There were twenty-five seconds remaining when at last the nerves fell away and they knew. Marta Cardona leapt at the far post to meet Olga Carmona’s cross, guiding a header into the net and Spain into the quarter-final, substitutes and staff liberated and streaming from the bench to greet her. It had been edgy and far from easy but they had done it, setting up a meeting with England. Denmark, ultimately, had not quite done enough. Lars Søndergaard’s side, led by Pernille Harder, had sought their moment, the single goal they needed to go through, but it was Spain that eventually got it.
The Danish manager had admitted that his side would have less of the ball, prepared to protect and counter. There had been times when it looked like the plan might pay off, especially in the first half and it took a superb late save by Sandra Paños, whose mistake had been so costly against Germany, to see Spain through. In the end though Denmark fell short, wondering what might have been.
“They had teary eyes,” Søndergaard said of his players. “We had the chances, it was so close. But that’s how it is: it’s the group of death [and] unfortunately we were the ones that died but we fought for our lives.” Jorge Vilda’s players live to fight another day, two substitutes combining to get the breakthrough. “We deserved it, even if we weren’t at our best,” Aitana Bonmatí said.
To begin with Denmark’s 4-5-1 unfolded fast and to good effect, Denmark quick and direct, Janni Thomsen finding space into which to advance, Kathrine Kühl impressing and Harder increasingly difficult to control. It was her dash that almost set up Karen Holmgaard and she who raced clear to lob wide in an impressive opening. Next she outran Mapi León to draw a near post save from Paños.
Denmark had begun well, Katrine Veje’s run leading to Thomsen falling under challenge from Athenea del Castillo and appealing for a penalty, and Spain looked decidedly uncomfortable. Slowly, though, they gained some control, Mariona Caldentey heading over and Ona Batlle delivering a ball from which Del Castillo couldn’t get a clean contact.
If Spain rarely made clear openings, they might have led when a lovely exchange set up Caldentey. That time Lene Christensen had to make a sharp stop; a moment later from a looping, gentle cross she could only get a finger on the ball, a scramble ensuing. Irene Paredes’s header was then cleared off the line. Still there was no way through for either side, Paredes blocking Rikke Madsen’s shot at the start of the second half –and that was the way it would play out, almost to the very end.
Spain continued to seek the goal that Denmark needed with Carmona, one of three changes at the break, hitting the side netting. The shift would prove decisive, but it would take a long time to reveal that. A draw would see Spain through, they knew, but if time was theoretically on their side and the ball was almost exclusively theirs now, the margins narrowed and the nerves grew. “We only had two minutes of calm,” Vilda said afterwards.
Not surprisingly with Harder on the prowl, another long ball seeing her singlehandedly taking on three defenders and hitting over. If Denmark were struggling to get possession and seemingly accepting that they might get only one shot, she is certainly good enough to take it. Increasingly alone, with twenty minutes remaining, Søndergaard decided the time had come to accompany her, Nadia Nadim and Stine Larsen were introduced.
The impact was almost immediate and the moment might have been Nadim’s before it was Cardona’s. Harder made it, again making something of not much, rolling her marker and laying off brilliantly. Nadim’s rising shot was pushed away by Paños. Although that was the last time Denmark mustered a shot, that didn’t release the tension during the ten minutes that remained. Only Cardona could do that, eventually.
