NOS Voetbal•gisteren, 19:56
View the abstract of Slovenia – Denmark
Three years in the past, all of Europe held its breath as Christian Eriksen fought for his life on the pitch in Copenhagen. At his first European Championship match since that day, the dynamic and at instances inimitable Eriksen handled soccer followers to a masterclass, particularly within the first half.
“To be trustworthy, I did not take into consideration something aside from soccer,” mentioned the Manchester United midfielder, who gave Denmark the lead after greater than fifteen minutes. “My story may be very totally different now. Fortunately I’ve performed loads of video games since that incident and I’m assured in my physique. I used to be simply completely satisfied to play and had in my head that I had by no means scored at a European Championship.”
Nonetheless, Eriksen’s early 1-0 was not sufficient for a Danish victory over Slovenia, as a result of within the remaining part Erik Janza shot the Slovenians at 1-1 towards the chances.
With England and Serbia as the subsequent opponents in group C of the European Championship in Germany, qualifying for the subsequent spherical will probably be fairly a process for each groups. These two groups will play their opening match on Sunday at 9 p.m.
Previous
Slovenia has solely taken half within the European Championship as soon as earlier than. That debut in 2000 when the European Championships have been organized within the Netherlands and Belgium didn’t go unnoticed.
Within the tense opening match towards Yugoslavia (which on the time solely consisted of Serbia and Montenegro), the Slovenians took a 3-0 lead because of star Zlatko Zahovic, however gave up that lead within the remaining part. In the end, the European Championship ended for the Slovenians with two attracts and a defeat within the group stage.
AFP Denmark’s gamers encompass Christian Eriksen after his cardiac arrest in the course of the European Championship match towards Finland in 2021.
For normal European Championship buyer Denmark, the earlier European Championship continues to be contemporary within the reminiscence. Three years in the past towards Finland, the house crowd in Copenhagen fell silent when Christian Eriksen collapsed on the sphere. Eriksen’s life was saved and with their star participant in thoughts, the Danes discovered themselves stranded on the edge of the ultimate.
In Stuttgart, Eriksen – with an inside defibrillator – was there once more towards the Slovenians, similar to a 12 months in the past when Denmark and Slovenia shared the factors within the European Championship qualifying (1-1) in Ljubljana.
Eriksen scores
It was exactly 32-year-old Eriksen, who dominated the sphere like an actual quantity ten, that opened the rating for the Danes after greater than fifteen minutes.
Striker Jonas Wind obtained the ball from a throw-in, fooled defender Vanja Drkusic – who, like Zahovic’s son Luka, has a previous with SC Heerenveen – with a backheel and set Eriksen free in entrance of the objective.
The previous Ajax participant didn’t hesitate and left Atlético Madrid goalkeeper Jan Oblak with out a likelihood.
Eriksen provides Denmark the lead towards Slovenia
The objective was a logical consequence of the big dominance that the Danes had in that preliminary part, though Benjamin Sesko did give his calling card simply earlier than the 1-0 with a ball that narrowly missed the submit.
The coveted Slovenian striker broke by means of at RB Leipzig this season and has scored a minimum of as soon as in his final seven league matches.
Moments later, Sesko was virtually answerable for the Danish 2-0, when a tough cross from Eriksen by accident collided with teammate Jan Mlakar through his leg. After that fantastic carom, the hopeless goalkeeper Oblak was relieved to see the ball roll previous.
Eriksen remained elusive for his Slovenian opponents all through the primary half, who actually had nothing to supply towards the dynamic Danish mixture play.
AFPChristian Eriksen was elusive within the first half towards Slovenia.
The one blemish for the Danes was that it was solely 1-0, particularly after Eriksen was launched once more by Wind simply earlier than half time, however shot wildly over.
Embarrassed
After the break, the Danes have been briefly embarrassed when everybody – together with goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel – let a throw-in bounce previous the objective.
The subsequent Slovenian throw-in additionally induced panic among the many Danes and aid when the Swiss referee Sandro Schärer and the VAR didn’t choose the holding of Andraz Sporar by Joachim Andersen (former FC Twente) as a violation.
Then it was Denmark’s flip once more: Andreas Christensen – presently a midfielder at Barcelona, however nonetheless a man-marker for the Danes – headed narrowly extensive and Rasmus Højlund failed to seek out the online from shut vary.
Slovenia’s equalizer: Janza hits the ball through Hjulmand’s buttocks
The Danes failed to extend the rating and so the Slovenians continued to consider of their likelihood. That additionally got here through Sporar, however to the aid of the Danes the ball didn’t go into the objective.
A fantastic strike from Sesko towards the submit ought to have woken the Danes up utterly, however lower than a minute later Slovenia had achieved the coveted 1-1.
Left again Erik Janza shot a deflected nook untenably into the Danish objective through the physique of Morten Hjulmand. “I might have been happier with three factors,” Eriksen mentioned afterwards. “Let this be a wake-up name for us.”
