Here’s Jonathan Wilson’s report from Stuttgart.
Time for me to go and have some scrambled eggs before the England game. Thanks for your company, correspondence, glimpses of Danish life and sympathy for the underdog. It was an entertaining game, lit up by a footballer who is universally popular, in Gary Neville’s words – Christian Eriksen. He created seven chances, struck five shots, took umpteen corners and free kicks, and may well have persuaded Man United not to offload him after all.
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Denmark won 64-36 on possession, 16-11 on shots, 9-5 on corners and 1.77-1.01 on xG. But they wasted some good chances and, in the end, couldn’t claim they were robbed. On big chances, according to Sofascore, it was 2-2.
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In case you’d like to see the equaliser too …
Moments after Sesko rattles the woodwork, Erik Janža pops up with an equaliser after a wicked deflection 💥#Euro2024 | #SVNDEN pic.twitter.com/8plnFWncZN
— ITV Football (@itvfootball) June 16, 2024
A good spot from Andy Flintoff. “Slovenia tried the first-time shot from the edge of the box after a corner twice in the first half, so it was a case of third time lucky for them.”
Yes, a definite plan – they were overhitting the corners on purpose, so the big guys who seemed to be going up for the headers were mainly decoys, with a sideline in shielding Janza from anyone racing out to close him down.
“Fluky as any deflected goal is,” says Kári Tulinius, “Slovenia’s equaliser was thoroughly deserved. As an Icelander, I remember well how an unexpected result in the first match can set an underdog campaign alight.”
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That result, while maddening for the Danes, is very handy for England. For live coverage of their game against Serbia in Gelsenkirchen, do join Daniel Harris.
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And here is that gorgeous goal.
It just had to be him!
— ITV Football (@itvfootball) June 16, 2024
Christian Eriksen scores on his return to the European Championships 🙌#Euro2024 | #SVNDEN pic.twitter.com/sW6MeOkgUY
A fairytale with an unhappy ending
The first half was all about Eriksen, who scored a great goal and ran the show. It felt like a fairytale after all he has been through – something by Hans Christian Eriksen. But then came a late twist. A rocket of a shot from Erik Janza took a deflection that defeated Kaspar Schmeichel, and Denmark couldn’t summon another moment of magic. So, for the second time in three games between these sides, it’s 1-1. For Slovenia, it’s a point well won; for Denmark, two points squandered.
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FULL TIME! Slovenia 1-1 Denmark
A game of two goals. And two halves.
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90+4 min Slovenia make one last sub to use up some time. In fact two – both defenders for forwards, so off goes Sesko.
90+3 min As the Slovenian fans whistle, Denmark get the ball in the box, with no end product.
90+1 min The first of four added minutes, which should leave time for a chance or two. The Slovenian right-back, Karnicnik, tries his luck from 25 yards but can’t keep the ball down.
90 min Last throw of the dice from the Danes: Delaney replaces Hjulmand.
89 min There was a check for a penalty in there too, not given obviously. They’re doing them really quickly in this tournament: i’s almost as if some other competitions could learn from this.
87 min Poulsen does well to bring the ball out of defence for Denmark, but then he can’t find the one man in a position to run at the Slovenian back four – Eriksen.
85 min Denmark pile forward and string together some neat passes, which lead to a shot from Hjulmand, not quite middled. It was Wind, by the way, who gave way to Dolberg.
83 min Three more Danish subs: Poulsen for Højlund, Norgaard for Hojbjerg, and Dolberg for someone whose name I didn’t catch. But it wasn’t Eriksen, who seldom plays more than an hour for Man United. He is too central to Denmark, who are now in some danger of losing a game that they appeared to have in the bag.
81 min Chance! For Sporar, who does very well to shake off a defender, and not well at all to blast into the side netting.
79 min Before the goal, Slovenia brought two subs on – Celar for Maklar and Gorenc Stankovic for Elsnik. Now Denmark make their first change, replacing Kristiansen with Maehle.
78 min The ball was swung over from a corner on the right. Janza, hovering on the edge of the box, had time to line it up and he hit it magnificently – with a deflection to make sure Schmeichel had no chance.
GOAL! Slovenia 1-1 Denmark (Janza 77)
Another screamer!
