In the previous European Championship, the Danish team sensationally reached the semi-finals and lost there to England only due to an extremely dubious penalty by Sterling in extra time. Three years have passed and the team is still doing well: they qualified second in the group with the British, Slovenians and Serbians and will play in the round of 16 with Germany. How has your songwriting changed during this time? In short, not so much. Now, in order.
who left the team
Martin Braithwaite at Euro 2020 and now at the club
Photo: Getty Images
Martin Braithwaite
It was customary to mock the striker after his move to Barcelona – usually stronger players are invited there. He did not actually play there, but he was useful for the national team. At Euro 2020, Martin played all six matches and scored against Wales in the round of 16.
He is now 33 years old and last season was a very productive one for him: he became the top scorer in Segunda with 22 goals (seven from penalties) and helped Espanyol, whom he joined as a free agent in September 2022, to return to La Liga. Never before has the Dane been so productive. We are waiting for his return at the Camp Nou. However, Braithwaite last played for the national team in September 2023, against San Marino. In total, the footballer has 10+6 for her in 69 matches.
Jens Larsen at Euro 2020 and now
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Jens Larsen
Larsen is the same age as Braithwaite, but runs on the right in defence. He also has six appearances at Euro 2020, half of which he started on the bench, but was replaced by Kasper Julmann in all of them. And he repaid that with an assist for Thomas Delaney in the quarter-final against the Czech Republic.
And again there is a parallel with Braithwaite: his last game for Denmark was against San Marino. Not just a dwarf team, but an arbiter of fate. In June 2022, Larsen left Udinese, for which he played 152 times, and went to Trabzonspor. And in February 2024 he returned to Scandinavia and has been representing Malmö ever since. The club is currently leading the Swedish championship. Jens is a regular starter there with one assist in 11 games. For the national team he has 3+5 in 54 games. Not a bad legacy, right?
The group stage of Euro 2024 was extremely brilliant:
The main thing in the group stage of the Euro Cup. What do we remember most?
Daniel Wass at Euro 2020 and now at the club
Photo: Getty Images/brondby.com
Daniel Wass
The central midfielder was not so young by football standards at Euro 2020, and even more so now: he turned 35 in May. He made five appearances at that tournament. At the same time, in the group stage he invariably made it into the starting lineup, but then dropped out: he missed the round of 16 and graced the quarter-finals and semi-finals with his appearance in the second half.
Wass ended up with the national team after the 2022 World Cup, having spent all of the Danes’ matches as a reserve. And the last time I ran onto the field in his uniform was in September 2022: I faced the Croatians in the Nations League. The result is 1+6 in 44 games. After Euro 2020, he still spent the season at a high level: six months with Valencia and as many with Atlético. In Madrid, however, Vass was undergoing treatment or was in reserve all the time, and in August 2022 the midfielder fled to Brøndby. In his homeland, Dani continues to be the protagonist: last season he played 31 championship games and accumulated 3 + 6.
Andreas Cornelius at Euro 2020 and now at the club
Photo: Getty Images/fck.dk
Andreas Cornelius
Four substitute appearances until the round of 16, 57 minutes played and an assist against Wales: this is what the striker can boast of at Euro 2020. But after the tournament, he swapped Parma for Trabzonspor, scored 15 goals in 37 games and led the club to its first championship in 38 years. Immediately after this he settled in his native “Copenhagen”.
Cornelius’ performance in recent years leaves much to be desired: only 2+2 in 27 Danish league games. And it is clear that this is not a venerable age, because Andreas is only 31 years old. The decline affected his career in the national team: he played three games at the 2022 World Cup and only stood out with a deadly miss from a meter into the empty near corner, hitting the post. Yulmann did not invite the footballer again. The result is 13+3 in 46 games.
Nikolaj Boylesen at Euro 2020 and now at the club
Photo: Fake Images
Nikolai Boylesen
It is very brief here, because the central defender was only 13 minutes in the round of 16 of Euro 2020 and did not appear again in that tournament. Since 2016, he has also played for Copenhagen after a failed attempt to establish himself at Ajax. And for two seasons now he has become a stable trader. In the last Danish championship he only played six games. But at the same time, three are in the Champions League. That is the paradox. Boylesen has not played with the national team since June 2022, when he played in the Nations League against Austria. Result: 22 games for Denmark.
Also worth mentioning are those who were in Denmark’s squad for Euro 2020 but did not play there. And now he also watches the national team’s matches from the bench, and no longer from the bench. These are Anders Christiansen (not to be confused with Andreas Christensen), Jonas Lössl and Robert Skov.
