EURO 1992: A Danish holiday in Sweden

Richard Moller Nielsen preferred staring at the floor while sitting on the bench in the dressing room at the Odense stadium.

A steward sat next to the coach as both listened to the radio announcing a Yugoslav win in Vienna.

Moller Nielsen looked disappointed despite his sides’s 2-1 over Northern Ireland but tried to remind himself that things were already expected.

Plans for the summer holiday could start in November for a team that impressed the world of football during the 1980s.

Moller Nielsen knew only disappointments since being named assistant coach to German Sepp Piontek before taking over in 1990 after failing to reach the world cup finals.

WAR IN THE BALKANS

The coach felt he put an end to all of Denmark’s accomplishments over a decade, and he even dismissed brothers Laudrup who expressed their dismay for his defensive approach.

Moller Nielsen had nothing to do but to watch news on television until midnight to keep up with developments of the war in the Balkans.

Yugoslav coach Ivica Osim insisted on going to Sweden with a unified team with players from Croatia, Slovenia and Bosnia alongside their Serbian counterparts, but the Danish FA asked Moller Nielsen to be ready for any possibilities.

And finally, Moller Nielsen received the surprise call: Denmark will replace Yugoslavia in Euro 1992 finals.

Moller Nielsen’s first mission was to gather his players only a month before the tournament and convince them with cancelling holidays in Spain and Greece to go on national duty.

The coach tried to persuade brothers Laudrup to come back to the national side, but only Brian agreed while Michael preferred to spend his summer alone.

Moller Nielsen looked surrealistic when he told his players before their first training camp they had to work hard to “win the trophy”.

The answer was just laughing from keeper Peter Schmeichel, Kim Vilfort and even skipper Lars Olsen.

The surrealism of the Denmark team coincided with the first participation of Germany after the re-union, in addition to the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) that succeeded the newly broken up USSR.

Hosts Sweden took control of Group A after a 0-0 draw with France followed by two wins 1-0 over Denmark and 2-1 over England to claim top spot.

Denmark needed a win over France in the final game of the first round, and they took an early lead with a goal from Henrik Larsen.

LOST TO THE SCOTS

Jean Pierre Papin pulled the game level with a goal for France on the hour mark, but Povlsen set up Lars Esltrup to score the winner for the Danish dynamite as they guaranteed a place among the last four.

The Netherlands topped group B as coach Rinus Michels introduced some new faces like Aaron Winter and Dennis Bergkamp into the title holders line up.

The Dutch team defeated both Scotland and Germany and was held to a scoreless draw by the CIS who had a chance to advance at the expense of Germany hadn’t they lost to the Scots.

The Germans had their best display in the semi-finals when Reuter, Buchwald and Helmer managed to silence the Swedish trio Brolin, Kennet Andersson and Dahlin.

Thomas Hassler gave the visitors the lead after just ten minutes and Karl Heinz Riedle doubled the score in the 59th minute, before Brolin pulled one back for Sweden from the penalty spot.

Riedle grabbed his second of the night with two minutes to go to secure the win that has never been affected by Andersson’s late goal.

WRITING HISTORY

In the other semi-final in Gothenburg, Larsen’s header gave the Danes an early lead but the Netherlands were quickly level as Dennis Bergakamp scored in the 23rd minute.

Larsen added another goal for the Danes but Rijkaard scored the equalizer three minutes from the final whistle.

Schmeichel saved a penalty from van Basten before Christofte scored the decisive kick to take Denmark to the final, writing history instead of spending holidays.

The main worry for Moller Nielsen before the final was the German midfield led by Steffen Effenberg who fed Klinsmann with balls in the final third of the pitch.

Povlsen set up the advancing John Jensen to put the ball past Bodo Illgner and fire Denmark in front.

Schmeichel continued to impress in the second half saving Klinsmann’s header before his teammate Kent Nielsen cleared a ball off the line.

Kim Vilfort, whose daughter was on leukaemia treatment, fired the mercy shot with 11 minutes left as the ball went in off the post announcing a second goal for Denmark.

Moller Nielsen was forced once again to sit on the bench at the dressing room but this time to celebrate with a huge glass of icy champagne. The coach kept looking at Brian Laudrup wondering what his genius brother Michael was doing at that time.