It is pretty common that at any international tournament, no matter if it is at a national team or club´s level, a squad that seemed to just be one more in the list earns the fans´ support. Some examples are Island in the 2016 France EURO, Croatia in the 2018 Russia World Cup or Málaga in the 2013 Champions League edition. In this EURO that is about to end, Denmark has turned into the people´s team.
All these teams surprised the world and became everyone´s favorite because people tend to sympathize with the weak side when trying to achieve a goal against all odds, specially in sports.
Denmark, just as the other three teams that have made it to the semifinals, played all their group stage games at home in front of their crowd, in this case at the Parken Stadion.
A very attractive team from the playing style perspective cheered up by a packed stadium that experienced a tragic episode at their first game with Christian Eriksen´s fading, which fortunately ended on a huge scare. Incomprehensibly, the match resumed on that same evening and the final score did not matter at all.
A second consecutive defeat against Belgium put things very hard for Denmark to make it through the group stage, but an outstanding performance against Russia and their 4-1 victory was enough to pull it off. Denmark took off from that day on and introduced to the world two of the sensations of the tournament, Damsgaard and Maehle, who will more than likely increase their value in this transfer market.
The accumulated rage during the first two games was released on that night and they ended sealing their qualify to the round of 16 by celebrating all their goals with beer glasses flying around the stands. Everyone was happy for Denmark, no matter their nationality. Everyone became a Denmark fan since that day.
Denmark maintained their sensational performing the next two games and confirmed their candidature by reaching the semifinals, which no one ever expected before the start of the tournament. England at Wembley was the last obstacle before the final, a hostile scenario to knock down the favorite´s wall, a reason for everyone who is not English to support Kasper Hjulmand´s squad.
The reality is that Southgate won his particular chess game, as England were better and deserved the victory, even though the destiny gave Denmark such a cruel knock out with a non-existent penalty kick that ended with the Danish´ dream.
The referee´s call was even worse than any other action you can think of at this context because he did not even check it on the VAR. An unjustifiable mistake that adds up to any conspiracy theory on the home team lifting the trophy.
Denmark and the people are proud of what this team has represented throughout the tournament and, as a result, you can see the world´s recognition both for how they have played and the way they have overcome adversity.
Unfortunately, almost all the people´s teams end up losing at some point before reaching the glory and this has not been the exception, but teams like Denmark are what makes this sport so special.