Tournament play began in earnest in Group B. The first match was Denmark vs. Finland in Copenhagen. Fans are finally back in the stands. Twenty-five thousand fans were in attendance [stadium capacity 40,000]. It was a party atmosphere in Copenhagen. The first half was very physical. Bodies from both sides were flying all over the place. It was a well-played, physical game. Denmark was the better team, but Finland refused to go away. Then at 42:10, it happened - Denmark midfielder Christian Eriksen collapsed onto the pitch. His teammates and Finnish players both knew immediately it was something serious. The party atmosphere had suddenly gone quiet.
Quickly, as the medical staff attended to Eriksen, his teammates formed a circle around him to shield him from view. The medical staff began to perform CPR on Eriksen. It quickly became a situation where you hope for the best and fear the worst outcome. After approximately ten minutes Eriksen was placed on a stretcher and taken to the hospital. As he lie on the stretcher, Eriksen was conscious. Players on both sides were clearly distressed.
Eleven minutes after Eriksen’s collapse, UEFA suspended the match.. There is good news – at 1:51pm CDT ESPN announced that Christian Eriksen had spoken with his teammates by phone from the hospital. A couple of minutes later, the Denmark-Finland match resumed. They picked up from the moment Eriksen collapsed to finish out the first half. As it happened, ESPN commentator Efan Ekoku opined that he didn’t know how this match could continue today. I’m not the king of UEFA, but if I were they wouldn’t have resumed today. There’s enough fluff in the schedule to allow the players a couple of days to get their heads together. I’d seen what happened to Borussia Dortmund after their team bus was attacked by a bomb years ago. The game that was to be played that day was postponed 24 hours, but the players were clearly not in that game [which they lost]. I feel the same for the Danish team today. After such a traumatic thing happened to their teammate, those players weren’t ready to continue today. Apparently, the players had two options – finish the game today or resume it at 2pm tomorrow. They chose to finish today after speaking with Eriksen.
What about the rest of the game? After a five-minute halftime, play resumed. The score was still 0-0. Denmark continued to dominate the game as they had in the first half. Finland attempted only one shot on goal the entire game, but they made it count. Forward Joel Pohjanpalo [Union Berlin] made a very impressive header while diving for a cross from teammate Jere Uronen. The resulting goal celebration was a subdued one. Denmark's Yussuf Poulsen won a penalty when he went down under slight contact in the 73rd minute and midfielder Pierre Emil Hojbjerg stepped up to take the spot kick. This kick would normally be taken by Eriksen. Hojbjerg took the kick, but it was easily saved by Finnish goalie Lukáš Hrádecký [Bayer Leverkusen]. Denmark threw everything they had at Finland, who absorbed every shot the Danes took at them. The final score – Finland 1, Denmark 0. Finland’s next game is against Russia on the 16th. Denmark’s next game is against Belgium the following day.
I recorded this game on DVR as I slept in today. When I woke up I got the news about Eriksen. As I watched the replay from earlier today, although I knew of what happened to Eriksen it was still hard to watch. I imagine it is gut-wrenching for his family to watch him being worked on by the Danish medical staff while 25,000 people were watching in person. I knew what was coming and I still has watery eyes.
As the Denmark-Finland match was finishing, the Belgium-Russia match got underway in St. Petersburg. A telling sight occurred right before kickoff. As both teams assembled on the field waiting for the whistle, all players from the Belgian side and the Spanish referee took a knee. The Russian side pointedly did not. Whether this was a nod to the current racism problem in European football [especially in Eastern Europe] or if it was in tribute to Christian Eriksen, I don’t know. Several Belgian national team players have been or are current teammates of Christian Eriksen.
Once a game of football broke out, Belgium was comfortably the better team. They possessed the ball for 66 percent of the game, playing mostly in the Russian zone. Belgian forward Romelu Lukaku [Inter Milan] scored the opening goal only ten minutes into the match. It was his 61st international goal. In the 25th minute there was a nasty head-to-head collision between Belgian defender Thomas Castagne and Russian midfielder Daler Kuzyaev. Both players had to be substituted off the field as neither could continue. Thomas Munier [Borussia Dortmund] came on for Castagne while Denis Cheryshev replaced Kuzyaev.
When play resumed Belgium’s defense started to press the Russians higher up the pitch. The tactical change yielded immediate dividends. The Russians didn’t have an answer. Belgian midfielder Thorgan Hazard [who also plays for Borussia Dortmund] put a shot on goal at the 34th minute. Russian goalie Anton Shunin made the save, but his deflection came straight to Thomas Munier who put the ball in the back of the empty net. It was a gift of a goal. Belgium led 2-0 going into halftime.
As the second half resumed, so did Belgium’s dominance of Russia. Russia threatened a couple of times, but the Belgians had no trouble with Russian pressure, such that it was. Belgium made two substitutions at the 72nd minute. Eden Hazard [Thorgan’s older brother] came on for midfielder Dries Mertens, while Thomas Vermaelen replaced defender Jan Vertonghen due to an ankle injury. Midfielder Yannick Carrasco also made way for Dennis Praet, who got his first major tournament experience. At the 88th minute, Lukaku put the game away with his second goal of the game. Final score – Belgium 3, Russia 0.
The Belgians are the highest ranked team in the world. They thoroughly outclassed the Russians today. The best comment I heard today about the state of play was that Belgium was playing their game in 3D, while Russia was stuck in 2D. Tried as they did, they never got on the scoreboard. The Russians are great hockey players, but this isn’t hockey. The Russian fans didn’t like seeing their team outclassed, but too bad. The Russians found out the difference between playing Saudi Arabia in the World Cup and the Belgians in Euro 2020. The best thing that can be said about the Russians is they didn’t cheat.
Unfortunately, I did not see today’s first game, a 1-1
draw between Wales and Switzerland.
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