□ Chutian Metropolis Daily, Jimu News reporter Deng Pengwei and intern Yan Ruihua
Who says fairy tales are all deceptive? The Danish team from the fairy tale kingdom, let us choose to believe!
In the early morning of July 4th, Beijing time, in the quarter-finals of the 2020 European Cup, the hard-fought Denmark team defeated the Czech team 2:1. After 29 years, they once again broke into the semi-finals of the European Cup. 29 years ago, they played in the European Cup as a substitute and finally won the championship magically.
This time, whether the Danish fairy tale can stage version 2.0, let us look forward to it together.
The road to promotion is magical
The group won only one of the three games, but in the end they qualified as the second place in the group. The most daring prophet would never have thought that Denmark reached the semi-finals. This way of promotion is amazing!
This European Cup, Denmark did not go well in the group stage. In the first game, their offensive core Eriksson fainted on the court due to a cardiac arrest, and the Danish team also lost to Finland 0:1. In the second round of the group stage, the Danish team lost to Belgium 1:2 and was almost on the verge of being eliminated. But in the final round of the group stage, the Danish team mustered Yu Yong and beat Russia 4-1. In the end, Denmark, Finland, and Russia scored 3 points, and Denmark won the second place in the group with a goal difference advantage.
In the eighth-finals, Denmark faced the Welsh team led by Bell. They dominated in all aspects and won a big win with 4:0 to advance to the quarterfinals. Denmark is currently ranked 10th in FIFA and the Czech Republic is ranked 40th. Denmark’s strength is theoretically more dominant. Only 5 minutes into the game, Denmark took the lead with a header from Delaney. In the 42nd minute, Dolberg scored to help Denmark take the lead with 2:0. In the second half, after overcoming the strong offensive of the Czech team at the beginning, Denmark regained control of the game and finally kept the victory.
After this campaign, Denmark became the first team in the history of the European Cup to still advance to the semi-finals after losing the first two rounds of group games. In addition, the Danish team has scored 11 goals in this European Cup, which also created a new record for the Danish team in a single scoring in the competition.
In addition to working hard and lucky to help
If it were not for a misjudgment by the referee at the beginning of the game, the Danish team would not have won so easily in this game. In the 5th minute of the game, Denmark scored a header from Delaney through a corner kick and led by lightning. However, the replay from the TV footage showed that the corner kick that directly led to the goal was an illusion. The fact is that the Danish player Dolberg kicked the ball out of bounds and did not touch the Czech player Chelustka. This was supposed to be the goal kick of the Czech team, but by mistake, the Danish team was the first to break the balance on the field.
It is worth mentioning that even under such adversity, the Czech Republic’s tenacious performance in this campaign is enough to be respected, especially in the second half. The Czech Republic blasted 16 feet in the game, with a ball possession rate of 55%, all higher than Denmark. In addition, the total number of passes, pass success rate, threat passes and many other major data are also higher than their opponents. Soucek was wounded with a bandage on his head and insisted on fighting. I believe that if there is no such “non-existent loss” in the opening game, the Czech team may have more chances to defeat their opponents.
In this game, Sigg scored a goal for the Czech team. He not only tied with Cristiano Ronaldo for the top scorer list of this year’s European Cup, but also tied the Czech player’s scoring record in a single European Cup. This record was set by the Czech Republic. The famous Barosz created in the 2004 European Cup. After the game, some media commented that although the Czech Republic had bid farewell to the current European Cup after losing 1:2, Sigg could leave with his head held high.
Everyone wants to fight for the title when they meet
This is the fourth time in the history of the Danish team that they have reached the semi-finals of the European Cup. In 1964, they finished fourth, in 1984 they won third, and in 1992 they even won the championship trophy in one fell swoop. I wonder what their new goal is this time? After the game, the Danish striker Brethwaite wrote on social media to celebrate his promotion: “Small country, big dream, one step closer to the goal.”
In another quarter-final involving Denmark’s opponents in the semifinals, England swept Ukraine 4-0 and easily advanced to the semifinals. Due to England’s overall offensive trend, England’s famous Rheinkel also expressed his excitement on social media: “What happened? It’s like watching a game in Brazil. Well, I seem to have passed it a bit.”
In addition to full offensive firepower, this European Cup, England will be the ultimate defense. Including three group matches and two knockout games, England did not lose a goal, becoming the first European Cup team to have a clean sheet in five games, and handed over a list of the best defensive results in the history of the European Cup. In history, England has never reached a European Cup final, let alone won the Delaunay Cup. This time, they look forward to making history.
Of course, the Danish team also hopes to be able to break their hands with the three lions. Despite the historical confrontation, the Danish team has an absolute disadvantage with 5 wins, 5 draws and 13 losses. But the only time the two sides met in the European Cup was in 1992 when Denmark won the cup, when the two teams drew 0-0 in the group stage. Whether it can reproduce the glory of 29 years ago, the Danish team is only two steps away from this dream.
Semi-final matchup table
Italy VS Spain (3:00 AM on July 7th, Beijing time)
England VS Denmark (3:00 AM on July 8th, Beijing time)