Denmark and Euro ‘92: European Football’s Greatest Upset
The Euro 2020 Championship (despite it being 2021) is almost over, but so far it has thrown up plenty of excitement and a few major upsets in the knockout stage too. The French, who seemed to be heading through comfortably against Switzerland, ended up being dumped out of the competition after a late lapse in concentration and some seriously good Swiss penalties. The Dutch, who had not lost a group match, came unstuck by a largely unfancied Czech Republic team 2-0. Of course, it wouldn’t be a proper Euros without the odd unpredictable result. It was in the knockouts of the previous iteration of the competition that Wales beat a Belgian side that were expected to progress to the semi-final with ease. It was also in that tournament England famously fell foul of an Iceland side charged up by the Nordic marvel that was the Thunderclap. Another major Euros upset came in the form of Greece’s shocking 1-0 victory over Portugal to win the 2004 Championship. Unlike the examples given from 2016, Greece had beaten the odds before that match, seeing off France 1-0 in the quarter-finals. The final wasn’t even the first time that Greece beat the Portuguese in the tournament. A 2-1 win also came in the group stage, against a side boasting talent such as Deco, Luis Figo, Rui Costa and a young Cristiano Ronaldo. Of the four teams left in this year’s competition, only a victory for England’s semi-final opponents Denmark would match the Greek’s triumph in the way of unforeseen upsets. Remarkable though a Danish victory this summer would be, it would not be the most shocking of all Euro Championships victories. In fact, it wouldn’t even be Denmark’s most incredible achievement.
In 1992, Denmark missed out on qualification to the 8 team Euros final tournament by the finest of margins. The Danes finished on 13 points in their qualification group, just a point behind group leaders Yugoslavia. However, fate (and a great deal of bloodshed) would intervene in favour of the Danish national football team. The final group games for this qualification phase were held on 13 November 1991. The first group game of the Championship was played on 10 June 1992. Between these two dates the civil wars occurring between many of the Yugoslavian states meant their place in the competition was deemed untenable by UEFA. Yugoslavia had already begun falling apart during the qualification stage. On 25 June 1991, Croatia and Slovenia both declared their independence from Yugoslavia, following the overwhelming support of its peoples in separate referendums. Voting on 23 December 1990, 95.71% of Slovenes voted for independence. On 2 May 1991, 93.24% of Croats voted to leave Milošević’s Yugoslavia. Slovenia’s independence was handled quickly. The so-called Ten-Day War followed the declaration, but a cease-fire was soon called. On 22 May 1992, Slovenia became a member of the United Nations. The situation in Croatia, for reasons too long to explain in this blog, was rather different. The Croatian War of Independence wouldn’t come to an end until 1995 and was a far messier affair than the Ten-Day War. This was one of the key reasons for UEFA pulling the imploding nation out of the 1992 edition of their flagship tournament. So, in stepped Denmark.
It’s worth noting that the removal of Yugoslavia was not the only time politics impacted the 1992 Euros. Unlike this year’s Euros, where social issues have been deliberately miscategorised by some as political issues so that closet, open and experimental racists can more comfortably voice their displeasure at footballers supporting the fight for racial equality, political interference was genuinely rife in 1992. Alongside the beginning of the Yugoslav collapse and its subsequent removal came the climax of the Soviet Union’s collapse. Unlike Yugoslavia, the former-Soviet Union national side were allowed to participate in the tournament under a different name, the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS). The Danes played the CIS in a friendly match a week before the tournament began, with the contest ending in a 1-1 draw. The third and final intrusion of European politics impacted the Germans. For the first time ever in the European Championships, and the first time in an international competition since the 1938 World Cup, Germany participated as a single nation. Previously, it had been the West Germans flying the flag for the European powerhouse, on account of their brothers to the East’s lacking any notable footballing ability. Now free from international interference and the division of the Berlin Wall, Germany was one nation once more and all the more daunting an opponent for it.
Denmark’s first group match saw them take on an England side captained by Gary Lineker and were a side who had lost just once in two years. While it would be fair to say England were plagued with injuries that led to a weakened side being put out, it would also be fair to say the Danes punched above their weight to earn a 0-0 draw that they were good value for.
