To move with the boot you must be able to show something that escapes our logic. For this reason, the passage of time will not condemn to oblivion the fantasy engendered by
Joakim Maehle
in this Danish dream of a European Championship in which he has already reached the semi-finals. A center-back,
Vestergaard
, had sent him flying down the sideline. And Maehle, who is a right back moved to the opposite lane, forgot his left foot and played everything to the fantasy of the outside. A resource capable of leading you to genius, but also to ridicule. The decision, as almost always in football, was immediate. He hit hard with the right boot and the ball, absurd already in its flight, took the appropriate effect to leave the defenders with their mouths open.
Braithwaite
didn't come, but yes
Dolberg
in a conceptual 0-2.
In the physical, tactical and technical battle in Baku, the Czech Republic had the upper hand.
[Narration and statistics]
The Scandinavian team had dawned with the conviction of being able to give continuity to that dream lived in the Swedish summer of 1992. Since the European Championship in which it replaced Yugoslavia because of the Balkan War, the Danes had not returned. to step into the semifinals of a great tournament.
In just five minutes,
Kasper Hjulmand's
footballers
had already advanced on the scoreboard.
The Czech defense did not clarify in a corner kick by
Stryger Larsen
. So much so that
Delaney
was left alone at the penalty spot, with all the time in the world to ruminate on his head. He slammed the ball against the ground with his forehead, and goalkeeper
Vaclik
, no matter how much he flew to his right, already knew he was defeated.
Denmark then decided to play with the advantage.
He gave meters to the Czech Republic and set out to squeeze his speed and quality in transitions.
Hojbjerg
, the Danish heart in midfield, knew how to leave beardless
Damsgaard alone
.
He failed to direct the ball.
Delaney then finished off with his knee.
And Braithwaite, without an angle, hit a ball without much sense.
Although none of those occasions against limited the spirit of the Czechs, always supported by their captain,
Soucek
, key in the emotional stability of his, with
Holes
intimidating in the second plays, and with the scorer
Schick
already beginning to look askance to
Schmeichel
.
Schick, as Milan Baros
Patrick Schick, yes, that footballer who seems chained to the memory of
Milan Baros
, the historic
one-hit wonder
of Czech football.
Whoever was a forward among others for Liverpool lived the moment of his life in Euro 2004. He scored five goals with that magnificent team that reached the semifinals.
After that came the fall to anonymity, something even worse than descending into hell.
He never scored again in a final phase.
Baros, by the way, scored his fifth and final goal in a Euro Cup against Denmark.
Schick decided to match that historic five-goal Czech mark in Baku, who knows if cursed, and against the same rival that the Central Europeans eliminated in the quarterfinals at the European Championship in Portugal.
How twisted football is.
Although the outcome was very different this time. And that
Jaroslav Silhavy
, coach of the Czech Republic, charged the offensive with
Krmencik
and made his team draw their fangs in a tremendous start of the second act that made the Danes fear for a while the worst. In the first four minutes after the break, the Czechs racked up four clear chances. Schmeichel, who is starring in a great championship, saved as many as he could. But there was nothing he could do at the sweet touch of Schick. There was a whole time ahead, although Denmark already knew how to pull it off. That also has it.
The entrance of
Poulsen
by a tired Dolberg offered more alternatives to the Scandinavians before the possibility of hunting some against. In fact,
Vaclik's
hands
denied the Leipzig striker and Maehle the sentence, who even at twilight still had the strength to keep running in search of more. The winger has participated in five of the seven goals his team has scored in the tournament.
Little more could be asked of the tired Czech Republic, commendable in the effort but without the talent of that team of
Poborsky
,
Nedved
or
Berger
that played, and lost, the final of the Eurocup at Wembley in 1996. Denmark, in Instead, he reaches a step that he has not stepped on for 29 years.
His story has a dreamlike symbolism.
According to the criteria of The Trust Project
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