’s cross from the left side.
Opposite, Rasmus Hojlund sent a right hand into the side of the net after a mistake by Schlotterbeck in the release of the ball. Before the break, Denmark had another chance in a counterattack led by former Sevilla player Thomas Delaney, who combined with Eriksen and extended the run for the arrival of Hojlund, whose shot was thwarted by goalkeeper Manuel Neuer.
After the break, Denmark had barely had time to settle down when a free kick was launched into Neuer’s area and caused a ruckus. Delaney touched the ball at an angle, it bounced off German midfielder Robert Andrich and Joachim Andersen took advantage of it to finish into the back of the net in the six-yard box. But VAR quickly cut short Denmark’s joy.
As a result of television reviews, Delaney was called offside in his previous action, so the goal did not go up on the scoreboard. To make matters worse, on the next play, a Raum cross tripped on Andersen’s right arm and Oliver declared a penalty. Despite Hjulmand’s protests, Havertz launched it and made it 1-0 with a low shot that hit the post.
Spurred on by that success, the Arsenal and ‘Die Mannschaft’ striker immediately created two more clear chances, one of which came when he chipped in front of Schmeichel and went just wide. Hojlund responded with a left-footed shot that went straight in and was easily caught by Neuer.
The Denmark coach made several substitutions in an attempt to get his men off to a flying start, but they left too much space at the back on a couple of occasions and that’s where Musiala slipped through in the 68th minute, behind Andersen, to sprint towards Schmeichel’s area. The young Bayern Munich striker did not waste the opportunity and scored the 2-0.
On the local side, Nagelsmann also made changes to balance his squad and give alternatives to other young values, such as Florian Wirtz, who scored a goal in injury time after a beautiful maneuver in front of the rival goalkeeper. But the VAR did not validate it, due to offside, just like in other previous couples of matches.
Neither he, nor Niclas Füllkrug, nor anyone else was able to extend Germany’s lead, but they nevertheless pushed back and did not suffer in the final stages until they secured victory. Thanks to this good performance, ‘Die Mannschaft’ reached the quarter-finals, where they will face the winner of this Sunday’s match between Spain and Georgia.
DATASHEET.
–RESULT: GERMANY, 2 – DENMARK, 0 (0-0, at half-time).
–ALIGNMENTS.
GERMANY: New; Kimmich, Rüdiger, Schlotterbeck, Raum (Henrichs, min.81); Andrich (Can, min.64), Kroos, Gündogan (Füllkrug, min.64); Musiala (Wirtz, min.81), Sané (Anton, min.88); and Havertz.
DENMARK: Schmeichel; Andersen, Christensen (Bruun Larsen, min.81), Vestergaard; Bah (Kristiansen, min.81), Delaney (Norgaard, min.69), Hojbjerg, Maehle; Eriksen, Svok Olsen (Poulsen, min.69) and Hojlund (Wind, min.81).
–GOALS:
1-0, min.53: Havertz (p).
2-0, min.68: She had to.
–REFEREE: Michael Oliver (ENG). He gave yellow cards to Bah (min.57) and Maehle (min.60) in Denmark.
–STADIUM: Signal Iduna Park (Dortmund), 61,612 spectators.
2024-06-29 21:26:30
#Germany #survives #storm #reaches #quarterfinals #aplomb