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75 min Chance! Sesko tries another of his screamers, gets a deflection, and hits the post. And then …
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74 min Chance! Slovenia win a free kick in a dangerous area, five yards out from the corner of the box. It’s superbly hit by Janza – drilled and curled at the same time – but Sporar’s flick goes wide of the near post. He might have been offside anyway.
71 min Slovenia brought on the first sub of the game a few minutes ago – Benjamin Verbic for Petar Stojanovic, perhaps as a result of that rather harsh yellow card.
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70 min Slovenia are having a decent spell, but they’re also leaving gaps. Eriksen slips Højlund through and he wins a corner. Meanwhile one of the Slovenian coaches has picked up a yellow card, I’m not sure why.
67 min Chance! At the other end. A beautiful through ball sends Slovenia away down the left, only for the man in the middle, Gnezda Cerin I think, to make a mess of the header.
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65 min Save! As Højlund bears down on him, Oblak keeps Slovenia in it by making himself big and meeting a toe-poke with his torso.
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62 min Denmark’s turn to wreck a decent move with an overhit ball, this one a cross. The crowd have reached that stage in the game when they concentrate on amusing themselves.
60 min As the hour glass flips over, Slovenia have two promising openings. One is kiboshed by Sesko being given offside – rather questionably – and the other by a badly overhit pass from midfield.
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59 min For a couple of minutes, not much happens, so I’m able to glance at the mail. “Writing from the west coast of Canada,” says Tristan Sharp, “as someone who sort of supports Slovenia because I had a nice vacation there. No insight on this match, but what a summer to be a Slovenian sports fan, with the Euros, Luka still alive in the NBA finals and Pogačar going for the Giro-Tour double.”
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56 min And now Eriksen produces a lovely dummy to let a diagonal ball reach Højlund. He just can’t stop being the story.
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54 min From the resulting free kick, Denmark go close to a second as a header goes just wide. The free kick was whipped in, of course, by Eriksen.
53 min One brings two on the card front: Stojanovic, rather harsh in my book.
50 min A flicker of hope for Slovenia as a long throw from the left causes confusion in the Danish box. And then a long throw from the right follows suit as it lures Schmeichel into a failed punch, only for the ball to bounce past both the lurking forwards. There’s a check for a penalty too, not given.
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49 min The first yellow card of the match goes to Morten Hjulmand, for manhandling Benjamin Sesko. He can’t complain, though he still does.
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47 min Højlund charges forward in the inside-right channel. He looks more at home in this team than playing for his club.
46 min Denmark get the second half underway.
Player of the half
Christian Eriksen’s half by numbers vs. Slovenia [RANK]:
— Statman Dave (@StatmanDave) June 16, 2024
92% pass accuracy
8 crosses [🥇]
4 shots [🥇]
3 chances created [🥇]
1 goal [🥇]
Cooking back at #️⃣🔟. 🇩🇰🇩🇰🇩🇰 pic.twitter.com/1W37Om0JnH
A nice detail from the ITV panel. The throw-in that brought the goal was won by Højlund, who received a long flat ball from Schmeichel, held it up, laid it off and charged down the right-hand channel. So not just a great individual goal: a fine team goal too.
Eriksen’s goal was the only shot on target so far. But what a shot it was – hit on the half-volley, at full stretch, with Eriksen deliberately falling away to his left so the ball went to Oblak’s right.
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“Hi again Tim.” says John Moloney. “Looking good so far. Your comment about the Danish team singing will have raised a wry smile amongst any English ‘tilflytter’ here. Singing is such a big thing here. School. Work. Parties. Whatever, Danes sing. Weird but great. So yes, all the Danes learned to sing as soon as they could talk. They can’t be stopped.”
HALF-TIME! Slovenia 0-1 Denmark (Eriksen 17)
You can guess whose face is on the screen as we come to the end of a half that has been dominated by Denmark. Their only problem is that they should be 3-0 up.
45 min Just the one minute of added time. Eriksen took at least that long to register the shock of his goal.
42 min Eriksen shows he’s only human after all by making a poor choice. He takes a shot from the D but leaves it too long, allowing a defender to block. And then he finds Row Z with a better chance, near the penalty spot, after a fine cutback from Wind.
Henrik Halkier, this one’s for you.
