Pierre-Emile Höjbjerg’s tears revealed a lot about the emotional turmoil in Danish football: joy, melancholy, emotion and pride overwhelmed Denmark’s playmaker after making it into the semi-finals. Höjbjerg buried his face in the jersey of his comforting colleague Thomas Delaney. “I felt he could use a hug,” said Delaney later with a grin, “all feelings have broken out of him.”
Denmark’s film-ready EM script continues to take shape. Exactly three weeks after the initial shock with Christian Eriksen’s cardiac arrest and the 0-1 defeat against Finland, the team reached the semi-finals on Saturday evening with a 2-1 (2-0) against the Czech Republic. It was the third win in a row after a 4: 1 in the final group game against Russia and a 4: 0 in the round of 16 against Wales. They did not succeed in another party with four goals, although the television spontaneously caught a Danish fan in the stands who sang “fire, fire, fire, nul” after the early 1-0 lead.
This 1-0 lead, however, followed a corner gift from Dutch referee Björn Kuipers. Six days after the Czech Republic had knocked the Netherlands out of the tournament in the round of 16, Kuipers gave a completely unjustified corner for Denmark in the fifth minute for inexplicable reasons, which Jens Stryger kicked and Dortmund’s Delaney headed to 1-0.
The Czech Republic missed the first semi-finals since 2004
Kasper Dolberg increased three minutes before the break after a clever flank from Joakim Maehle to 2-0 with a nice direct pick-up, but the Czechs came back when Patrik Schick from Leverkusen reduced it to 1: 2 four minutes after the break. It was his fifth tournament goal, which made him level with the Portuguese Cristiano Ronaldo. However, Schick did not want to achieve a sixth goal. He was replaced with an injury eleven minutes before the end, and after that the Czechs were hardly able to develop a goal threat. So the game ended without another hit. The Czech Republic missed the first semi-finals since 2004.
For the Danes, the fifth tournament match was the first without a recognizable home advantage, because after three real home games in Copenhagen and another in front of about 12,000 fans in Amsterdam, the about 1,500 Danish fans in Baku were not so clearly audible. However, this did not detract from a passionate and effective first half. In the second half the Danish players were increasingly breathless by the humid air of Azerbaijan, but they didn’t deserve their narrow lead against the Czechs, who were also declining. “It wasn’t our best game,” said Delaney, but could cope with this shortcoming.
Whether they actually make it into the final will be shown on Wednesday in London. In 1992 Denmark had won the European Championship final against Germany, to which the Czech Republic lost its European Championship final four years later. For the first time since 2004, the Czechs were among the best teams at an EM. “Not many people believed in us,” said Schick after the defeat, “but we have shown that we can keep up with the big ones.”
“What a crazy trip it is,” says Thomas Delaney from Dortmund
They would have liked to go to the showdown in London, but the Danes are now allowed to go to Wembley. “What a crazy trip is this,” Delaney said, not as a question but as a statement. “The wings of sympathy carry us on,” said coach Kasper Hjulmand, “and we give something back to everyone who keeps their fingers crossed for us back home.”
Delaney was asked at the press conference whether they dream of the title, but instead of giving an answer, he referred to Denmark’s sensational European Championship win in 1992. “My generation grew up with the legends of that time,” he said with a smile. And if you wanted to, you could read a dream out of Delaney’s smile just as he did in Höjbjerg’s tears.