Next up were the Swedes, a rival Scandinavian nation who had the added benefit of being the tournament’s hosts. A 56th minute winner for Tomas Brolin meant that after two games, Denmark had drawn one and lost one. To have any hope of advancing, they needed to beat the French. You would have forgiven any Danish fans who believed their tournament was over there and then. France had players like Eric Cantona, Didier Deschamps and the 1991 Ballon d’Or winner Jean-Pierre Papin to help them overcome a far from fear-inducing Denmark side. It came as a shock to everyone then, when the Danes took the lead in the 8th minute. Henrik Larsen smashed home from just inside the box to score Denmark’s first goal of the tournament and stun the favourites. The Danes squandered a few chances that would have taken the game away from the French but going in at half-time 1 nil up was still some accomplishment. The second half was a more equal affair. Chances were missed at both ends before, in the 60th minute, Jean-Phillipe Durand pulled off a beautiful backheel to play in France’s Ballon d’Or winner Papin, who placed the ball expertly past Peter Schmeichel into the bottom right corner. The Danish keeper was busy after that, keeping long shot after long shot out. Then, in the 78th minute, a boot forward by Schmeichel was eventually brought under control by Flemming Povlsen who ran down the line and put a ball along the floor. Hanging around the box, substitute Lars Elstrup was waiting to tap it home. Denmark had beaten a European giant; they were through to the Euro 1992 semi-finals.
Awaiting them was a Netherlands side yet to be beaten. After seeing off a spirited Scotland side 1-0 thanks to a Dennis Bergkamp goal, they were then held to a goalless draw by the CIS. Only a win could guarantee their progression, so win they did. Germany was defeated 3-1, with Bergkamp the third goal scorer. Before him Frank Rijkaard and Rob Witschge bagged their first goals of the competition. In the end a 3-0 victory for Scotland over the CIS meant that whatever happened in the Netherlands v Germany, the Dutch would have been through; however, the win meant they topped the group and would face Denmark. Germany had to play the hosts in the other semi.
Just as had been the case against France, Denmark scored early, and it was Henrik Larsen again. This time it was his head that provided the definitive touch. After five minutes the Danes were in dreamland. They weren’t there for too long. In the 26th minute it was Dennis Bergkamp on the scoresheet for a third time in the tournament, as his long range effort beat a poor attempt at a save by the Danish number one. Denmark’s response was fast. In a similar area to the pitch as Bergkamp had been, Larsen also bagged his third goal of the tournament (and second in the match) to put the Danes up a goal once again in the 33rd minute. 2-1 was the score at half time. The Danes battled valiantly in the second half to try and keep their Dutch opponents at bay. They did so successfully until the 86th minute, when a corner that wasn’t dealt with led to a brief scramble in the box which was put to an end after Frank Rijkaard found the back of the net. There were no goals in extra time, so a penalty shootout was in order.
First up were the Dutch. Ronald Koeman went first, firing it down the middle and into the roof of the net. The first Dane to step up was Larsen. The Dutch keeper Hans Van Breukelen got a hand to it, but it snuck in to level the shootout. Next up was Marco Van Basten. He went to the keepers left, as did Peter Schmeichel. The penalty was saved comfortably. Flemming Povlsen took the second Denmark penalty, narrowly avoid the fingertips of Van Breukelen. Advantage Denmark. The Dutch did everything they could to take advantage of any potential faltering Dane, but there were none forthcoming. Denmark scored every one of their penalties to win the shootout 5-4.
In the other semi-final the Germans narrowly defeated the hosts 3-2 to set up a final against Denmark. The newly unified Germany team had gelled quickly. Heading into the final they were the tournament’s top scorers with seven goals. Comparatively, Denmark had scored just four. But Denmark had undoubtedly found their form and while most on the continent would have put their money on the Germans, there was no doubting that many in Copenhagen and around the rest of Denmark thought their boys had more than a puncher’s chance. They were right. An early goal had become the Danish trademark at this tournament, so when the 17th minute came and went, there were maybe some wondering whether they would score at all. Luckily, after the 17th minute came the 18th minute. And that brought with it a John Jensen screamer. Bodo Illgner tried and failed to keep the ball from whistling past him in the German goal. Denmark hustled their way to half time one goal in front. The Germans continued to have much of the ball in the second half but couldn’t make their dominance pay off. In the 78th minute, an inch-perfect strike along the ground by Kim Vilfort hit the inside of the post before rolling over the line. The strike sealed the victory for Denmark and with it the most remarkable achievement in European Championship history. To go all the way and lift the trophy was an achievement nobody anticipated and one that many Danes are proud of to this day – and rightly so. Let’s just hope this year they’ll have to be content with a semi-final appearance and no more…
Sources:
Youtube:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SzNLO4CB7Zk
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uMyGli_G3kY&t=2s
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=81OrcMQsXo4&t=320s
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pDe2N9ykR6A
Articles:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/17757335
https://www.flashscore.com/football/europe/euro-1992/
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-17632399
https://www.britannica.com/place/Croatia/World-War-II#ref223957
Cover image:
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:1992-DEN-RFA_1992-FIN-Euro.svg
Credit: Queix, CC BY-SA 3.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0>, via Wikimedia Commons
