Both Denmark and England enter their Group C match in a slightly uneasy state of mind. Neither were especially impressive in their opening matches against Slovenia and Serbia, respectively, though England did at least manage to get through their match with all three points and a clean sheet.
By Ian King
Indeed, their performances seemed to somewhat mirror each other. Both started positively, and scored a narrative-laden goal within twenty minutes after spells of fresh, attacking football. But both seemed to run out of steam, and the only difference between the two teams was Serbia didn’t take their one big chance, while Slovenia did.
There is further reason to believe that this could be an extremely tight game. Three years ago, these two met in the semi-final of this competition at Wembley and it took an extra-time rebound from a saved penalty kick to separate them. England won on that occasion, but only by an extremely narrow margin, and on home territory.
And it can hardly be said that Denmark don’t have a history of upsetting England in this very competition. In October 1983, with Euro ‘84 only featuring eight teams, an Allan Simonsen penalty at Wembley knocked England out. It was, with the benefit of hindsight, one of the first flowerings of the great Denmark team of the mid-1980s.
But that was forty years ago, and on the evidence of their opening match there’s not much ‘great’ about Denmark’s class of ‘24. Unable to build upon the platform that Christian Eriksen’s goal had given them against Slovenia, they were stung with a sucker punch. Rasmus Højlund seemed to be all heat and no light, and he needs to be a greater source of Denmark goals than he has of late.
Jude Bellingham remains the lightning rod around which hopes English are gathered, and there was little against Serbia to suggest that he can’t come good on that implied promise. There should also be better to come from Harry Kane; England’s attacking options generally remain strong, Phil Foden notwithstanding.
But the midfield didn’t work out against Serbia, and crowbarring Foden into the team didn’t seem to do anyone any favours. Fix that conundrum and get better service to Kane, and England are capable of much better, though the defence remains an obvious concern. It’s difficult to see similar room for improvement in Denmark, but history shows us they’re plenty capable of causing a surprise.
(Cover image from IMAGO)
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