Denmark played great at the last European Championship. Since then, things have not gone quite so smoothly. If the Danes fail again in the preliminary round in Germany, things are likely to get tight for coach Kasper Hjulmand.
25.06.2024, 04:01
25.06.2024, 09:25
SDA
It takes just 17 minutes, and the Stuttgart stadium is not only filled with 54,000 mostly euphoric fans - but also with a great deal of pathos and emotion.
It is the Danish national team's first matchday at this European Championship, and if a Hollywood screenwriter had sketched out exactly what happened in the 17th minute of the match between Denmark and Slovenia, he would probably have been accused of trying to lay it on too thick on the emotional front.
However, Christian Eriksen is not a character in a movie at this moment, but the Danish captain who, after a run into the penalty area, skillfully gives his team the lead with the outside of his foot. The 32-year-old is beaming and exuberant as he runs across the pitch afterwards. Of course, he knows what many of the millions of people watching this game around the world are thinking at this moment: "What a touching story."
Not because it is the first goal for his home country at a European Championship. But because his life almost ended from one second to the next during the last edition of this tournament.
Eriksen's focus
Of course, in the run-up to the European Championship, the Manchester United player was repeatedly asked about what happened on June 12, 2021 in Copenhagen against Finland. In a podcast on Danish radio, he spoke at length about the moment when he felt a tugging sensation in his calf before he was then "suddenly gone".
His cardiac arrest also brought the football world to a standstill, and although some expressed doubts that the midfielder would return, he is now an integral part of the European Championship in Germany and a leading player in a team that stormed into the semi-finals after the shock moment at the last European Championship, where they were only beaten by England after extra time.
"Luckily I've played a lot of games since that happened," said Eriksen after the game against the Slovenians. "I'm just happy that I was able to play at all." Eriksen is aware of the emotional potential of his story. However, he is trying to keep the focus on the sport and away from himself.
One result - two points of view
After two 1-1 draws, the Danes have an intact chance of advancing to the round of 16 with a win against Serbia on Tuesday. Despite the identical result, the two draws were perceived very differently by the Danes. The match against the Slovenians was a disappointment due to the equalizer conceded in the closing stages, while the game against the English was a success.
"Against England, we showed what we can achieve with passion and fire," says Kasper Hjulmand. "That's exactly how we want to go into every game." The 52-year-old has been coach of the Danish team for almost four years. After reaching the semi-finals at the last European Championship, he was voted Coach of the Year.
Criticism of the playing system
These days, however, Hjulmand has to admit once again that past successes can quickly fade in the fast-moving football business. Criticism was already voiced when Denmark were eliminated in the preliminary round of the 2022 World Cup in Qatar. When qualifying for this European Championship was also rather bumpy, the coach faced repeated criticism.
His playing system, preferably a 3-4-3, but also a 4-3-3, was no longer seen as the perfect alignment for this team. In fact, Hjulmand was suddenly seen as inflexible. And when it became apparent in the last two years that the Danish team lacked a reliable scorer, Hjulmand had to moderate a discussion about the strikers, in which his decisions at times gave the impression that he himself did not yet know exactly which players to field in these positions.
In the three matches in Qatar, a different player was given preference in each game. None of them were convincing. Now hopes are pinned on Rasmus Höjlund. The 21-year-old made his debut for the national team in the fall of 2022, but did not feature in Doha. The Manchester United striker has scored seven times in 16 appearances. However, coach Hjulmand will not want to place too much responsibility on his young striker without risking putting him under too much pressure.
The sports director's statement
Speaking of pressure: Kasper Hjulmand's contract with the Danish FA is still valid until the summer of 2026. However, it is possible that those responsible will not allow him to fulfill it. The match against Serbia is "trend-setting and decisive", said sporting director Peter Möller recently. "If we were eliminated, we wouldn't have made it past the group stage two tournaments in a row." The fact that he chose these words and emphasized this possible fact should not be seen as a vote of confidence in the coach, even if he emphasizes - as usual - that he is now only concerned with the tournament and not with questions about the future.