Vote for your favourites for Euro 2024. There are also Danes there:
Classification
Who will win Euro 2024? Favorite rating
New faces of the Danish team
Alexander Bach at Euro 2024
Photo: Clive Mason/Getty Images
Alejandro Bakh
Benfica’s 26-year-old Gambian right-back played the entire match against Slovenia, came on in the 57th minute against England and left the field in the 77th minute against Serbia. He made his first appearance for the national team in November 2020. And he even scored against the Swedes on a freight train. Then there was a long lull. He hardly played in World Cup qualifying and only appeared on the field against Scotland in November 2021, when the Danes had already secured first place.
However, Bach left for Qatar – he held out against Australia for the entire half, and against France for exactly one minute. Alexander became a full-fledged first-team player immediately before Euro 2024 – earlier this season he was tormented by injuries – five different ones at once, for which he had to undergo treatment for a total of 157 days. Although in the last season of the Portuguese league he still had 19 matches and 2+3.
Damage is constantly chasing him, such is the “crystal”. But if he is in shape, he is not easy for opponents: he has a great sense of play (there are many tackles and interceptions), excellent play on the second floor and good dribbling.
Victor Christiansen at Euro 2024
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Victor Christiansen
Already at the age of 21, the left-back became one of the main players of the European Championship play-off team and the sensational Bologna, which jumped into the Champions League zone. He himself, however, will not play there next season, as he returns from a loan to Leicester. But the practice in the Premier League is also very good. There is no doubt that he will receive it in normal quantities. 32 games and three assists in Serie A is an excellent achievement. The trip to Italy was a success.
Christiansen first wore the Denmark uniform a year ago in qualifying for Euro 2024. And since then he has only missed three games, due to injury and the need to help the under-21 team. It was Victor who provided the assist in the match against the British. He played 148 minutes in three games.
What is written about Bach also applies to his teammate on the opposite flank. Only this player is not so traumatic. No one will be surprised if the defender represents a club like Barcelona, Manchester United or Juventus at the next major international tournament.
Rasmus Hoylund at Euro 2024
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Rasmus Hoylund
Is any comment needed here? Højlund, 21, is the most expensive (65 million euros) and most promoted player in the Danish team. He is one of the ten highest-rated center forwards in the world. Last season he proved to be unstable. How can it be any other way when you play for Manchester United? But there were many bright moments: five goals in the Champions League group and 7+2 in six games in a row from January to February. His performances cannot be considered legendary, but they are also disastrous.
Hoylund has been representing the national team since September 2022, when he struggled with Croatia and France in the Nations League. He was not brought to the 2022 World Cup (Julmann relied on experienced players such as Braithwaite and Cornelius) and made mistakes. Rasmus then became the main option in attack and often performed spectacularly: he scored a hat-trick for the Finns, scored twice for the Kazakhs and opened the scoring for the Slovenians.
Despite playing 209 minutes at Euro 2024, he has yet to make an impact. The German national team should be even more careful with him, because Hoylund taught: after a failed series, the opposite should be expected.
Morten Julmann at Euro 2024
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Morten Julmann
The same one who equalized the score with a perfect long shot against the post in the game against England. And the namesake of the Danish national team coach. This does not give you any preference. The versatile 25-year-old midfielder is capable of covering any position in the center of the field, even playing behind the attackers. But he most often consolidates the support zone. And his superb long-distance shots were highly appreciated by Jordan Pickford.
Yulmann appeared in the national team recently, in September 2023, when he was trusted to come on as a substitute in the match against San Marino. Since then he has not played a single full game. And four where he received more than 45 minutes. In general, this is not exactly the case with the early Christiansen and Hoylund. On the other hand, after the current exploits, the coach will clearly reconsider Morten’s playing time for the better. The only problem is that he won’t play against Germany because of too many yellow cards.
But at club level, Julmann is not offended by this practice: he is a regular starter at Sporting, rarely leaves the field early and has scored 4+3 in 30 championship matches. By the way, in 2021 the defensive midfielder competed against the Russian U-21 team at the European Championship. Denmark then defeated the team of Lomaev, Krugovoy and Tyukavin 3-0 and took nine points in the group, which also included France and Iceland. But then they lost to the Germans in a penalty shoot-out.
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We will only list the rest, because four of them have 0 minutes so far in Euro 2024: Leicester goalkeeper Mads Hermansen, 23, Leeds right back, 26 (played last season for Roma), Rasmus Christensen, 26 – summer Anderlecht (and one-time Rubin) winger Anders Dreyer and 25-year-old Hoffenheim forward Jakob Bruun Larsen (spent last season at Burnley). His best moment will come later.
And in general, the current cool generation will probably make some noise at the European and World Championships. Andreas Christensen himself is only 28 years old. Although it seems that he has been playing at a high level for a long time. Joakim Andersen and Pierre-Emile Højbjerg are his colleagues. But there are also Joakim Mehle, 27, Andreas Skov Olsen, 24, and many others. The German team faced an extremely uncomfortable opponent in the round of 16.
