Euro 2020: Remembering Denmark's class of 1992

Denmark's remarkable run at Euro 2020 continued with a 4-0 thrashing of Wales in the round of 16. In their quarterfinal match on July 3, they will face the winner of the match between the Netherlands and the Czech Republic (9:30pm IST on June 27 in Budapest). If the Dutch get through, it will set up the rematch of a memorable fixture—a semifinal—of Euro 1992.

Euro 1992, which took place in Sweden, reflected the changing geopolitics of the time—Germany had reunified, the Soviet Union had fallen and Yugoslavia was facing sanctions because of the outbreak of civil war. It was the first major tournament in which reunified Germany competed; West Germany, which made up the bulk of the team, were reigning world champions.

The Soviet Union had already booked their spot in the tournament by topping their qualification group. Therefore, they were replaced with the Commonwealth of Independent States team. After Euro 1992, Russia was recognised as the successor of the CIS team. It was the conflict in Yugoslavia that had the most profound impact on the tournament. The national team got banned by FIFA and UEFA on May 31, 1992.

This was a major development. Yugoslavia was a formidable team, which had players from the Red Star Belgrade team that won the 1990-1991 UEFA Champions League (then known as the European Champion Clubs' Cup). Darko Pancev and Dejan Savicevic had finished joint second in the 1991 Ballon d'Or, tied with Germany's World Cup-winning captain and 1991 FIFA World Player of the Year, Lothar Matthaus. The duo's former Red Star teammate Robert Prosinecki (who joined Real Madrid in the summer of 1991) was fifth in Ballon d'Or voting and placed fourth in the FIFA World Player of the Year (Pancev and Savicevic did not make the top 10 in the latter).

Meanwhile, in 1984, Denmark had qualified for its first Euros in 20 years and reached the semifinals. The resurgent team, dubbed "Danish Dynamite", qualified for its first World Cup in 1986 and impressed by topping its group, which had West Germany and Uruguay; it even thrashed Uruguay 6-1. But, its run ended with a 5-1 loss to Spain in the next round. The team also qualified for Euro 1988 and nearly qualified for Seoul 1988—it initially qualified ahead of West Germany, but were then slapped with a points deduction for fielding an ineligible player and missed out.

Euro 1988 marked the beginning of a slump in form. Denmark lost all three group games, to Spain, West Germany and Italy, and were eliminated with a goal difference (GD) of minus five. The team also failed to qualify for the 1990 World Cup. For the qualifying round of Euro 1992, Denmark was drawn into the same group as Yugoslavia. Denmark still had a talented team. It could boast the likes of Michael Laudrup, a member of Johan Cryuff's "Dream Team" at Barcelona (eleventh in the 1991 Ballon d'Or); his younger brother, Brian, who then played for Bayern Munich; Liverpool midfielder Jan Molby, and goalkeeper Peter Schmeichel, who had been signed by Manchester United in 1991.

But, only the group winners would advance to the eight-team Euro 1992 finals. To finish ahead of Yugoslavia would be a major challenge. After winning the first match, Denmark drew against Northern Ireland and lost to Yugoslavia at home in Copenhagen. To make things worse, the Laudrup brothers quit the national team after growing frustrated with coach Richard Moller Nielsen's defensive tactics, which was said to be stifling the talented players. Molby, too, retired, amid disagreements with the coach.

But, the determined Danes refused to give up. They went to Belgrade and beat Yugoslavia to give themselves a chance of qualifying. The team went on to win all its remaining matches, but their valiant effort was not enough as they finished one point behind Yugoslavia, which had won all of its matches expect the defeat to Denmark in Belgrade. For Denmark, the draw against Northern Ireland—arguably a result of Nielsen's defensive tactics—had proven costly. Or, at least, it seemed so.

After Yugoslavia was banned with just 10 days to go before Euro 1992 kicked off, there was no time to have qualifying playoffs to find a replacement. The UEFA gave Denmark the opportunity to participate. The Danes were the best runners-up in qualifying and had a better record in qualifying than three of the seven group winners. It is said that the Denmark players came into the tournament with little preparation, having been on vacation. But, this account of things has been disputed. In his autobiography, Schmeichel said that the team had been preparing to play a friendly against the CIS team ahead of the Euros.

Denmark had also managed to get Brian Laudrup back into the squad, though Michael remained adamant that he would not play for Nielsen. In their first group match, Denmark drew 0-0 against England. They then lost 1-0 to hosts Sweden. The other two teams, England and France, had drawn 0-0. This meant that going into the third and final match, Sweden, which had drawn 1-1 against France, was top of the group with three points and plus one GD (a win was only worth two points then as against three now). France and England were both on two points and zero GD; France was second as they had scored a goal against Sweden. Denmark was fourth, as they were in Euro 2020, with one point and a negative GD.

