Saturday, June 12, 2021

The unimportance of football

 Just like all Danish and Finnish fans I had been looking forward to Denmark-Finland. For both teams it was a special match: a Danish team full of expectations playing at home in the European Championships, and Finland making their debut in an international tournament.

Finland won 0-1 in what was probably their only attempt on goal in the match, and while that in itself is a historical result, the match will be remembered for Christian Eriksen's terrifying experience when he went down in the 42nd minute of the match. There appeared to be some confusion, but it was soon clear that it was serious, and when we saw medics giving CPR to Eriksen while shocked players stood around in tears, it became emotionally difficult to watch (I personally stopped watching).

Everyone feared the worse and the match was suspended. There will probably be debate about whether it was the correct thing to do, but an hour later the match continued, and despite Danish pressure Finland managed to get their extraordinary victory against some clearly drained Danish players. 

Amid the sad circumstances of the match the mutual solidarity between fans and players was extraordinary, and even when Joel Pohjanopalo scored he refused to celebrate in respect. An hour later, Romelu Lukaku (who plays with Eriksen at Inter) dedicated his first goal against Russia to the Dane.

Football transcending rivalry is beautiful.

It is reported that Christian Eriksen is in stable condition in the hospital. As a sports-man he will probably be disappointed that Denmark lost, but I think that everyone considers his recovery to be much more important than any football result. So we all wish him and his family all the best, and congratulate the Finns for their unlikely victory.

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