EURO2020: Amazing debut from Finland

Of all the headlines and hyperbole that have been, and will be, generated by Euro 2020, all others pale into insignificance behind the news that Christian Eriksen has been discharged from hospital and is going to be ok. The image of Eriksen falling to the ground as if he’d been shot is one that none of us will forget, and it’s right that all the attention was focused on the injured man. However, as the dust settled, it left the other team that had been out there in a strange and uncomfortable position.  

The team that couldn’t win 

We’re no strangers to covering tales of the heroic underdog, and the European Championship has had plenty of those over the years. But of all the Euro 2020 teams, none are such rank outsiders thrown in at the deep end as Finland.  

This is the first major tournament for which the team has ever qualified, and so the game against Denmark had a unique historical significance. Yet from the moment Eriksen went down, it was only ever going to be remembered for one thing. Denmark’s brave insistence that the show must go on created a beautiful and iconic moment, and one that will be remembered all the more fondly with the hindsight that Eriksen would recover. But it thrust Finland into an unenviable position – even if they won, all the plaudits would be on Denmark and the result would be seen as a consequence of the incident. 

A muted victory 

Before Eriksen went down, it had been a case of Finland doggedly keeping their more experienced opponents at bay, and they deserve credit for the fact that they were not two or more down in the first 30 minutes. Time and again, Denmark’s strikers were on target and on each occasion, charismatic keeper Lukáš Hrádeckýevery was up to the task. As for Denmark, there was almost certainly a feeling that their callow opponents could not keep this up for 90 minutes, and that they needed only to carry on and goals would come. 

It resulted in a lukewarm display in those four bizarre minutes that remained of the first half and in the opening salvos of the second. But then it was Finland who seemed to remember where they were and the enormity of the situation. Jere Uronen’s cross from the left wing went exactly where it needed to go and Joel Pohjanpalo’s header was right on the money.  

The goal had come from nowhere, and too late, Denmark realized the peril they were in. The calm confidence born of dominating the first half hour so comprehensively gave way to a sense of – if not panic, at least quiet desperation. But by this time, Finland had settled into a groove, and they suddenly looked like the team in control. 

Eriksen is well, and that is more important than any football result. But spare a thought for Finland – winning their first major international under such difficult circumstances is worthy of more credit that the minnows of football have been granted so far.