Key events
GOAL!! Slovenia 0-1 Denmark (Eriksen 17)
Fairytale stuff.
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.
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!”!”
Meanwhile, in America … “Here’s some hilarious action,” says PA Berry, “from Memphis v New Mexico in the USL Championship (second division) last night.”
“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.
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.
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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