Step one

I took the afternoon off work in Mexico to watch Denmark take its first step towards the World Cup. After a nervous first half, the Danish dominance was rewarded in the second half nevertheless, and with goals from Mikkel Damsgaard, Gustav Isaksen with two goals, and an Olympic goal by Christian Eriksen that was credited to his namesake Nørgaard, Denmark won a comfortable victory. It looked good; the Danes dominated, pressured and had possession. There is reason to be optimistic about the final against Czechia, who had to come back from 0-2 and penalty kicks to defeat Ireland.  

That said, it will be a completely different match with big strong Czechs who play hard and have an advantage in the air against unseasoned Danish defense. But Denmark are the better side, so if the manager sets the right team and they can keep their head cool, Denmark has a fairly good shot at coming here to Mexico.

Kom nu.

Playing with the speed of old turtles

After a great Euro 2021, Denmark disappointed enormously in the 2022 World Cup. Back then there were several excuses from the political pressure to the weather. Even though they struggled to qualify for the 2024 Euros, there have nevertheless been expectations building in Denmark that the team managed by Kasper Hjulmand would get a good start at the Euro and surprise again with a combination of experienced players and some youthful talents.

Today we saw that Denmark is mostly talk and that Hjulmand has no capacity to motivate his team when things get difficult.

Denmark started well. Christian Eriksen brought them ahead 1-0 on a splendid strike and Denmark had possession and pressure. But they played so slow!!!! The pace was of a turtle, and they lacked imagination to get through a Slovene side that had nothing to offer.

Second half the Slovenians moved forward, as would be expected, and they Danes fell apart in nerves over the pressure of a side that they should be superior too. This is when a manager needs to motivate and push his team forward, but Hjulmand just sat on his bench looking like a surprised schoolteacher. Denmark got more and more nervous, lost possession, made mistakes, and the defense of three otherwise experienced players were giving chances to Slovenia that Andraz Sporar missed and missed to Denmark's luck.

But you cannot rely on luck. You need energy, and Denmark lacked it. After a splendid strike from Benjamin Sesko hit the post, the Slovenes were lucky when a shot by Erik Lanza changed direction and meant an equalizer for the Slovenes. 

The Danes remained surprised, nervous and disappointed the rest of the match. 1-1 was a bad result for both sides, but Slovenia must be happier as expectations were not that big.

In the meantime, Denmark had big expectations, and it now seems unlikely that they can get anything from playing England and Serbia in the next two matches. 

The return of Eriksen

 I was happy to see that Christian Eriksen has announced his wish to return to football, and that he wants to go to Qatar with Denmark. Following his shocking collapse against Finland in June, things have been quiet around Eriksen, but this week he gave his first interview since the collapse. Besides thanking people for their support and telling about the situation, he announced that he wished to return to football. He will be playing with a pacemaker, which to many may seem impossible (I frankly thought that he would never be able to play), but in fact it appears that it is perfectly possible, and already other sport people do it, most notably the Dutch footballer Daley Blind. However, he will not be able to play in Inter, as the Italian League does not allow it.

So many things will be interesting about Eriksen's return. First of all, what club will take their chances with him: he is a top-quality player, but certainly some clubs will wonder whether he will return to play at the same level after such a shock and long break, besides the numerous health checks that they will probably ask for. Eriksen said he wished to return to the Danish national team, something that we all view with great sympathy. At the same time, if he is not playing at the top level by the time the team is selected the national team manager Kasper Hjulmand could well face a dilemma on whether to select him or not.

All these things said, it is only marvelous to hear that Eriksen is doing well and that he intends to return, and make sure that we all, myself included, will be cheering for Eriksen to have many more years of success on and off the football pitch!

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.

England-Denmark 0-1

To defeat England at Wembley will always be special, so of course Denmark's 0-1 victory for Kasper Hjulmand's team must be qualified as a great result. That said, it was lucky. When England was putting the most pressure on the Danes two events changed the match: Harry Maguire was shown his second yellow card after only 31 minutes, and Christian Eriksen's penalty goal after 35 minutes. While both yellow cards for Maguire were correct after dangerous late tackles, the penalty call by the Spanish referee remains more controversial; a duel between Kyle Walker and Thomas Delaney did not appear as much more than a soft scuffle, and was in my view not a penalty at all.

These two situations changed the gameplan, and the English side never really recovered despite the fact that they created some good chances in the second half (worth mentioning is a spectacular save by Kasper Schmeichel) and the Danes seemed under too much pressure by the ten England players. But in the end the Danes carried through their victory; a lucky victory, but a victory nevertheless.

It wasn’t jetlag

I have just traveled for 22 hours from El Salvador to Denmark. I arrived a few hours before the Denmark-Australia match. I fell asleep during the match. It was not because of the jetlag, but more because this was perhaps the match with the lowest quality of the entire tournament. Two very poor sides with low levels of technique and organisation.The only good thing in the match was Eriksen’s goal. And while Australia’s penalty can be said to be controversial (in my view it was), it is not the reason Denmark did not win. Denmark did not win simply because they were crap.
And I will sleep again.