Therefore, for Denmark to progress, they had to win against France, and England had to fail to win against Sweden. France, though they had underwhelmed, were pre-tournament favourites. Les Blues star Jean-Pierre Papin, then considered the world's best striker, had won the Ballon d'Or and was placed second in the FIFA World Player of the Year award in 1991. France also had the likes of current manager Didier Deschamps and Eric Cantona, and was managed by Michel Platini.

Denmark scored in the eighth minute. However, England had scored in the fourth minute and the Danes looked likely to go out. Sweden equalised in the 51st minute, giving hope to Denmark, but just nine minutes later, Papin curled in a beautiful goal, following good play by Cantona and Jean-Philippe Durand. But, Denmark rallied to score again in the 78th minute and Sweden finished the job for them by scoring against England four minutes later.

Much like Euro 2020, it was a breathtaking escape from the group stages for Denmark. But, in the semifinals, they were to play the Netherlands, the reigning European champions, who had a special team with the AC Milan trinity of captain Ruud Gullit, Frank Rijkaard and Marco van Basten and other legends like Ronald Koeman (Barcelona), Danny Blind and Dennis Bergkamp, both of whom then played for Ajax. Denmark took the game to the holders early on and managed a 2-2 draw. In the shootout, van Basten, one of the all-time greats, had his penalty saved by Schmeichel, who himself went on to become an all-time great. Denmark scored all five penalties.

Considered rank outsiders at the start of the tournament, Denmark had made it all the way to the final. World champions Germany waited for them. Surely, even the spirited Danes could not pull off three upsets in a row. Except, they did, beating Germany 2-0. Denmark took the lead in the 18th minute through a piledriver from the edge of the box by midfielder John Jensen. Germany pushed for an equaliser, but Schmeichel stood strong, notably reacting sharply to save a powerful header from Jurgen Klinsmann in the second half.

In the 78th minute, offensive-minded midfielder Kim Vilfort's low, left-footed strike went in off the post to put Denmark two goals ahead. Vilfort had been forced to leave the training camp ahead of the group stage decider against France to visit Line, his seven-year-old daughter who had leukaemia. Her condition was deteriorating. Vilfort missed the match against France, but his family, reportedly, sent him back twice to play the semifinal and the final. Vilfort had scored the fourth penalty in the semifinal shootout and had now scored the most important goal in the history of Danish football. Line died soon after the tournament.

In 1992, Denmark beat the pre-tournament favourites, the European champions and the world champions to win the Euros. Denmark remains the smallest nation to ever win the tournament; Denmark had a population of around five million in 1992. Going into Euro 2020, the team revolved largely around its star playmaker Christian Eriksen. However, he collapsed because of a cardiac event in the first match. Even in Eriksen's absence, the team played good attacking football in its first two matches, especially in the second match against Belgium. But, they could not score and lost both. They finally found form in the final group match that carried them into the round of 16.

Goalkeeper and the team's vice captain, Kasper Schmeichel, son of Peter, said that Eriksen's visit to the training camp a day after the loss to Belgium, was the catalyst the team needed. "I think the most important thing… for us was to know that Christian was okay," he said. He added that playing with freedom and an identity was something they had discussed for a long time and seeing that Eriksen was okay allowed the team to focus more on their game.

There was also a lot of buzz in Denmark ahead of the tournament because Copenhagen was one of the venues. After successfully navigating the group stage at home, the Danes ventured out to conquer the Welsh on Dutch soil. Next, they are likely to face the Dutch (unless the Czech Republic pull off an upset), but in neutral Baku. The aim now would be to get to London for the semifinals and final. If they face the Netherlands in the quarterfinals, it will be a tough fixture. But, there are certainly gaps in the Dutch defence that they can exploit. If it is the Czech, on current form, the Danes may have the edge.

If Denmark manage to reach the semifinals, they will face one of Sweden, Ukraine, England or Germany. It will be truly stunning if the Danes get past the semifinals. So, for now, let us not talk about the possibility of getting into the final and yet another famous, unlikely win. But, no matter what happens, even if its run ends in the quarterfinals, Denmark can be proud of the performance of its national team at Euro 2020 and it has most definitely already won the hearts of football fans the world over. And whether they replicate the class of 1992 or stumble at the next step, they have done justice to the memory of 1992 and the heroes of the past.