Denmark are just one win away from reaching the final of Euro 2020 and capping a fairytale tournament that started with a nightmare.
They take on England at Wembley Stadium for a chance to play Italy in Sunday's final. That scenario felt impossible after their first match, where they not only lost their Group B opener to Finland but also lost their best player after Christian Eriksen collapsed on the field after suffering a cardiac arrest.
Thankfully, Eriksen is making good progress in his recovery, and has been invited to Sunday's final as a special guest. Hopefully for him, he will be watching his teammates contest the championship match.
It will not be the first time the Danes have reached a final of the European Championship, however. In 1992 they pulled off the biggest shock in international football by winning a tournament they hadn't even qualified for.
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CZECH REPUBLIC RATINGS: Tomáš Vaclik 6 – The goalkeeper had a mixed performance. He made a number of vital saves for his side, but there is no looking past the fact he conceded two, the second of which he could have done better. Despite this, he was always sharp off his line. AFP -
Vladimir Coufal 7 – The right-back was one of his side’s best performers as he made several tackles that disrupted the Danish attack. He marked tightly throughout the game and even had a chance fall his way, but it was on his weaker foot. AP -
Ondrej Celustka 5 – The Sparta Prague defender had a good chance from a free-kick, but he just missed the ball. He later came off due to an injury received whilst defending against a Danish attack. AP -
Tomas Kalas 5 –Bristol City’s centre-back was responsible for losing Delaney in the box as he headed in the opening goal. Kalas didn’t make many tackles, but the few he did were needed to stop Denmark from extending their lead. AP -
Jan Boril 5 –The left-back was partly at fault for the second goal as he wasn’t goal side of Dolberg who managed to tap the ball in at the back post. He found himself chasing the ball on occasion and didn’t win many challenges. EPA -
Tomáš Holes 6 –The midfielder made his fifth European Championship appearance and nearly scored with a volley at the edge of the box, but it was saved by Schmeichel. EPA -
Tomas Soucek 5 -The Czech captain wasn’t at his usual standard and his side paid the price. He had a headed chance which went wide. He needed to step up and perform, but he didn’t meet his own high expectations. -
Lukàš Masopust 6 – The 28-year-old did some good pressing early on and he made several good runs forward down the wing. He also displayed some clever footwork, which mostly worked though there was no-one to meet his deliveries. AFP -
Antonín Barak 6 – The Udinese midfielder made some decent deliveries from free-kicks but none of his teammates could capitalise. He also put a great through ball to Schick, which came to nothing. He had a shot on the edge of the box but it didn’t test Schmeichel. EPA -
Petr Ševčik 5 – The Slavia Prague man had a poor game. He wasted several chances, including a volley which finished well over. He was subsequently replaced late on. Getty Images -
Patrick Schick 7 – One of the breakout stars of the tournament got his fifth goal, this time on on the volley, to claw one back for his side. He was very creative and made a number of good forward runs, but the Danish defence kept him at bay. The striker was taken off late on as his manager looked for an equaliser. EPA -
SUB: Jakob Jankto (Holes, 46) 7 – Jankto came on at half-time and made a number of good runs along the left wing, and his energy definitely helped his side fight back in the second half. He provided several crosses into the box but there was no-one on the end to finish them off. EPA -
SUB: Michael Krmencik (Masopust, 46) 7 – Arguably the best substitution, as he changed his side’s fortune. He had a large number of chances, and he held up the ball to bring others into play. EPA -
SUB: Jakub Brabec (Celustka, 65) – 5 The centre-back replaced an injured Celustka late on and he was tasked with marking Poulsen. He lost him a few times but he also put in several interceptions to deny the Leipzig man. He had a shot from range but it was off target. AFP -
SUB: Matej Vydra (Schick, 79) N/A – The Burnley striker came on as his side searched for an equaliser but he was reduced to one effort, which he failed to capitalise on. AFP -
SUB: Vladimir Darida (Sevcik, 80) N/A– The 30 year was introduced at the same time as Vydra and he failed to make a real impact for his side. -
Smart save from Holes after 20 – a minute after the Dane had chipped the ball into the Czech midfielder. Hard to save Schick’s fifth goal of tournament – level with Ronaldo as top scorer. Had to be on top of his game as Czech Republic gave everything to get a late equaliser. Getty Images -
The Southampton defender has been excellent for his country. Comfortable as they blew Czech Republic away in the first half. Under significant pressure in the second half but maximum effort means he’s now a semi-finalist. Getty Images -
Captain Fantastic came back from injury. Confidently blocked a 71st minute shot from Jankto and winced in pain as he did. Screamed at his players while in agony. Should he have come off? No. Getty Images -
Fifth successive start for the Chelsea defender. Superb in 2021. Very hard for the Czechs to get past. Getty Images -
Beautifully weighted ball – and very difficult to execute – for Dolberg to volley in the second. Should have made it 3-1 after 80 when he could have shot or passed to Braithwaite. Getty Images -
Headed outswinging corner down into the corner from ten yards after five minutes for dream Danish start. Why wasn’t he marked? Devastating combinations with Larsen and should have scored a second. Tactically smart. Left field exhausted. Excellent. Getty Images -
