England’s hunt for a first-ever UEFA Euro title continues in the 2024 edition in Germany as they take on the 1992 champions Denmark. The match will take place at the Deutsche Bank Park on Thursday at 9:30 pm IST.
Denmark had a bitter-sweet outing which finished with an unfavourable result. Christian Eriksen, who was stretchered out after a tragic incident in the last Euros, returned to the same stage with a statement performance. The midfielder excelled in that free-moving role, even scoring the opening goal by getting at the end of a terrific team move.
They ended up creating a few more chances as the match went by, but somehow they failed to capitalise on them. In the second half, Slovenia upped the ante and created some good chances. Eventually, they got the equaliser and stomped on the Danish parade. They had a couple of half chances in the final 10 minutes but struggled to make anything of it.
The qualification scenario from this group was expected to be between these two teams, but Slovenia and Serbia putting up terrific performances only opens up the table. It also makes it furthermore crucial for Denmark to get a result here, as, despite their shortcomings, England took all three points in their opening match.
On the other hand, England picked up three points in their opening match against Serbia, but question marks continued to hover around their ability to go all the way after a scrappy 1-0 result. Jude Bellingham, having starred in a sensational season for Real Madrid, got the goal that put them ahead in this match and it proved to be the winner.
While the likes of Bukayo Saka, Kyle Walker, John Stones, and Kieran Trippier had a decent game, not many were impressed with the output from Declan Rice and Phil Foden. The English fans felt that the Arsenal midfielder was slowing down the tempo with his backward passing while Foden failed to make his presence felt on the left wing.
Serbia had their share of chances in the second half, where they came storming at the English defence on multiple occasions. The Three Lions managed to hold their opponents in those nervy final moments and maintained a clean sheet. This was the first game of this edition of Euros to have less than two goals across 90 minutes.
Current Form
England cannot boast of being in the best form heading into this match. They have played five matches in 2024, winning only two of them. Both those victories, including the one against Serbia in the opening match of UEFA Euro 2024, came post-June, which is a positive.
However, they also tend to fall flat on occasions against strong defensive units, like they did against Iceland a few days ago.
Denmark, meanwhile, has been on a better run of form, winning three of the five matches played in 2024, with the other two ending in draws (including the opening game against Slovenia). The team has found great consistency under Hjulmand and had a sensational qualification campaign as well.
The first match’s result didn’t go their way, but their performance, especially with their fluid ball movement, must provide the fans with a lot of positivity going into this contest.
Head to Head Record
Both these teams played out a memorable semi-final in the last edition, which ended in England’s favour by the tiniest of margins. England has the clear upper hand in this head-to-head duel, winning 13 out of the 22 meetings, while Denmark only won four of them.
Interestingly, Denmark has never beaten them in the Euros and among their four victories over the Three Lions, only one of those came in a major tournament – the 2020 UEFA Nations League.
Since the turn of the century, the head-to-head battle has been a lot more even, with England having four wins while Denmark registered three wins.
Team News
Eriksen has been terrific in the midfield
Playing at the Euros once again, Christian Eriksen has completed a miraculous circle of life and has been excellent for the Danes so far. On the other hand, Luke Shaw is still not fully fit as per the reports and Kieran Trippier will continue to start on the left side of England’s defense.
Predicted Starting XIs
Denmark (3-4-3): Kasper Schmeichel; Joachim Andersen, Andreas Christensen, Jannik Vestergaard; Alexander Bah, Morten Hjulmand, Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg, Victor Kristiansen; Christian Eriksen, Rasmus Højlund, Jonas Wind
England (4-2-3-1): Jordan Pickford; Kyle Walker, John Stones, Marc Guehi, Kieran Trippier, Trent Alexander-Arnold, Declan Rice; Bukayo Saka, Jude Bellingham, Phil Foden; Harry Kane
Prediction
Plenty is on the line for both these teams and their respective managers. Gareth Southgate sees this Euro as potentially his last opportunity to make it count with this star-studded English team, while Hjulmand, who has been at the helm since 2020, is keen on taking the team forward to greater heights.
However, England might just have enough firepower on the day to see this game through against a side they defeated in the semi-final of the last edition of the UEFA European Championships.