The end of a long wait for an entire people. More than half a century (55 years to be precise), and the 1966 World Cup victory, that the English had not reached the final of a major competition. Coincidence or coincidence, it was in England, where the final will be played on Sunday against Italy still on Wembley ground. And at home, Harry Kane’s teammates now dream of writing a page in British football history after being pushed to the limit by a heroic Danish team.
This undecided encounter was moved to extra time with an unobvious penalty, after a slight contact in the Danish area on Raheem Sterling, awarded by the referee. If Kane tripped over Kasper Schmeichel, who had long delayed the deadline, the ball returned to the Tottenham striker’s feet, who didn’t shake to send it to the back of the net and overturn an entire stadium (104) The “temple of football” had already gone into euphoria for the first time at the time of the draw and the goal against its field by Danish captain Simon Kjaer just before the break (39) before bursting with happiness with the whistle.
This elimination is cruel for Denmark, who dreamed of repeating the feat of 1992 when they were crowned to everyone’s surprise and were determined to go to the end for Christian Eriksen, the victim of a heart attack mid-game at the start of the tournament. And the Vikings touched the final with Mikkel Damsgaard’s beautiful free-kick, who outsmarted Jordan Pickford, defeated for the first time since the start of the competition, at the 30th half-hour mark before he was finally brought down. But that doesn’t detract from their fabulous journey.
Sunday, at the end of an equally unprecedented final between England, which is preparing to play its first final in a Euro, and Italy, in search of its first coronation in the competition since 1968. Already like no other, the outcome of this European Championship promises to be historic.