– It’s a crisis – NRK Sport – Sports news, results and broadcasting schedule
– That’s no excuse. But it would be strange to believe anything other than that it has had an impact on the whole thing. To some extent. I don’t know whether it meant anything on the pitch or not, says Hjulmand at a press conference on Thursday morning.
He believes that too much has been demanded of the players when it comes to non-sporting matters, such as the discussion around the “OneLove” captain’s armband.
– It is unreasonable. I think it is unfair to the players. To paint a picture that no matter what the hell they are doing in this context, they are doing something wrong. There has been enormous pressure on them to be activists. Whatever they did, it was a feeling of “what do we have to do to make it right?”.
Danish captain Simon Kjær was one of several national team captains who had planned to use the “OneLove” captain’s armband. But after Fifa threatened with sporting sanctions, everyone chose to drop it.
Disappointing, men deserved
After all, the sporting aspect was the one that received the most criticism after Wednesday’s World Cup exit. Former head of Denmark and current NRK expert Åge Hareide was a little impressed by the Danish WC performance.
– It’s a crisis. It has not reached the level they have been at. But they get what they deserve, says Hareide.
– It is extremely disappointing. They have not been anywhere near the level we expected. I had great faith in Denmark. I put them together with teams like Holland, Germany – teams on the shelf behind Brasil. So it’s very disappointing, but they get what they deserve over three games, says NRK’s Kristoffer Løkberg.
– Bubbles inside me
Denmark coach Hjulmand was cursed and disappointed after the poor performance in the fateful match.
– It’s bubbling inside me, I have all the bad feelings. I don’t know what went wrong, it’s not time to analyze the match completely yet. I am frustrated and disappointed, says Hjulmand after the match, according to Danish TV 2.
At the press conference after the match, Hjulmand is far down, but composed. When asked by NRK how he will look back on the WC 2022 after everything that has happened both on and off the pitch, he replies:
– I don’t know that. At least it’s not very good. The most important thing here is that it was too bad. With all due respect to the pool we got, but with the quality we have played with for a long time, we must move on. It is a big disappointment, he replies.
He describes it all as “crap”. Or in good Norwegian: Dritt.
Despite bleak results, he is protected as national team coach by the director of the Danish Football Association (DBU) Peter Møller. When asked whether Hjulmand’s future is up for discussion, the answer was:
– It is not. As football director, I am responsible for the results, so I take full responsibility for the fact that we have not achieved results. We are very happy with Kasper. We believe he can help take the team forward, he says to Danish DR.
Hjulmand himself said the following when asked by NRK whether his daytime has assessed his position:
– This is not the time for conclusions. I think you have to be careful about drawing conclusions one way or the other. I don’t take anything for granted.
– Incredibly disappointed
Many experts singled out Denmark as a challenger in this year’s WC. When Åge Hareide met Christian Eriksen before the championship, they talked together that a WC final was not completely impossible. That says a bit about the expectations ahead. The result was a poor point and jumbo placement in the group.
“Danish nightmare”, also wrote Ekstra Bladet when the WC hope faded. When the disappointment was a fact, the newspaper concluded: «Embarrassing and humiliating».
“The Danish disaster is complete”, wrote the Danish newspaper BT Later they followed up with: “Scandalous collapse”.
In a comment after the match, DR’s commentator Michael Sten Jensen lets the Danes go through.
“The Danish national team completely lost what has made them a common property for a year and a half. Creating an identity requires courage, and they never found that out in Al Wakrah, on the border of the desert,” he writes.
– I’m not feeling so well
The Danish players were naturally disappointed with their own performance and the WC exit.
– I’m not feeling so well. We are incredibly disappointed with our own performance and results. We had high hopes, says the Danes’ Andreas Cornelius to NRK.
– Åge Hareide calls it a crisis?
– Yes it is. If you look at the isolated set, that’s it. We don’t look like ourselves because we’ve been so good for years now. It’s unbelievable, but that’s football – it goes up and down. We can’t let this happen again, replies the striker.
It was the turn of the game for Australia’s decisive score to come. With a gloriously sunny performance, after an Australia counterattack, Matthew Leckie put the inn 1–0. Thus, Denmark had to score two to progress from Group D – which France tops.
They couldn’t do that. Denmark lost 1–0 and is out of the WC. Australia, for its part, can cheer for advancement to the round of 16.
The pressure
Although the match was directly decisive for both teams, the life in the stands at Al Janoub Stadium did not reflect that. There were surprisingly few supporters from both Denmark and Australia present, and the match atmosphere had a strong tourist feel.
This is in stark contrast to many of the other matches in the World Cup, where supporters from several different continents have provided a memorable setting for many of the matches NRK has been present at.
Denmark pressed before the break, but could not get the big chances. Christian Eriksen was, among other things, forward with a shot, but it went just over a meter to the side for the Australia goal.
Tunisia surprised with victory
Denmark continued to have a lot of the ball after the break, but it was Australia who had to score. The pain had also gotten worse for the Danes when Tunisia went up in the lead against France and moved from Denmark in the group.
As before time was played, Tunisia won the ball inside the center circle. Wahbi Khazri got the ball 40 meters from the goal and quickly advanced forward. The striker got into the 16-metre area with a delicious feint and had a shot from 15 metres. There he could see the ball roll calmly past France keeper Steve Mandanda and into the goal.
This means that the WC is facing Kasper Hjulmand and Denmark for this time.
– We regret that we could not give people at home what they wanted. It burns so much in us. We can only regret that we didn’t get it done, said Denmark boss Hjulmand to DR.
Australia coach Graham Arnold, for his part, was proud and happy after the game. He had to smile when asked by the Danish press if he is surprised by how difficult Denmark was to create chances.
– It’s just my opinion, but some of them play a bit slowly. That meant we were able to get back in defence, he says at the press conference.