Anthony McIntyre ⚽ Unlike 1992 when Denmark emerged as champions, there will be no surprise package come the end of Euro 24.
Copenhagen, the Danish capital, is a city I plan to visit sometime along with my wife. It and Oslo on the one trip. Despite my passion for soccer, that is not my reason for wanting to visit Denmark. The intended odyssey is driven largely by a shared passion for Scandi Noir - Sarah Lund and The Killing. Oslo for similar reasons - Harry Hole and The Snowman.
We have also been attracted by the secularism of Denmark, remembering how it refused to bow down to religious fundamentalism almost two decades ago in the midst of the anti-theocratic cartoon crisis when the clerics of Domination Theology tried to bully secular society into submitting to their obscurantist worldview.
Switching lane from secularism to soccer, the once great Danes on Saturday evening were despatched by a rejuvenated Germany armed with the advantage of playing on home soil. The thunderbolt that struck the Danes in Dortmund came not from the electrical storm that saw a temporary halt called on play, but from a combination of two German goals and dodgy VAR calls. If the Germans harboured any desire for revenge resulting from their defeat in the final of 32 years ago, they secured it.
That 1992 outcome on paper should never have happened. But matches are played on pitches not paper. and Denmark brought the trophy back to Copenhagen.
The Danish team only made it to Sweden, the host nation, because Yugoslavia found itself disqualified due to the break-up of the country which had been ravished by civil war and crimes against humanity. Then the Euros were a much smaller affair with only eight European nations competing. Compare that to the two hundred per cent increase in 2024. Arguments against smaller sides participating have been rendered redundant by the performances some of them have served up while many of the big name sides have struggled.
In the 1992 final De Rød-Hvide overcame the much fancied Germans, then holders of the World Cup, securing a 2-0 victory. In earlier stages they had defeated illustrious names of the soccer world, Netherlands and France. That was the era of the talented Laudrup brothers, Michael and Brian. Michael did not play in the finals due to a fall-out with the team coach but few could forget his brilliant performance in the 1986 World Cup when Denmark hammered a crude and physically brutal Uruguayan side 6-1. Despite later being knocked out by Spain, their demolition of Uruguay suggested an untapped brilliance was waiting to explode. The fortuitus1992 competition was where it erupted.
This time that scoreline would be reversed and the Germans go through to the quarter finals. The Danes have some reason to feel hard done by. A disallowed goal and a harsh penalty decision saw the game turn in Germany's favour. Joachim Andersen scorer of the disallowed goal was also the player against whom the penalty was awarded. Furious is how he must feel.
Even if VAR got the offside decision correct - its penalty decision seemed to be appalling - this was another telling example of its pleasure-draining effect. Delayed celebration is a wet blanket. Rather than feel free to cheer fans are subjected to the type of call made by William Wallace in Braveheart: hold, hold, hold. Joyousness goes out of the atmosphere like air from an untied balloon.
Unless VAR can deliver an instant verdict it should be set aside. It is simply not fit for purpose. The Danish coach vented his frustration:
This time that scoreline would be reversed and the Germans go through to the quarter finals. The Danes have some reason to feel hard done by. A disallowed goal and a harsh penalty decision saw the game turn in Germany's favour. Joachim Andersen scorer of the disallowed goal was also the player against whom the penalty was awarded. Furious is how he must feel.
Even if VAR got the offside decision correct - its penalty decision seemed to be appalling - this was another telling example of its pleasure-draining effect. Delayed celebration is a wet blanket. Rather than feel free to cheer fans are subjected to the type of call made by William Wallace in Braveheart: hold, hold, hold. Joyousness goes out of the atmosphere like air from an untied balloon.
Unless VAR can deliver an instant verdict it should be set aside. It is simply not fit for purpose. The Danish coach vented his frustration:
It was decided by two VAR decisions . . .16 seconds of a decisive moment . . . t was very decisive for this game. It is frustrating. It is frustrating for our team.
Much easier to find fault in VAR than sour grapes in those comments.
Irish league football doesn't do VAR so when a goal is scored, it generally stays a goal. Even when the decision might be suspect it can be processed much more easily as human error at play. the risk of the game. Better a mistake than the experience of joy-deprived celebration. By that point it is mere relief exhaled not celebration. Here in Ireland, the fans' spontaneous eruption is not put on pause while some machine calculates millimetres, on occasion getting it wrong by metres.
At the same time Denmark never won a game in the group stages of Euro 24,, so were fortunate enough to get to the last sixteen. It would have been a loss to the competition had the sharper Germans fallen on a blunt Danish sword.
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