After the highly emotional evening in the Parken Stadium, a message was waiting for the Danish players in the dressing room. It came from Christian Eriksen himself. “Christian wrote in our WhatsApp group. He wrote us that we were amazing, ”said FC Barcelona striker Martin Braithwaite about the emotional words of his teammate from the hospital. Braithwaite found the game “very emotional. But we were strong. It was an additional motivation for Christian and the whole country to play, "said the 30-year-old:" We felt the stadium while warming up. It was something very special. "
In general, the team took a lot of courage from the performance against Belgium. "There is no limit for this team," said Braithwaite: "We'll end that and make it through the group stage." The Danish national soccer team lost their first game after the dramatic collapse of their best player on Thursday evening despite an early lead 1: 2 (1: 0) against third World Cup Belgium. Nevertheless, the 25,000 spectators in Copenhagen started to applaud immediately after the end and did not stop for minutes.
"I've played in many places in my life, but no atmosphere has been better than this," said goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel after the Belgium game.
“You said there were 25,000 spectators.
But it sounded like it was 75,000. ”The whole evening was a single emotional message to the 29-year-old Eriksen, who has been in a hospital since cardiac arrest in the first game against Finland (0-1) and his survival and that Messages to his teammates drove the Danes to a passionate performance despite the defeat.
"I am so proud of the team"
"I cannot describe how proud I am for this team," said coach Kasper Hjulmand. “After almost losing their best friend, they went on the pitch today and played a game like this. You totally dominated the best team in the world. So much respect! "After the Eriksen drama, the team was well prepared for" the emotional side of the game, "explained Hjulmand:" Nevertheless, I was very moved when the national anthem came. But we pushed each other and used all the energy that was present in the stadium. ”And he looked ahead. "We're not done with this competition yet."
The only thing the Danes didn't have was a remedy against top Belgian star Kevin De Bruyne, whose substitution at the beginning of the second half decided this game. Two and a half weeks after his eye socket and nose bone fracture in the Champions League final, the 29-year-old from Manchester City first prepared the equalization by Dortmund's Thorgan Hazard (55th minute). He then scored the winning goal to 2-1 in the 71st minute himself.
One player made the difference in this game and that means: Favorite Belgium have already qualified for the round of 16, and the Danes are only bottom of the group after two defeats. Progress is still possible for one of the co-hosts of this tournament - if he wins his last preliminary round game against the Russians on Monday by two goals and Belgium beats the Finns at the same time. "We will continue to stand together and we will defeat the Russians to stay in this competition," said Hjulmand.