They finished second behind England, who played out a narrow 0-0 draw with Slovenia in Group C in the second match of the night. Denmark and Slovenia’s records from the three group games (including the same number of yellow cards) were completely identical, but the Danes received the runner-up spot due to their higher position in the European qualifier ranking.
Kasper Hjulmand’s side have played three matches in Germany and drawn three, and they have failed to make the most of some of the talent in that squad, notably Manchester United forward Rasmus Hjolund, who was subbed off midway through the second half. Was thrown out.
Denmark will now face tournament host Germany in the round of 16 on Saturday night in Dortmund. Meanwhile, England will play one of the third-placed teams from Group D, E or F the following afternoon. Slovenia will advance to the knockout stage as one of the four best third-place teams.
Peter Rutzler, Seb Stafford-Bloor and Jacob Whitehead analyze the game in Munich…
Denmark should play to Hjolund’s strengths
Within this team, there is no doubt that Rasmus Hjolund is both Denmark’s brightest attacking talent and their most compelling prospect.
However, this ignores the fact that he is simply not ready to handle the responsibility given to him at the top of the pitch. Against Serbia, Casper Hjulmand played Hjolund with Jonas Wind, a plan that foiled itself when Wind got himself booked in the first half and had to be withdrawn at the break.
From then on, Hjölund looked badly isolated, starved for passes into space or beyond the defensive line that would allow his acceleration to become a factor, and unable to hold on to the ball well enough for Denmark. To allow him to make moves around it. At times, when the Danes gained possession in their own half, Højlund was 30, sometimes even 40 yards away from his nearest team-mate.
When he was substituted after 58 minutes, it was completely the right decision, and yet it felt like it was the result of a failure to create the right conditions for his impact, rather than any technical or tactical failure on his part. . Given the way his team played and his reluctance to play fast or put up numbers, his limited impact was highly anticipated.
At 21, Hjolund is still learning and will need to broaden his forward game over time, but Denmark already have a dynamic attacking player that they seem reluctant to utilize properly.
Seb Stafford-Blur
Welcome to the worst group at Euro 2024
England have faced a lot of criticism during this tournament due to their slow football and poor starts.
But they do not stand alone. In fact, their three rivals in Group C have played their part.
Welcome to the worst group in this European Championship.
Remarkably, after its six competitive matches, there has been only one win – the fewest wins of any group in the competition. That win was England’s 1-0 opening win against Serbia, a true Jekyll and Hyde performance that at least got the heartbeats racing (perhaps with anxiety as well as excitement, mind).
However, that’s not all. Only seven goals have been scored in six matches. Again, this is the lowest in any group so far in the tournament – and joint-lowest in a European Championship group (along with Group C at Euro 2016).
This is a disappointing return.
For Serbia, the goalscoring return must be particularly disappointing. With a team that has Aleksandar Mitrovic, Dusan Vlahovic and Luka Jovic in attack, you would hope for a better comeback. Denmark, led by Rasmus Hjolund and serviced by Christian Eriksen, should also fare well.
While none of these teams have thrilled crowds at the tournament, Slovenia, the plucky underdogs of the group, at least managed to make things difficult for all three of their superior opponents. England? Well, there is no need to tell about his appearance here.
With this 0-0, the number of goalless draws at these Euros has tripled, with the same result between England and Slovenia. The truth is that there probably was no better way to end this group.
Peter Rutzler
Djokovic’s recovery takes him to Munich
Jannik Sinner may be world number one and Carlos Alcaraz may have dethroned him at Roland Garros and Wimbledon – but Novak Djokovic is still the biggest star in men’s tennis.
Are there any other players who can force almost an entire international football team to stop their warm-up and watch their greeting message?
Djokovic was at Munich’s Allianz Arena to support his countrymen against Denmark, an impressive trip considering he has been training in London in recent days. The Serbian is trying to regain fitness in time for Wimbledon, which starts on Monday, after suffering a knee injury during last month’s French Open. The condition of his knees? Unclear. But he walked with ease in his cream chinos.
(Sebastian Widmann – UEFA/UEFA via Getty Images)
He watched the warm-up from the side of the pitch, wearing an official match shirt with ‘Srbija’ and the number 13 on it, before going into the hospitality area for the national anthem. The Red Star Belgrade fan has previously described his football heroes as including former Sweden striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic, who he counts as a “dear friend”, and former Fiorentina and Argentina striker Gabriel Batistuta.
Djokovic has almost as many Grand Slam trophies (24) as Denmark’s starting XI against Serbia (30).
jacob whitehead
Stojkovic continuously took wrong decisions of his team
Dragan Stojkovic has not been happy during this tournament. He has made changes to his Serbia team for each match of this group stage, and did so again against Denmark. They chose more midfielders – four centre-minded ones, in fact, Dusan Vlahovic and Dusan Tadic were left out of the team.
That was a big call. Not surprisingly, it didn’t work. For the third consecutive game, Serbia limped in the first half. He had to take a shot on goal. So, Stojkovic rolled the dice again. He made two half-time substitutions – the two players he left out were Tadic and Luka Jovic.
After this, Vlahovic joined the field in the middle of the second half. Both him and Tadic had an impact, but this is the third consecutive game where Stojkovic has had to improve matters at the break. In total, they have made four half-time changes in three matches. Unfortunately, this is four times more than the number of goals scored by his team.
Serbia lacked any real flow and once again, a talented group underperformed. They will look back on their Euro 2024 with regret, especially because they have still not progressed beyond the group stage of a major tournament.
For a generation of talent championed by the Under-20 World Cup winners in 2015, this is a disappointment.
Peter Rutzler
Do the teams in the last 16 have anything to fear from Denmark?
If Kasper Hjulmand’s team plays like they did against England – then yes. Their centre-backs are among the best group at the tournament, and if Christian Eriksen or Rasmus Hjölund are on form they should score goals. They have a technical midfield that knows how to win dogfights, while they have shown real creativity from set-pieces.
But despite saying all this, he has played only draws in his three games. There has been a lack of cutting edge – scoring two goals and failing to dominate the opposition for any sustained period. There has been pressure on Hjulmand to set up his team much more conservatively – there are parallels with England here.
Part of the issue is that their attacking power in depth is relatively weak – they have relatively few ways to change a game if the initial setup doesn’t work. Denmark’s situation worsened after they changed two strikers at the beginning of the second half against Serbia.
The same issue applies to the wing-backs, where Joakim Mahle’s passing is crisp, but where he now lacks the raw pace to trouble elite defences.
The real battle in their Round of 16 clash will be whether Germany’s interchangeable attack can break down their strong back five. Denmark won’t win a high-scoring game – but there will be enough threat from a set piece or a magical Eriksen moment to make life strange.
jacob whitehead
What did Caspar Hjulmand say?
“It was a tough, emotional fight and we knew it was going to be like this. It would have been nice to score a goal so we had a buffer and our hearts were in our throats. I think we should be happy with that. The first goal has been accomplished. There are a lot of things about the game that I’m happy with. There are one or two things we can change in attack, but I know we can do that. We have quality. We have a lot of players we can utilize there. We can create other situations where we are dangerous.
“We have to be happy. We made it through the group stage, so let’s be very happy about that. We are representing Danish football, thousands of volunteers from different clubs who do a great job. We are everyone’s team (in the country) and we have to be happy with that.
What did Dragan Stojkovic say?
“We are disappointed that we failed to take the steps we were missing. The game was equal, we were looking for chances and goals, but unfortunately we could not succeed. I am proud of my boys. “Serbia showed itself positively in a similar group.”
(Top photo: Carl Racine/Getty Images)
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