Key player as Denmark dominated in the middle and reached the semi-final of a major tournament for the first time since Euro ’92 – which they won. Struggled in the last ten minutes and looked exhausted but ran himself into the ground and still created chances. EPA -
Perfect corner straight off the training ground to assist first goal. Let the Czech full-backs push up as Denmark comfortable in their 3-4-3 shape. AFP -
Played on the left, right and in the centre. Created clear chances but shot well wide after 27. You can doubt that he has the technical level to play for Barça, but not his quality and effort. Held ball up when needed. Team player. AFP -
Shared the chances among the forwards, made forward runs. Got the second goal after another lightning counter attack, volleying in his third in three matches to delight the 2,000 noisy travelling Danes. Getty Images -
Birthday and his best first half chance saw him with only goalkeeper to beat after 37. He shot straight at him. Worked hard in difficult conditions and deserved his rest after an hour. AFP -
On for Damsgaard after 59, the Brentford player went left and played some quality balls. Reuters -
On for Dolberg after 60 after overcoming a thigh injury and shot within a minute of entering the field after a fast run beat the defender. Should’ve scored. Ran forward after 69 in another counter but ran out of energy and shot straight at the goalkeeper. Took a top shot after 78. Fine movement off ball. More shots than any player on pitch – despite only playing 30 mins. AFP -
On for Larsen after 70 and gave ball away within a minute as Czech Republic pushed for an equaliser as both teams tired. AFP -
On for Delaney 80. AFP -
On for Christensen after 80 as Denmark wisely used five subs. The only surprise was that it wasn’t the injured Kjaer. Getty Images
Euro 92, Yugoslavia expelled
Denmark had not even qualified for the 1992 tournament, held in neighbouring Sweden, after finishing runner-up to Yugoslavia in their qualifying group.
However, Yugoslavia were disqualified as a result of the breakup of the country and the ensuing warfare there, as Denmark were named the eighth and final team.
A popular tale is that the Danish squad were all sunbathing on the beach when they learned of their late call up, a legend former Manchester United goalkeeper Peter Schmeichel was happy to dispel.
"You know, myths are myths," says Schmeichel, whose son, Kasper, also a goalkeeper, is in the Euro 2020 Denmark squad. "The reality was that we'd finished our seasons, the players who played abroad at the time, and the players who played in Denmark were still in their season when we got told that we were in. But we've come back from playing our seasons and all we were thinking about was holiday
"We still had this one game against the CIS [successor to the Soviet Union], in their last preparation game before they went to Sweden. Every day we were driving up for a training session at Brondby – and it was at Brondby that we got told. The thing was, we were not quite on our holidays but I think every single one of us had already switched off – just get this game out of the way and we would get our free time. But physically we were there, so we had a lot of mental work to do to get to the point where we could start competing in a championship of that calibre. So holidays upstairs, but physically still working."
Group phase
Denmark were placed in Group A alongside hosts Sweden, France and England. Little was expected of them, but they held group favourites England to a 0-0 draw in Malmo.
Far from being happy with a point, Schmeichel says the mood in the dressing room was "like a funeral".
"We could not believe we hadn't won that game. We'd obviously come straight into the tournament, no real preparation, not as much as England, but we felt we were much better prepared – physically we were stronger, we felt we had played better and created more chances, and still we didn't win. We couldn't believe it."
A defeat to Sweden was followed up with a 2-1 victory over France, leaving Denmark on three points (this was the last Euros when teams were awarded two points for a win) behind Sweden.
Upsetting Van Basten, Gullit and Co
The Danes were drawn against title-holders the Netherlands in the semi-finals where they were huge underdogs.
The Dutch boasted the world's greatest striker in Marco van Basten, as well as several key members of the victorious Euro '88 side including Ruud Gullit, Frank Rijkaard, Jan Wouters and Ronald Koeman.
A brace from Henrik Larsen (no, not that one) cancelled out strikes from Dennis Bergkamp and Rijkaard, while the Danes overcame an horrific knee injury to Henrik Andersen to take the game to extra time and penalties.
Denmark were perfect from their five spot kicks while Van Basten, who had lit up the Euros four years earlier in West Germany, saw his effort saved by Schmeichel.
The final and that John Jensen goal
Having overcome one giant obstacle the unheralded Richard Møller Nielsen had an even bigger one to conquer in preparing his Denmark players to face world champions West Germany in the final.
Few gave a Danish team high on work ethic but low on stardust much of a chance against a team containing bags of it in Andreas Brehme, Steffen Effenberg and Jurgen Klinsmann.
But Denmark had pretty much ripped up the script and written a new one in bold font size 90 since arriving in Sweden and were in no mood to bow to their opponents.
John Jensen opened the scoring with a thunderbolt that set the Danes on their way and the midfielder on a move to Arsenal, though it would take him 98 games to produce a goal of similar ilk for the Gunners.
Kim Vilfort, whose tournament involved two journeys back home to be with his seven-year-old daughter battling leukemia, scored in the second half to make it 2-0 to cap a fairytale tournament for a team that shouldn't have even been there.
