Euro Quarterfinals, Denmark vs Czech Republic 2-1

 In the 3rd quarterfinals of Euro 2020 at Baku, Azerbaijan, free flowing Danes met the rock solid Czech Republic, both of whom had been giant slayers in the round of 16. Czech gobbled up Netherlands, while Denmark blew away Wales with disdain. 

In the first half, Danes took almost no time to lead, as Thomas Delaney rose up in the centre of the box, completely unmarked to head into the bottom left net from a pinpoint corner floated in by Larsen. Within minutes, Mikkel Damsgaard has a chance to double the lead, when he found himself inside the box with just the goalkeeper to beat, but his effort is cleared off the line, & then Delaney again ghosted into the box unmarked once again to latch onto a Larsen cross, but hurries with his shot, which goes past the right hand post. Czech took time to find their feet & control, but the shot from Holes is blocked well by Schmeichel, under the Danish bar. Then Czechs exerted some pressure in the Danish half with some solid football, but with half time round the corner, hard working Maehle dashed down the left flank, & send in a well timed cross into the box, straight to Dolberg, who made no mistake in smashing into the far post, as Denmark went into the lemon break 2-0. 

In the 2nd half, Czechs came out with more purpose & in the 51st minute, when Patrik Schick, the prolific scorer for the Czech, converted Coufal's cross to volley past Schmeichel for his 5th goal of the tournament, as the score read, 2-1 for Denmark. From then on, the match was even at both ends, as the players went on to establish physical presence & the game, became laborious & scrappy in the middle. Attacking Czech midfielder, Soucek in an attempt to block went for a sliding tackle & took a whack from Poulsen on the head, which needed medical attention, as the heavy bandage could not prevent blood oozing out, as he continued on the field bravely for the cause. Celustka also hurt himself & needed to be substituted, as the game moved into the business end. The Danes, too made a couple of substitutes to bring in fresh legs to defend. Maehle had a great chance to extend the lead, with just Czech keeper to beat, but his shot was well covered by Vaclik, keeping the game alive. However, despite 6 minutes added as injury time, the weary Czech players could not breach the Danish defense & the dream run for them came to an end. Denmark now move into the semifinals, where they await the winners of England vs Ukraine. After their traumatic experience with Christian Eriksen in the 1st game, & defeats in the opening two games, nobody had given Denmark any chance, but they have been remarkable in their journey to reach the semis, with exceptional performances from Schmeichel under the bar, Christensen, Kjaer & Vestergaard for the backline, Maehle, Delaney, Larsen forming a tireless midfield, giving forwards Braithwaite, Damsgaard, Dolberg, Poulsen all the support to surge ahead - it has indeed been a pleasure to see this fairytale unfold & it will be interesting to see how they soak up the pressures to continue their journey ahead.