Danish Delight

It is great to be wrong, and I was wrong about the end result in group B, where I had thought the two final matches between Belgium and Finland, and Russia and Denmark, respectively, would end 0-0.

For a long time the Belgians appeared unable to open the Finnish lock that would have put the Nordics through in their first tournament ever. In the end it is a pity for Finland, but they lacked the luck when their goalkeeper Lukas Hradecky pushed a rebound into goal. And when the great Romelu Lukaku made it 2-0 for the Belgians there was little the Finns could do.

The Belgians win the group with three victories, and although they have not been spectacular, they confirm that they can go all the way.

At the same time in Copenhagen Denmark started a bit nervously against Russia, who had a big chance to go ahead. But after the young Mikkel Damsgaard scored a spectacular goal to put Denmark ahead, the Danes were in control. Russia was forced forward and this gave the Danes the space they had lacked in the first half, but it was only a gift from a Russia defender, who passed the ball to an unmarked Youssuff Poulsen in fron of goal, that Denmark scored for 2-0. Despite Andrem Dzyuba scoring on a penalty for the Russians, Denmark were in control, and great goals by Andreas Christensen and Joakim Maehle put the Danes in the unlikely second spot in the group.

Finally the Danes improved their scoring statistics, which had been dreadful after the first two matches, but most of all, the victory was an emotional tribute to Christian Eriksen, who is doing well and must have been as delighted as every Danish fan about the result.

Denmark will face Wales in the last-16, and while they have to play up to their best, Denmark surely has a chance to make it to the quarterfinals.

Denmark riding on a wave

Yesterday I managed to watch Austria-Denmark online, alongside some Danish buddies over Skype, and with some beers at hand. 

Football-watching in COVID-times.

Denmark won 0-4 in Vienna, against the team that many consider the other contender for the World Cup spot. This was Denmark's third victory in a row in what must be the best start for World Cup qualifying for any team (journalists were already getting a bit too excited, proclaiming that Denmark was basically qualified): 0-2 victory against Israel in Tel Aviv, and an 8-0 trashing of Moldova means Denmark has 9 points and a score of 14-0!

But as much as the results of the matches, Manager Kasper Hjulmand is in possession of a lot of depth in his team: he used almost 22 players for the three matches, among them many young players, most notably strikers, a position where Denmark has been weak for years: 20-year old Mikkel Damsgaard from Sampdoria scored two against Moldova, and 21-year old Andreas Skov Olsen from Bologna scored two against Austria, and it appears more established players such as Martin Braithwaite or Yussuf Poulsen must be feeling some positive pressure from the youngsters. But also defense, where Denmark has solid players with international experience, seems to have young players to add to the depth of the team, such as Atalanta's Joakim Maehle.

Interestingly, Denmark u-21 team has also been playing the European Championships this last week, and also won their group with three victories against France, Iceland and Russia. So there is a lot of interesting young players coming up the ranks in Denmark.

Of course Denmark is not qualified yet. Far from it. And despite last night's routing of Austria, one feels that they are still to be tested against quality opposition. But after this last week, even with my un-apologetically biased eyes, I think that there is great cause for optimism about the Danish national team!