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Two teams who are yet to experience the feeling of lifting the UEFA European Championship trophy, England and Denmark, will cross swords in the second semi-final of Euro 2020 on Wednesday, 7th July. The match will be played at Wembley in London.
Twenty-five years ago, England took the field at Wembley to play in a similar semi-final contest of the European Championship. They lost the match against Germany on penalties, with Gareth Southgate missing the all-important penalty.
Southgate will be at Wembley today as well, in a different capacity. The national villain of 1996, who is currently the head coach of England, can turn out to be the national hero of 2021 if he can guide the Three Lions into what will be their first-ever appearance in a European Championship final.
Form is on their side ahead of this encounter. The Three Lions started their campaign with a 1-0 win against Croatia, the team that knocked them out of the 2018 FIFA World Cup. They are the only team in this competition to have not conceded a single goal.
The second game against Scotland was the only match where they looked a bit shaky, as they had to settle for a 0-0 stalemate. But from the next match onwards, England were seen at their very best. They topped the Group D standings by beating the Czech Republic in their last group stage match.
At the round of 16, they faced the team who have often been their Achilles heel, Germany. England put up a solid display here as well, to seal a 2-0 win, while their best performance undoubtedly came in the quarter-final. Against Ukraine, England registered their biggest win ever in the Euros, winning the match by a 4-0 margin.
Denmark’s run in this competition has not been any different from a fairytale. In their first match against Finland, their talisman Christian Eriksen suffered a cardiac arrest on the field while losing the game. They lost their second match as well, and just when everyone started to write themselves off, Denmark made a colossal fightback.
They thrashed Russia in their last group stage match by a 4-1 margin, which helped to finish in the second position of Group B. They faced Wales in the round of 16 tie, where they defeated Gareth Bale & Co. by a comfortable margin of 4-0. Denmark are coming into this match after getting the better of the Czech Republic in the quarter-final clash.
Key Players
Because of his poor 2020/21 season for Manchester City, many English fans wanted Southgate not to play Raheem Sterling in this competition. But not only has the winger nailed his place but has turned out to be one of England’s stars in this tournament. He is their joint-highest goal-scorer with three goals. Sterling also has eight attempts to his name and has provided one assist as well.
Harry Kane had a poor start to their Euro 2020 campaign, but the Tottenham Hotspur forward is known for turning the tables in the blink of an eye, as he has done this time as well. He has scored three goals, joint-highest by an English player, alongside Sterling. He also has the most attempts by any Three Lions player – 10.
Harry Maguire has also been phenomenal for England. He missed the initial stage of this competition because of an injury, but right from when he was reintroduced in the starting XI, Maguire has proved why he is such a key figure in the English backline. The Manchester United centre-back has attempted 210 passes and has a passing accuracy of 94.7%. He also has attempted 16 clearances, which is the most by any outfield English player.
Be it for his heroics to save Eriksen’s life or for brilliant defensive work, Simon Kjaer has already made himself a hero in Denmark. The AC Milan defender has the best ball recovery figure by any Danish player – 35, while he also has attempted the most clearances – 16. Kjaer has also attempted 212 passes.
Prediction
England’s very recent record against Denmark is unimpressive, as they failed to win the last two head-to-head encounters. But in terms of overall records, the Three Lions certainly hold the upper hand.
They have beaten the Danish team on 12 occasions, while Denmark have emerged victoriously on only four occasions. England is also miles ahead of their opposition in terms of recent form. Southgate’s men are unbeaten in their last 11 matches.
They have also been rock-solid defensively, having conceded only one goal in those 11 matches. On the other hand, Denmark have lost three of their last 11 matches. They have also kept only one clean sheet in their five games in Euro 2020. It will be safe to say that England are the firm favourites to win this encounter.
