Michael Grew
Parken Stadium, Copenhagen, Denmark
Wednesday 17th June
What a difference a game makes. 5 days ago, if I were to describe this match as a ‘must win’ for one of these teams, you might have been forgiven for assuming that the Danish had come a cropper in their home stadium against tournament newbies, Finland. However, their competent if slightly underwhelming 2-1 victory in the Parken Stadium meant that it was Belgium who came into today’s match needing to reverse their fortunes, after they were defeated in Russia by the same score. However, a combination of clinical finishing and rank bad luck means that, unless three points in their final game were enough to rescue them and take them through as one of the better-performing third-place teams, the Red Devils will almost certainly be joining Switzerland on the beach a few weeks early, as both countries open inquests into how two promising tournament campaigns could have gone so wrong, so quickly.
The focus since Saturday has been on Eden Hazard, Belgium’s star man, who was injured early on in Moscow. A decision as to whether he would be able to take part in proceedings was delayed until the last possible minute, but it was no good. The footage of Hazard holding back tears as he faced pre-match media was certainly moving, but one wonders whether, in hindsight, his team was right to focus so much attention on him, at the expense of the rest of a squad not exactly lacking in match-winning talent. As it was, they came out into the hostile environment of Denmark’s national stadium, and played like a team who believed not that they had lost a significant weapon from their arsenal, but rather every ounce of gunpowder, along with all the guns and munitions.
This is not to say that Denmark were entirely passive observers of this Belgian crisis of confidence, and it was their smart, organised play early on which really compounded Belgium’s issues. Delaney and Schöne, sitting in their familiar holding midfield roles, negated any Belgian attempted forays forward, while their crisp passing forward to the likes of Poulsen and Eriksen caused real concern for Roberto Martinez’ men. In truth, Denmark looked much more comfortable with this slightly more defensive set up than the more expansive style they adopted in the Finland game, and it will be interesting to see which they go for against the Russians on Monday.
After an opening 15 minutes in which Denmark had seen 70% of the ball, they finally seemed to remember that the idea of football is to actually do something with your possession, and Delaney fired a ball through to Eriksen. His shot from distance was always rising, clearing the bar by a good metre or two, but the crowd took the opportunity to increase the volume, willing the home side on.
It was in the 23rd minute that all of this possession finally paid off. Eriksen found himself in space around 30 yards out and, rather than shooting for once, he chipped a smart ball in behind the Belgian defence for Poulsen to run onto. As Alderweireld scrambled to reach him, there was some suggestion that Poulsen may have shoved the defender before slotting the ball into the corner past Courtois, which resulted in a VAR referral. However, the surprisingly swift response came back that it was a fair challenge, presumably of the ‘shoulder to shoulder’ variety, and the goal stood. The crowd went wild for a second time as the decision flashed up on the big screen, and Martinez allowed himself a wry smile and shake of the head. This affected good humour would not last for long however, as VAR took centre stage once more.
Moments after the restart, Belgium finally thought that they had got the slice of luck that had been evading them. The normally dependable Schöne played a square ball to nobody in particular, and De Bruyne pounced. With an electric turn of pace, he burst through the Danish defence, thanks in part to a ricochet up off Jorgensen’s boot, before squaring the ball to Lukaku, who rounded the keeper before slotting home from a tight angle. The Belgians were over the moon; finally it appeared that their luck was turning, and that, perhaps, they could play without Hazard after all. But. At that moment, an unseen VAR official was informing Benoît Bastien of a possible infringement, and the Frenchman signalled for the celebrations to stop. The stadium fell silent. An excruciating 7 minutes followed, as both sets of players looked to the referee, seemingly unsure as to what VAR was even checking. Unbeknownst to them, footage was being played back and forth, appearing to show the ball brushing against De Bruyne’s arm after the clash with Jorgensen. The ball first impacted the Manchester City star’s chest, meaning that any brush with the arm would not have affected its trajectory but, as we all know, that is not enough for a pardon with today’s draconian handball laws. It was the featherest of touches, and if football was equipped with cricket’s snickometer, it would have been in play here but, as it was, the decision came back an emphatic ‘No Goal’. Martinez hurled his water bottle to the ground and rushed to remonstrate with the fourth official, but it was to no avail.
The rest of the first half played out much as the opening twenty had. Denmark held the ball well, but showed little interest in overstretching themselves by attacking, and the Belgians fell back into fragmented play, once more the team missing their talisman.
After the restart, Belgium looked to have regained some of the verve and confidence which they had exhibited during their perfect qualification run in, and half chances for both Lukaku and Benteke gave them hope of a revival. In fact, the best chance fell to Thorgan Hazard. Perhaps stung by the focus on his older brother, the winger collected the ball on the flank before cutting inside onto his supposedly weaker left foot. He let rip from the edge of the area and must have thought he’d levelled the scores, Schmeichel beaten diving despairingly to his left, only for the ball to hit the inside of the post and rebound across the six-yard box, past the outstretched foot of Romelu Lukaku, and eventually out for a goal kick.
Sometimes these moments can lift a team, but this Belgian outfit took this latest bad fortune as the ultimate proof that the fates were against them. They failed to trouble the Danish goal again, and suffer the ignominy of very possibly essentially bowing out of the tournament after just two matches, watching with envy the celebrations of a Danish team who have secured their safe passage to the knockouts for the first time since 2004. Martinez bitterly lamented his adopted country’s inability to finish the Eurostadium in time to host games in this tournament, and will no doubt protest the VAR decision which cost his team an equaliser. However, they would do better to look at themselves, and question why, with so much ability on the team sheet, they were unable to raise the performance without their captain and take responsibility for their own destiny. Denmark, however, march on to the knockouts.
Man of the Match: Christian Eriksen
Attendance: 37,777