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39 min A sweet move from the Danes culminates in Eriksen having another shot, with his left foot for a change. Janza gets in a good block.
37 min Slovenia get in the Danish box after some stout hold-up play from Sesko and a dangerous cross from the right. They get a corner, only to fritter it away with a series of square passes and an offside.
35 min Eriksen is playing the way he used to for Spurs, and the way he did for Man United in his first season, at the same time. He fizzes in a cross, then takes another corner. From such a self-effacing guy, it’s been a one-man show.
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31 min Another glimmer for Slovenia as they win the ball in midfield and get a three-on-three, but the final pass is a waste.
30 min The player of the match so far, by a street, is Christian Eriksen.
30 min A half-chance for Andraz Sporar, racing through the middle, but he can’t get on top of an awkward bounce.
28 min Eriksen again ghosts into the centre-forward zone as Bah whips a cross in. Bah had won the ball with a push, but the ref didn’t seem to see it. The upshot is a corner and a follow-up cross from Eriksen, struck with plenty of swazz, nearly brings an own goal.
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24 min Both teams are mixing short passes with long ones. Slovenia go long now and Peter Stojanovic, charging in from the right, is almost clean through. While still not very interested in possession, the Slovenians look as if they have a goal in them.
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23 min Eriksen’s goal brought a nice tribute from Ally McCoist, who said: “I’m already looking forward to seeing it again at half-time.”
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22 min Both corners were hit long, looking for shots from the edge of the box. One attempt was impeded by a team-mate’s header, another blocked by a Danish defender.
21 min Slovenia respond with their first flowing move and win a corner, then another.
18 min That was a lovely moment and a gorgeous goal to boot. A quick throw on the right, a flick-on by Wind, a chest-down and a crisp finish. Wind knew exactly where Eriksen was. And Eriksen celebrated with all the delight that you would if you’d gone through what he went through to get here.
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GOAL!! Slovenia 0-1 Denmark (Eriksen 17)
Fairytale stuff.
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16 min Close! Sesko, abandoning delicacy for a screamer that goes just wide. And then …
15 min The first good touch from Benjamin Sesko, dropping deep, turning and playing a delicate little pass for such a big man.
13 min The Danes are finding pockets of space so easily that you wonder why they didn’t dominate the group.
11 min Eriksen is centre-stage again, taking a free kick. He delivers a chip with some whip that lands on Andreas Christensen’s head. He can’t keep it down, but it’s the first attempt of the night.
9 min Janza does better at the other end, sliding in to thwart Wind (I think) after a cute little ball from Eriksen to Højlund – outside of the foot, flicked forwards – that felt like a gentle reproach to Erik ten Hag for losing faith in Eriksen.
8 min Slovenia’s left-back, Erik Janza, floats in a cross, but it’s too floaty for its own good, floating all the way past the far post.
7 min A lovely lofted through ball finds Jonas Wind, who can’t get a shot away. The flag goes up anyway, but he looked level with two defenders.
6 min Slovenia finally come to the party, escaping from their third with some deft touches.
3 min There’s a pause as Rasmus Højlund takes a knock, and then the Danish passing exercise resumes. So far, the final ball hasn’t been there.
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2 min A long ball from the Slovenian defence comes to nothing, so Schmeichel gets his first touch and then the Danes string together about 20 passes. They’re bossing it already.
1 min Slovenia kick off. They’re in all white, Denmark all red.
The captains swap pennants and exchange a warm hug. They’re both goalies – Jan Oblak, making his big-tournament debut, and Kaspar Schmeichel.
We’ve had the anthems, each as rousing as the other. At a wild guess, I’d say more of Denmark’s players have done time in the school choir. Or the school band.
An email from Boston. “Echoing Henrik,” says Henry Rutherford, “MBM a pleasure to read compared to local coverage (although CBS has improved things somewhat during Champions League ties).” The masterplan is working… “Thoughts on TAA vs. Gallagher for England’s final midfield spot?”
For me, it has to be Trent’s creativity against the lesser teams, and Gallagher’s industry against the big ones.
The teams are on the field in Stuttgart. And the stands are packed – a wall of red, a wall of white and blue.
