June 13, (THEWILL)- After the worrying scenes around the collapsing incident of Christian Eriksen, the Danish midfielder, who dropped to the ground during Saturday’s Euros 2020 fixture between Denmark and Finland, the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) suspended the match to allow the 29-year-old receive priority medical care immediately.
By the time Eriksen was carried from the pitch, he had thankfully regained consciousness and thereafter, positive news followed with the Danish Football Union stating Eriksen was “awake” and set for “further examinations” after being taken to hospital to be properly attended to.
Together with UEFA, both sets of players decided to resume the game after more than 100 minutes away from the pitch. With the event still hanging in the air, Joel Pohjanpalo sealed an historic triumph for Finland against an understandably deflated but courageous Denmark side, as Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg missed an equaliser via a late penalty.
Finnish goalkeeper, Lukas Hradecky, was the star of the show and began to establish his quality from the start of hostilities when Denmark came out on the front foot. Hradecky kept out Jonas Wind, Hojbjerg and Eriksen before it was even 20 minutes into the game.
Opportunities for the Danes kept coming but were wasted by Thomas Delaney and Martin Braithwaite before Eriksen collapsed forcing a near two-hour suspension of the match.
Upon their agreed resumption, play continued from where it was stopped, as the players returned to finish the remaining few minutes of the first half before a short half-time interval was allowed.
The Danes, who had failed to make their dominance count will rue the chances they did not convert because the only goal of the game came from Finland’s first attempt on goal. Pohjanpalo leapt to nod a powerful header through the weak hands of Danish keeper Kasper Schmeichel.
But, before the final whistle, Kasper Hjulmand’s side had a golden opportunity to draw level. A penalty was awarded after Paulus Arajuuri brought down Yussuf Poulsen in the penalty area with16 minutes from full-time. Hojbjerg stepped up to take it but Hradecky ensured Finland took all three points.
Stopping the penalty was the highpoint of an excellent outing for Hradecky. The Bayer Leverkusen goalkeeper finished as the best player of the match with his six saves to deny Denmark any attempts at drawing level in the opening match for both sides at the Summer Games.
In the history of the European Championship, Hradecky enters the annals as the third goalkeeper to save a penalty on their debut appearance. He follows Przemyslaw Tyton in 2012, who was in goal for Poland against Greece and Trols Rasmussen in goal for the Danes against Spain in the 1988.
About the Author
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
