England v Denmark: Euro 2020 semi-final – live!
07-Jul-2021 17:34:36 | Guardian
Speaking on ITV, Gary Neville says he has been genuinely moved by the current England team: “They are shattering our nightmares of the past. They have no cynicism, no egos.”
“I have been canvassing opinion here in Sweden, and a surprising number of locals are supporting England today,” reveals Julian Menz. “Sweden/Denmark is a bit like England/Scotland (history, the odd minor border dispute etc), but I suspect the preference is down to Swedes being able to bet on English club results since the era of muddy pitches. Everyone here seems to follow an English club. Come on England!” Your theory seems dubious. In my experience, betting does not breed affection. I, at least, have eventually come to hate every team I’ve backed, they always let you down in the end. Don’t gamble, kids, buy comics instead!
“Re: Denmark punching way above their population weight in footballing terms: Are Denmark the New Zealand of football?” asks Jesse Linklaer. “NZ are World Cricket and Rugby Champions, and they sail too - all while being the 126th largest nation by people counting in the world.” Hmm, I would say Uruguay are closer to being the NZ of football .... but also that there is no NZ of football, because relatively few countries play rugby or cricket so no comparison is sensible on those grounds.
Speaking of history, spose we should point out that England and Denmark have faced each other 21 teams in the past. England have won 12, there have been five draws, and Denmark have won four - including the most recent encounter, which was at Wembley and ended 1-0 to the visitors thanks to a penalty from, yes, Eriksen.
“While commentators are using history as as a guide to outcomes, it surprises me nobody has mentions Hamlet,” drawls Andre Street. Is that the one about the player who stubs a cigar out in another’s eye?
Question: for football, Denmark are currently ranked 10th in the world. For size of population, they rank 114th in the world. Why the discrepancy? Answers in a phd to the usual address please...
“The Danes have shown that they are a dynamic, skilful side throughout this tournament but it’s also true that they have been given extra edge by the emotions they experienced with Eriksen’s collapse and recovery, and their shoddy treatment by Uefa,” diagnoses David Wall. “At some point those heightened emotions will stop energising them and instead become exhausting (see Emma Raducanu for an example of how that can build up and then crash). They’ll hope that that doesn’t happen until after the tournament (and it’ll be interesting to see how the Danish players perform for their clubs next season). But supposing it happens tonight, or in the final it they win tonight, what might the coach do to stop their performance level dropping off a cliff?”
That’s a fair concern to raise, although you could spin things another way and wonder how England will cope with the swell of expectation around them. As for the Danes, they experienced some sort of sagging in their last match - though it was probably the Azerbaijan heat that sapped them - and they responded impressively, regaining control of the game after a double substitution around the hour.
Hello, something extraordinary is about to happen. Today we find out whether England – yes, England! – or Denmark – yes, Denmark! – are going to reach the European Championship final – yes, the Euro 2020 final! Italy lie in wait for one or other of these teams, who today hope to edge closer to what would be some order of sensation.
Firstly, England. Can they really do it? So far Gareth Southgate’s grand plan seems to be coming together like a Beatles song and plenty seems to be in England’s favour: home advantage, a relatively benign draw so far, a squad so strong that Champions League winners have been unused substitutes, rising confidence and a terrace anthem that inspires them as much as it irritates opponents. But can England – yes, England! - really sail all the way through a tournament from start to finish without some kind of cock-up or misfortune or dastardly intervention from one source or another? Have all fears been banished about your Pickfords, your Stones, your Sterlings, your Kanes and whoever else had been denounced as a weak link? Has a relatively controversy-free tournament been building up to one monumental VAR outrage? How hard is it to adjust to a reality where England make serene progress with players whose words and deeds seem almost exclusively admirable? Is The Gate really The Goat? Today promises to bring us much closer to answering those and many other intriguing questions. The truth will out.
Related: England v Denmark: key tactical decisions facing Gareth Southgate
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