Top 10 Players of 2018

As with my list of ten best teams of the year, the list of 10 best players is also very personal, on players that have impressed me or whom I consider have had a great season. So here we go:

10) Christian Eriksen: He almost single-handedly qualified Denmark for the World Cup and has also contributed to Tottenhams good (albeit unsteady) season. For Danish fans it is great to have a world class player again.
9) Harry Kane: Has stepped up to become one of the most dangerous strikers in the Premier League and perhaps in Europe, where he is sought by some of the bigger clubs.
8) Pierre Emerick Aubemegyang: In my view Africa's best players, although at national team level Gabon are not in the World Cup and had a disappointing Africa Cup of Nations at home. But in the Bundesliga for Borussia Dortmund he has been their star player, and is being sought by big clubs as the Germans are struggling.
7) Luis Suarez: Not the main scoring role any more, but participates in Barcelona's awesome attacking force. Although overshadowed by Cavani, he was part of the Uruguay National team that qualified for the World Cup, where he will be one of the stars to watch, as always!
6) Lionel Messi: Absolutely out-of-this world player, who has taken on the responsibility at Barcelona, where they totally depend on him, and for Argentina, whom he almost single-handedly qualified for the World Cup. But titles have not been forthcoming this year, and the dependence on him is a risk both for Barcelona and for Argentina.
5) Kylian Mbappe: He was the find of the season in 2016-17 for AS Monaco, being absolutely splendid in their making the semifinals. He then went on to Paris Saint Germain in August, where he has been one of the stars alongside Neymar in what is one of the most exciting teams in the world at the moment. He also got his debut on the French national team and scored his first goal in a World Cup qualifier against Netherlands. Expect to see him at the World Cup!
4) Kevin de Bruyne: Much of Manchester City's success in this season is because Kevin de Bruyne has stepped up in his role as playmaker, where he is showing his world class. Also on the Belgian national team he is a core player, and is one of the superstars to watch out for in the World Cup.
3) Cristiano Ronaldo: The Portuguese has had a wonderful season winning everything with Real Madrid and also qualifying for the World Cup with Portugal. He is another out-of-this world player.
2) Lieke Martens: When the Netherlands won the European Championship this year it was in particular thanks to this splendid playmaker, who also changed to FC Barcelona, immediately becoming a core player in their current narrow lead in the league.
1) Neymar: Perhaps he was the most spoken about player ever when he changed from Barcelona to Paris St. Germain this year, becoming the most expensive transfer ever. But his qualities are unquestionable: there was a hole in Barcelona's offense initially when he left, while he in France he has been the super star of a team that is aiming for the highest. For the resurrected Brazil side that qualified in awesome style for the World Cup, he is also a superstar, and there is no doubt that Neymar is looking to take all titles in 2018!

As always, there were some splendid players who could not make the list, such as Nadia Nadim, Pernille Harder, Luka Modric, David De Gea, Gianluigi Buffon, Mohamed Salah...

Tottenham-Queens Park Rangers

I have not had much time to watch football, as other things are currently more worrying here in Liberia. Today I did watch my first match for a while, as I tried to forget all other things around me. I had already thought that Mauricio Pochettino's Tottenham would be one of the most interesting teams to watch this season.
And this was the first match I watched with them this season, and it was certainly worth it. Tottenham played a great match, with players like Erik Lamela (two assists), Emanuel Adebayor (one goal and one assist), Nacer Chadli (two goals) and Christian Eriksen all playing fantastic. 4-0 was none too small a victory for a team that will grow in confidence with this.

London derby

Tottenham and Chelsea are two great sides with two very unlikeable coaches (and I am not saying they are bad coaches). Today's derby in London was more about the two Portuguese coaches, Mourinho and Villas-Boas, than about the two great sides facing one another. It was a pity, since there was so much to be excited about in the match!
Tottenham started as by far the best side, dominating the match against Chelsea, who were not finding their way. It was a good combination between Christian Eriksen and Roberto Soldado which led to Gylfi Sigurdsson's goal, and Paulinho also had chances to bring Tottenham further ahead. In the second half Chelsea started putting pressure on Tottenham, who had to pull back. The deserved equalizer came from John Terry in what was a great match.
Both teams will be in the fight for the title, and both coaches will continue being unlikeable.

Euro qualifiers

I am delighted to say that I have found a nice bar to watch football and drink beer in Caracas, with a great atmosphere, down-to-earth friendly crowd, and most important, beer. It was there I watched Spain's qualifier against the Czech Republic. After many years of success, the Czech have become a quite ordinary team, and Spain's world champions dominated completely. Still, in spite of the fact that David Villa with 2 goals became the most scoring player in the history of Spanish national teams, Spain seems to have an attacking problem! With a possession of 80% and numerable passes, it is surprising that the team does not kick on target more often, and their 2-1 victory seems way too small, also considering that the Czech's were ahead at halftime, after only shooting on target once!
The world champions play well, but one must also consider that they were the team in the history of World Cups that won with scoring the least goals! They are not defensive in the traditional sense of the word, but their defensiveness lies in their extraordinary amount of possession.
There is no doubt Spain will qualify from their easy group, but it will be interesting to watch them against some of the stronger opponents!

Denmark and Norway were playing in Oslo in their qualifying group in a clash of teams that is always bound to bring forth Scandinavian rivalry. I watched the match on Arab TV on my computer, and was happy to see a Danish side that played intelligently and held possession against a Norwegian team that as always, plays some of the most primitive and boring football in the world (if Norway had been the birthplace of football, it would never have become a world sport, but would rather be as popular as cross-country skiing), but are always dangerous. Denmark went ahead, and seemed in control, but in the end the match ended 1-1, a fine result for Denmark, although from watching the match, the Danes should have decided the match. Christian Eriksen, the young talented Danish playmaker is still too young, over-eager, and not cool enough when it counts.
Norway is leading the group with Portugal in second spot, but I do not believe they will hold on to that place. In the end, the battle for second spot after Portugal will take place in Copenhagen between these same Scandinavian rivals.