Sport Round-Up: Denmark’s Euro 92 heroes celebrate 30 years on

Elsewhere, Danes handed Wimbledon draws, Axelsen continues to dominate and supercomputer rates Denmark’s World Cup chances

Christian Wenande

Jun 28, 2022

Sunday marked 30 years since Denmark celebrated the country’s biggest sporting accomplishment: its 2-0 defeat of Germany in the final of Euro 92. And there was duly a small celebration in Copenhagen.

Often referred to as one of the biggest underdog runs in sports history, the Danes replaced war-torn Yugoslavia in the tournament before embarking on a fairy-tale that HC Andersen would’ve been proud of.

Among the players celebrating were Flemming Povlsen, Henrik Larsen and, one of the goal scorers from the final, John ‘Faxe’ Jensen.

The heroes of Denmark’s biggest moment in sport on that day at the Ullevi Stadium in Gothenburg on 26 June 1992 spent the day sailing around Copenhagen on a canal boat with their wives.

No doubt there were some cold beers on hand on a roasting day, as well as a bit of humour.

“Deutschland, Deutschland, alles ist vorbei,” was one of the tunes heard, just as it had been 30 years ago when the Germans were defeated.

Against the odds
No-one gave the 92 team a chance of progressing from a tough group featuring England, France and hosts Sweden. Especially since their best player Michael Laudrup was missing after falling out with coach Richard Møller Nielsen.

But somehow they overcame indomitable odds and found themselves facing the defending Dutch champions in the semi-finals. Ruud Gullit, Marco Van Basten, Frank Rijkaard and co were dispatched in a nervy penalty shootout.

And in the final against 1990 World Cup holders Germany, an outstanding Peter Schmeichel and a wonder crack from John ‘Faxe’ Jensen helped bring glory to the Danes.

Check out a video from the final here.

Tauson retires from Wimbledon opener with back injury; Rune in action today
Clara Tauson retired injured in the first round of Wimbledon yesterday. Trailing 1-4, 0-40 to Japanese qualifier Mai Hontama, she walked to the net to concede after failing to shake off the re-emergence of the back injury that sidelined her two months ago. The 19-year-old will pick up 450,000 kroner for her efforts. Meanwhile, the men’s 24th seed, Holger Rune, starts his campaign today against unseeded Marcos Giron. Should he prevail, he could face the 11th seed, Taylor Fritz, in the third round.

Axelsen locomotive rumbles on
Viktor Axelsen once again underlined that he is the best male badminton player in the world by winning the Indonesia Open in dominating fashion. The Dane triumphed in the final of the Super 1000 tournament 21-9, 21-10 against Zhao Junpeng of China. Axelsen’s formidable run in badminton has seen him reach the final in eight consecutive Super 1000 tournaments and win seven! Super 1000 tournaments are the equivalent of the grand slams in tennis.

Denmark’s World Cup chances not super
Following a good showing in the Nations league recently, Denmark is once again in the top 10 of the FIFA World Ranking. But according to a supercomputer calculation by theanalyst.com, Denmark’s chances at the 2022 World Cup don’t quite reflect that. The supercomputer analysed the chances of all 32 participating nations and found that Denmark has a 2.03 percent chance of winning. Top dogs France are an 18 percent chance, followed by Brazil (15.73 percent) and Spain (11.53 percent). One of the issues for Denmark is that they will likely run into Lionel Messi and Argentina in the last 16 if they finish second in a group that also contains France.

Brøndby scores … off the pitch
Brøndby may not have had the best season last year, but they can celebrate a solid performance financially at least. According to business media Off The Pitch, Brøndby topped its financial performers list, which rates the most financially-sustainable clubs in European football. Brøndby had an EBITDA margin of 25 percent and a return-on-assets of 24 percent, putting it ahead overall. Brescia, Malmö FF, Atalanta and Club Brugge completed the top five.

Kojo still the fastest
Kojo Musah cemented his position as the fastest man in Denmark by once again winning the 100m sprint at the Danish national championships. Musah ran a time of 10.28 seconds for his third straight title. In the women’s race, Mathilde Kramer won the title with a time of 11.64 seconds. Elsewhere, Mette Graversgaard set a new Danish women’s record in the 100m hurdles with a time of 12.84 seconds.

Under-21s face tough playoff
Denmark’s under-21s side face a tough playoff against Croatia to make it to the 2023 Euros. Denmark were among eight teams in the draw and Croatia was the toughest opponent they could have drawn. The games will take place somewhere between September 19 and 27. Denmark could have qualified as the best second-placed team, but slumped to a disappointing draw against Scotland at home in their penultimate group stage game. Belgium won the group. Denmark haven’t missed a Euros since 2015.

Transfers galore already
It may be early days in the summer transfer period, but several high-profile switches involving Danish players and clubs have already taken place. Among the biggest are Alexander Bah joining Benfica from Slavia Prague, Philip Zinckernagel leaving Watford for Olympiakos, Jens Odgaard moving from Sassulo to AZ Alkmaar and FC Midtjylland selling talent Oscar Fraulo to Borussia Mönchengladbach. Elsewhere, FC Nordsjælland has sold Simon Adingra to Brighton in the English Premier League.