European Championship Semi-finals England — Denmark The Game Review || A Present For England

England 2–1 Denmark after extra time

Goals: 0: 1 Mikkel Damsgaard (30th minute), 1: 1 own goal by Simon Kjær, 2: 1 Harry Kane (38th and 104th)

Mediocre, which was to be expected because neither team has a reputation for celebrating particularly imaginative football. So far, England has lived from their strength at this tournament, Denmark from their euphoria . A quick, but not necessarily exquisite game developed. But the fact that the game was balanced for a long time always speaks for the underdog, in this case Denmark. And yet, by the end of this game, it was difficult to imagine one of the two teams as European champions.

How did the first two goals come?

Little happened for 30 minutes, then Mikkel Damsgaard circled a free kick over the wall and under the crossbar, which England goalkeeper Jordan Pickford holds on a good day. England, however, came back with the best attack of the game: Harry Kane got the ball, turned up, played through the Danish chain with feeling into the barrel of Bukayo Saka, who placed the ball across the middle where Raheem Sterling would have inserted it , hadn’t Denmark’s captain Simon Kjaer already done the job himself. The 11th own goal of the tournament. Football researchers will be puzzling over what this number means for decades to come.

England determined the game against the Danes who looked quite tired after an hour. One could easily believe that such a pan-European EM puts the teams at a disadvantage who have to fly to the Middle East (Baku, Denmark) instead of just to Italy (Rome, England) for the quarter-finals … England, in any case, developed many half-okaye, but no particularly compelling chances. The game dragged itself into overtime, which, if you believe the social media, would not have needed one or the other neutral fan after the extra shift the day before. Especially since extensions are usually overrated. But something really happened in this one.

How was the game decided?

By a given penalty. Raheem Sterling dribbled into the penalty area in the 102nd minute and fell between two Danish defenders. The referee Makkelie immediately decided on a penalty. Only, in the view of the slow motion, it quickly became clear: he would have better not done that. You had to watch a lot of slowed repetitions to be able to make out any slight contact between the defender’s knee and the attacker’s calf. Man, you thought, how great would it be if the referee had the opportunity to watch such an important scene again on video? Yes, but whoever suspected that video evidence was once introduced to correct such unfortunate decisions will be taught better by the Kafkaesque practice of the VAR. It is only supposed to correct clear wrong decisions, i.e. clearly in the sense of glacial lakes. Since in practice there are only very few glacial water lakes (see climate change), but a lot of water like in the Thames, for example, i.e. rather gray, many scenes do not fall under the correction obligation. But even a decision that is not 100 percent wrong, but only 90 percent, would be better if it were revised. The referee Manuel Gräfe confirmed on ZDF that he would not have whistled the penalty, that the decision would also be against the tournament line and against the one Makkelie put on in this game. The profiler Gräfe also explained something about case patterns, and he will soon be on display at CSI Zehlendorf. Since in practice there are only very few glacial water lakes (see climate change), but a lot of water like in the Thames, for example, i.e. rather gray, many scenes do not fall under the correction obligation. But even a decision that is not 100 percent wrong, but only 90 percent, would be better if it were revised. The referee Manuel Gräfe confirmed on ZDF that he would not have whistled the penalty, that the decision would also be against the tournament line and against the one Makkelie put on in this game. The profiler Gräfe also explained something about case patterns, and he will soon be on display at CSI Zehlendorf. Since in practice there are only very few glacial water lakes (see climate change), but a lot of water like in the Thames, for example, i.e. rather gray, many scenes do not fall under the correction obligation. But even a decision that is not 100 percent wrong, but only 90 percent, would be better if it were revised. The referee Manuel Gräfe confirmed on ZDF that he would not have whistled the penalty, that the decision would also be against the tournament line and against the one Makkelie put on in this game. The profiler Gräfe also explained something about case patterns, and he will soon be on display at CSI Zehlendorf. which is not 100 percent wrong, but only 90 percent, would do better if revised. The referee Manuel Gräfe confirmed on ZDF that he would not have whistled the penalty, that the decision would also be against the tournament line and against the one Makkelie put on in this game. The profiler Gräfe also explained something about case patterns, and he will soon be on display at CSI Zehlendorf. which is not 100 percent wrong, but only 90 percent, would do better if revised. The referee Manuel Gräfe confirmed on ZDF that he would not have whistled the penalty, that the decision would also be against the tournament line and against the one Makkelie put on in this game. The profiler Gräfe also explained something about case patterns, and he will soon be on display at CSI Zehlendorf.

Even with the 911 itself, the English were lucky. Harry Kane, usually a sure shooter, shot poorly, Kaspar Schmeichel parried, but right in front of the feet of Kane, who was able to push in on the second attempt. The victory of the English is deserved, but that a European Championship semi-final is decided by such a penalty, this tournament actually did not deserve.

Are the English really in the final?

Yes, it is their first ever European Championship final. And the first big final since the 1966 World Cup. Back at Wembley, the circle is full. Is it already clear who the linesman will be?

And what about the Danes?

Driving home after a very exciting EM. Christian Eriksen’s cardiac arrest, the two defeats against Finland and Belgium, the wild rides against Russia and Wales, now the bad luck at Wembley. Denmark got through more in just under four weeks than other teams in ten years. But they won a lot of new fans, quickly became the European champions of hearts and the second team of fans from Iceland to Turkey. And we will hear a lot more from players like Mikkel Damsgaard.

Originally published at https://www.zaviewsport.xyz.