Another email from Denmark. “Looking forward to your MBM tonight,” says John Moloney. “Following in Sorø, not so far from Copenhagen. Rooting for the Danes tonight (obviously) but Thursday will be tough when my two Anglo/Dansk sons will have to commit one way or the other...” Can’t they yell for a draw?
“Anyone know why Joakim Maehle benched? A Duracell bunny of a
player and has been great for the national team. I googled the Danish press but only found it he is back with his girlfriend after a two year break. Nice, of course, but not the clarification I sought.
“If you need a great music clip to keep Henrik happy [16:35], can anyone find the Danish fans singing ‘We are red, we are white’ at Parken after Eriksen collapsed? I tried but failed. People focus on the clip of the Finns and Danes exchanging ‘Christian’ and ‘Eriksen’ chants, which was also great, but the rendition of ‘We are red, we are white’ was very moving. I only wish I could find it.
“Kom nu Danmark!”
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Meanwhile, in America … “Here’s some hilarious action,” says Paul Berry, “from Memphis v New Mexico in the USL Championship (second division) last night.”
you will not see a funnier penalty call pic.twitter.com/z2yGaeSRIm
— John Morrissey (@USLTactics) June 16, 2024
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“Best name of the tournament so far?” says Adam Gostling. “Jonas Wind – marvellous.” Yes, and he may even be spellcheck-proof, which isn’t true of many players in this match. Not for the first time, I’m grateful to write for a paper that is famous for its typos.
The ITV panel have been talking about Christian Eriksen, for obvious reasons. “It’s very unusual,” says Gary Neville, “to find a player who is universally popular. Especially when he plays for Manchester United.”
The first email comes from Aalborg. “Very uneven efforts from Denmark throughout the qualification,” says Henrik Halkier, “but also some great games, hoping for a good one tonight! And now what I really wanted to say: keep up the good work, the Guardian’s MBMs are generally by far superior to the dreary pedestrian stuff we get served by DR, the national broadcaster. I find myself following games just because of the quality of the writing, the quirky references (which I usually don’t get) and, of course, the music videos. Make sure to have some of those for tonight’s game!”
Thanks, Henrik. I can’t quite promise that … but will do my level best to come up with a reference you don’t get.
Are you one of those MBM readers who think about writing in and never quite get round to it? If so, now might be a good time.
Teams in full: Denmark
Denmark (probable 3-4-1-2) Schmeichel; Andersen, Christensen, Vestergaard; Bah, Hjulmand, Højbjerg, Kristiansen; Eriksen; Wind, Højlund.
Subs: Ronnow, Hermansen, Kjær, Kristensen, Zanka, Mæhle, Jensen, Damsgaard, Norgaard, Delaney, Dolberg, Bruun Larsen, Skov Olsen, Dreyer, Poulsen.
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Teams in full: Slovenia
Slovenia (probable 4-4-2) Oblak; Karnicnik, Drkusic, Bijol, Janza; Stojanovic, Elsnik, Gnezda Cerin, Mlakar; Sporar, Sesko.
Subs: Belec, Vekic, Balkovec, Blazic, Brekalo, Kurtic, Horvat, Ilicic, Zeljkovic, Gorenc Stankovic, Verbic, Lovric, Zugelj, Vipotnik, Celar.
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Preamble
Hello and welcome to the smallest game of the day. It’s No 21 in the world against No 57, and it doesn’t even have any rarity value as Denmark and Slovenia know each other well from the group stage. But it should still be interesting.
If you like young meteors, it’s Rasmus Højlund against Benjamin Sesko. If you prefer old soldiers, it’s Christian Eriksen against Jan Oblak, who is (incongruously) playing in his first big tournament. If you like the smaller nations, here are two with only 8m people between them – 5.9m in Denmark, 2.1m in Slovenia.
If you’re a Brentford fan, you could be in for a feast in the final half-hour. And if you’re an England fan, you’ve got a certain amount of skin in this game. Either a draw or a Slovenia win will do nicely.
In qualifying, these teams collected the same number of points (22 from ten games). Denmark topped the group because they had the better of the head-to-heads, but not by much – they drew 1-1 away and won 2-1 at home. If the tie-break had been goal difference, Slovenia would have come top.
So although the Danes are firm favourites today, there’s a decent chance of an upset. Kick-off is at 6pm in Stuttgart, 5pm BST, and I’ll be back soon with the teams.
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