Danes undone by disputed England penalty at Euro 2020Hjulmand and Schmeichel in no need of extra motivation One famous Dane once spent a lot of time weighing up the pros and cons of revenge, before opting to indulge in “bloody thoughts”. Hamlet’s approach, it appears, will not be taken by Denmark when they face England in Frankfurt. Kasper Hjulmand’s side were defeated in the semi-finals of Euro 2020 by a penalty won by Raheem Sterling, a decision that was “­borderline, let’s say it that way”, in the words of Brentford’s Danish ­manager, Thomas Frank. But ­speaking on Wednesday night in the depths of the ­Frankfurt Arena, ­Hjulmand and his goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel said the past was behind them. Continue reading...

Captain can drop deep or play as a classic No 9 and will mix it up depending on the opponent and the state of the game Wembley Stadium, 7 July 2021, a crisis brewing. Denmark are 1-0 up against England in the Euro 2020 semi-final, Mikel Damsgaard’s free-kick catching Jordan Pickford out, and the hosts are beginning to panic. And so Harry Kane drops deep. All tournament long, people have questioned why he drops deep. Why isn’t England’s No 9 in the box? Why is he so far from goal? Is it ego that makes him think he’s a No 10? Well, here’s the answer. Receiving the ball midway inside Denmark’s half, Kane controls with his left foot and then, with no backlift, plays a defence-splitting pass with his right. Away goes Bukayo Saka, streaking clear on the right, and when the winger’s low cross ends up being turned into his own goal by Simon Kjaer, England are back on the victory path. Continue reading...

Sign up now! Sign up now! Sign up now? Sign up now! Sometimes, it’s hard to be the main man. And it’s thus far been a mixed Euros for the alphas. Luka Modric got enveloped in Rodri’s spider’s web. Toni Kroos’s month-long mic drop began with giving John McGinn the pure runaround. Memphis Depay’s attempt to look and act like legendary NBA maverick Allan Iverson saw him overshadowed by big Wout Weghorst once the getting-it-launched button was pushed. Christian Eriksen staged that beautiful Lazarus moment then ran out of gas in the manner that marred his second season at Manchester United. Just wondering how you feel about D Man assisting for Romania at the Euros? I presume he got sick of having to supervise your ‘work’ and moved on to better things” – Patrick Fahy. With all the talk about complexities such as positional versus relational (or whatever it is), you can understand if footballers sometimes forget the basics these days. Obviously, Ukraine can be forgiven more than most for having other things on their mind. Perhaps they should enlist a certain stalwart of Nominative Determinism FC and simply Mark D Man?” – Mark Read. It’s often said the war between Britain and Spain was caused by Jenkin’s Ear. Who knows what will happen from the War Of Mbappé’s Nose?” – Kev McCready. This is an extract from our daily Euros football email … Euro 2024 Daily. To get the full version, just visit this page and follow the instructions. Continue reading...

Sign up now! Sign up now! Sign up now? Sign up now! There’s something about the human brain that means it enjoys both stories and repeating patterns. So when we put those two things together we create magic that sustains our species and our planet. Consider – to pluck an example out of the air – the Euros. Roundabout tea-time on Sunday, everything was going nicely. Germany had got the good vibes and host nation going, thrashing the zany Tartan Army; Spain played beautifully in ravaging Croatia; Burnley goal-machine Wout Weghorst reprised his World Cup heroics against Poland; and Slovenia forced our first surprise-point, battling to a draw with Denmark for whom Christian Eriksen scored an affirming opener; lovely stuff. As uninspiring as our record in major tournament finals is, it feels quite harsh of Friday’s Euro 2024 Daily to completely erase our 3-0 victory over the very of-the-time CIS in 1992 and the 1-0 victory over the ever-neutral Swiss courtesy of the UK’s favourite co-commentator Ally McCoist at Euro 96. Given the all-too-infrequent nature of our tournament wins, to delete 40% of them from history feels like a cheap gut-punch. Of course, this email was written before our infamous [Snip – Euro 2024 Daily letters Ed]” – David Weaver (and 1,056 others). May I also remind you of the glorious but ultimately futile 3-2 win against the Netherlands in 1978? Now there’s a country some people who saw the World Cup final that year might have heard of. Unfortunately, we’re good at futile. I’d get out more, but there’s Euro 2024 on, you know” – Gyan David Sharan. Friday’s Euro 2024 Daily mentioned AC/DC and their song Rock & Roll Train. Reviewing the album containing that track, Black Ice, for Big Website, Alexis Petridis described AC/DC’s sound as ‘like Noel Edmonds’ hairstyle: it was hoisted into place at some point in 1974 and has remained almost entirely unaltered since”. Most people in football admire that sort of consistency with envy; in recent times, only the underperformance of expensive signings at Manchester United or high-profile managers at Chelsea even look like coming close” – Ed Taylor. Continue reading...

Christian Eriksen's brilliant first half goal wasn't enough to secure the Danes victory as Slovenia impress in the second half to secure a draw in the opening Group C match at the Stuttgart Arena.

When Christian Eriksen collapsed in Denmark’s opening game of the Euros three years ago, his unconscious body surrounded by his teammates as he received CPR, what then would have seemed a reasonable hope for the future? To survive? To lead a relatively normal life? To resume his career? Did anybody in those dreadful moments think he might play at the next Euros? Even the most optimistic, surely, could not have foreseen a performance quite like this. But football can be dreadfully capricious: brilliant as Eriksen was, it was not enough to deliver a win for Denmark. Perhaps Slovenia, at their first major tournament since 2010, were slightly overawed. Perhaps the plan was always to bide their time. Perhaps Benjamin Verbic, who came on after 67 minutes, really does make that much difference. But for them, the final 30 minutes could hardly have been more different from the first hour and in the end, having seemed at times to be hanging on, Erik Janza’s equaliser felt thoroughly deserved. Continue reading...

Watch as Christian Eriksen fires Denmark ahead with dream goal against Slovenia in the Group C opener, three years after suffering cardiac arrest at Euro 2020.

Updates from the 5pm kick-off in StuttgartThe complete guide to all 622 players in GermanyGet in touch! Email your thoughts to Tim 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 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. Continue reading...